Orissa Languages

Among the various Orissa Languages, Oriya Hindi, English, Bengali are the main languages that are spoken in the region. Orissa is inhabited by people of diverse culture and tradition who speak various different languages. Oriya is the most popular Orissa Language, spoken by the people of the region. Oriya belongs to the Aryan family of languages. It is closely linked to the languages of Maithili, Assamese and Bengali. It has very close resemblance to the eastern Magadhi.

Oriya language has a long and a very ancient history. The first dated, inscription in Oriya was discovered at Urajang during 1051 AD. But recently several discoveries have been made of Sanskrit inscriptions with Oriya words in it. These inscriptions were reported from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, that pushes back the lineage to the 6th century AD.

During the period of Surya dynasty (1435-1523), Oriya language reached its zenith. This period is remembered for the Oriya literary activities. During this period the great epics and nearly all the Puranas and some Upanishads were translated and also reinterpreted.

Oriya language has been constantly influenced by the languages of the neighboring areas. A number of the languages of the Aryan and Dravidian families and also of the Austric group of languages has inflenced Oriya. Some of the linguistic variations of Oriya are Ganjami (Ganjam and Koraput), Baleswari (Balasore), Laria (Sambalpur), Bhatri (Koraput), Chhatisgarhi (Chhatisgarh of Madhya Pradesh and neighboring areas of Orissa) and Medinipuri (Midnapur district of West Bengal), Sambalpuri (Sambalpur and other western districts), Besides, hilly regions of north and south Orissa have their own local versions of Oriya with many linguistic peculiarities.