History of Odia language
The spoken and written language of our state is called Odia. It is now recognized as a classical language. "Odia word" is a variant of the word Udriya. An ancient text called "Natyasastra" written by Bharata Muni mentions the languages spoken by Shabar, Avir, and Odra castes. Judging from that point of view, about two thousand years ago, there was a spoken language called Odra or Udriya in this region; which has evolved into the Odia language over time. The Vedic language is the oldest spoken and written language on earth* (disputed ). On the basis of that Vedic language, the cultural language was born. Earlier, Sanskrit was the written and spoken language of the Arya. The language spoken by the people was called the Prakrit. We find examples of Prakrit language in ancient Sanskrit drama. The names of those native languages are Shauraseni, Maharastri, Peishachi, Magadhi, Pali etc. The Tripitaka, the scriptures of the Buddhists, is an ancient Prakrit written in the Pali language. Odia language was also called Prakrit earlier. Jagannath Das translated the Sanskrit Bhagavat into Odia and wrote-
PRAKRIT BANDHE BHAGABATA, KAHAI JAGANNATHA DASA
Evolution Of Odia Language
"PRAKRUTI" - this word means 'public' or 'people'. So the public language is "Prakrit". It is mainly related to the Sanskrit language. "Writing" was not discovered in the ancient Vedic period. People used to remember the Vedas by listening to them. Hence the other name of the Vedas is "Shruti". At that time the language of the Vedas was the spoken and literary language of that time. The origin of the Sanskrit language from the Vedic language of the Vedas. The language spoken by the public at all times can be called a Prakrit language.
Later, the modified form of the ancient native language is called by linguists "Apabhransha language". Around the 8th century AD, Odra Language was (Apabharansha) corrupted ancient language. The Odia language was formed by borrowing many words from Sanskrit and Prakrit languages and dialects like Shabar and Avira. Our Odia language belongs to the Indo Aryan language-family. Other languages of this family are Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi etc. These languages have passed through about three levels; they are-
- Ancient Indo-Aryan language or Vedic language
- Medieval Indo-Aryan language or Prakrit
- Modern Indo-Aryan language
Semi-Magadhi is a branch of the Magadhi native language. The influence of Pali and Semi-Magadhi can be seen among the modern Eastern Indian languages. Languages like Bengali, Odia and Assamese are Aryan languages of Eastern India. In terms of pronunciation, Oda seems to be older than Bengali and Assamese. The language used in the Elephant cave inscription near Bhubaneswar (Udayagiri) is a Pali-Prakrit equivalent. Two thousand years ago, this was the native language of the people of Utkal. Corresponding languages were prevalent among the Ang-Bang-Kalinga kingdoms. Around the 7th/8th century AD, this vernacular was introduced as a corrupt language. We can see the vision of that corruption from the Charyapada (Charyapada or Charyacharyapada Binischaya) written by the Siddhacharyas. By the 8th century, there were many Vajra yana and Sahaja Yana (sahaja chari) Buddhist Monk traveling around different places preaching various religious doctrines in Doha songs. According to some, their number was 84. They are called 84 Siddhas.
Some of them were natives of this state. From the Dohapadabali we get an idea about the status of the Odia language at that time.
"Na-ara Bahiri Dombi Tohari Kudiya Chhoi Chhoi Jahi So Brahmana Nadiya."
"ନଅର ବାହିରି ରେ ଡୋମ୍ବୀ ତୋହରୀ କୁଡ଼ିଆ ଛୋଇ ଛୋଇ ଯାହି ସୋ ବ୍ରାହ୍ମଣ ନାଡିଆ।"
"Alo dombi toye sama kariba mo sang nighana Khanhu kapali joilang........."
"ଆଲୋ ଡୋମ୍ବୀ ତୋଏ ସମ କରିବା ମୋ ସାଙ୍ଗ ନିଘନ କାହ୍ନୁ କାପାଳି ଜୋଇଲାଙ୍ଗ........।"
"Ekashaha Paduan Chaushathi Pakhudi; Tanhi Chadhi Nache Dombi Bapudi"
"ଏକଶ ପଦୁଅଁ ଚଉଷଠି ପାଖୁଡି ତହିଁ ଚଢି ନାଚେ ଡୋମ୍ବୀ ବାପୁଡି।"
"Alo Dombi, Tote Puchhami Sadbhabe Assi, Jasi Dombi Kahara Nabe"
"ଆଲୋ ଡୋମ୍ବୀ, ତୋତେ ପୁଚ୍ଛମି ସଦବାବେ ଆସସି, ଯାସି ଡୋମ୍ବୀ କାହାର ନାବେ"।
The Apabhransha language used in these Dohas resembles the original form of the Proto Bengali-Assamese language. Therefore, there is more similarity between these three languages.
Odia Language Distribution
Currently Odia is a primarily spoken language in the Indian states of Odisha, parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh.Odia is the official language of Orissa and the second official language of Jharkhand.
