1897.] M. M. Chakravarti —Language and Literature of Orissa. 321 
The upper classes came in small batches and found the country more 
or less peopled by the aboriginal tribes. The earliest authentic histori¬ 
cal records of Orissa —the Edicts of Asoka on the Dhauli and Jaugada 
rocks—show that the western border was occupied by a group of 
aboriginal races. The edicts were inscribed about 260 B.C. In 
Ptolemy’s Geography (first century A.D.) and in the epic poems we find 
the Garjats occupied by Saureae or Savars. Many Savars are still 
to be seen in the western part of the Cuttack District and the North- 
Western portion of the Vizagapatam District. Though now scattered 
and in small groups, the Savars appear to have been made up in old 
days of powerful tribes peopling the hilly tracts from the Godavari 
up to the Vindhya hills. With the Savars there must have been other 
tribes such as Khands and Bhuyas. By contact with the aboriginal 
speeches the Aryan language would have been to some extent in¬ 
fluenced. The modification lay probably in the alteration of the tone, 
which is sharp among the savages, and in the addition of a few words 
denoting new trees or animals. The vocabulary of the aboriginal 
speeches being limited, its influence on the more advanced Oriya must 
have been however very limited. 
(3). Next to Sanskrit, the Telugu exercised the largest influence 
on the Oriya language. The reason is to be found in the political 
history of the people. The Kaliqga or Teliggana kings ruled long over 
Orissa. The edicts of the king Piyadasi declare that he conquered 
this kingdom from a Kaliqga monarch. The Udayagiri cave inscription 
(miscalled Aira inscription) shows that in the second century B.C. 
Kharavela, a Jain King of Kaligga, ruled over Orissa. The Eastern 
Calukya Kings now and then conquered Orissa. The Kesari Kings 
■were more or less rulers of Kaliqga which was also the case with their 
successors the Gaqgavan^as and the Suryavari^as. The last independ¬ 
ent Oriya King was specifically known as Telijjga Mukunda Deva. 
In fact from at least the eighth century A.D. to the Muhammadan 
conquest in 1568 A.D., Orissa was continuously subject to the Kings 
of Kaliqga or Teliqgana. Even after the Muhammadan rule the bulk 
of the Puri trade remained in the hands of the Telugus. Telugu 
boatmen and fishermen ( nuliyas ) are still to be found as far north 
as the Devi river in Cuttack District. Telugu had another advantage. 
It was early cultivated, and in it were composed numerous songs and 
poems, some of which are considered to be the sweetest in the world 
of the Indian vernaculars. 1 
1 Nannaya Bhatta who composed a Telngu Grammar and translated the Maha- 
bharata into Telngu is not later than the tenth century. See Sewell’s sketch of 
S. Indian dynasties, p. 18, note 1, 
