History of Communication and Transport in Odisha

This stimulating volume is an interpretative, well organized and scholarly work on the communication and transport system in coastal Odisha. Drawing mainly from original sources, this book provides a comprehensive picture of the growth and development of communications including waterways, roadways, railways, post and telegraphs, means of transport and conveyance in a very critical and analytical matter. Being a scholarly work, this book will be of immense help not only to the researchers, students, teachers, tourists and Government officials but also to the general readers as well.

Born in Jagadalapur near Berhampur of Ganjam district in 1984, Dr. Gokulananda Patra passed B.A. from Khallikote College, Berhampur in 2004 securing first position in first class Honours with distinction and Post Graduation n History from the same institution in 2006 with first class first position. He was awarded Ph.D. Degree in History in 2016 from Berhampur University under the guidance of Prof. Bhagaban Sahu. He is the Life Member of many academic organisations like Orissa History Congress, South Indian History Congress and Indian History Congress. He has published five Research Papers in the different journals of Nation and International repute. At present he is serving as the Lecturer in History in K.M. Science College, Narendrapur, Ganjam.

Coastal Odisha, comprising mainly the four un-divided districts of Odisha such as Baleswar, Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam is situated on the shore of the way of Bengal. Being situated on the boarder of the Bay of Bengal and intersected by a number of navigable rivers, Coastal Odisha has retained her distinct stance as a great maritime power since the ancient times. The vestiges of Coastal Odisha's predominance over the seas found place in the accounts of foreign travellers, archaeological and literary sources, regional fairs, festivals, traditions and even in the paintings of Odisha.

Coastal Odisha played a very significant role in the overseas trade and communication of India in ancient and medieval periods. It has extensive maritime trade with overseas colonies in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malayan peninsula, Annam, China, Combodia, East Indies and islands of pacific. But from the middle of the 16th century A.D. the overseas communication and trade of coastal Odisha has dwindled due to a number of causes. The freaks of nature, the silting of the sands at the river mouths, fading the spirit of adventure of the Oriyas, downfall of the Hindu kingdom of the Odisha and the advent of Europeans were some among them.

From 1568 C.E. Odisha suffered from the political subjugation of the Afghans, Mughals, Marathas and then the British through successive ages. This political subjugation became a formidable barrier to the revival of the sea-borne trade of the merchants of Odisha. From 17th century Odisha's sea borne trade and overseas communication passed into the hands of European merchants.

The British conquered Odisha in 1803. The conquered territories were scattered under different political jurisdictions. Unfortunately, the East India Company's Government looked at their newly acquired territory either as an administrative appendage of Bengal or just a territorial bridge between Bengal and Madras. Perhaps no other part of British India received so scant an attention from the Government of East India Company as Odisha.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages