324 M. M. Cliakravarti —Language and Literature of Orissa. [No. 4, 
speech is prevalent. Throughout the whole Mughalbandi the Oriya of 
one place is easily understood by another. This homogeneity is probably 
due to the uniformity of political rules and of customs. Under what¬ 
ever sway Orissa came, it came generally entire ; and the Telugus, the 
Mu gh als. the Marathas and the English took possession of whole 
Orissa at the same time, instead of conquering it piecemeal. The 
Mu gh al band! people felt no disruption, and thus an uniformity of 
customs as well as of speech resulted. The tendency to homogeneity 
was further strengthened by the isolation of Orissa. Shut in between 
a boisterous sea and a harbourless coast on the east, and hills and 
almost pathless jungles on the west, little outside trade entered and 
little intermixture of foreign tongues. Consequently the language in 
the deltaic portion remained nearly unchanged. 
This homogeneity is observable, however, only in the Mughalbandi 
tract, i.e., the regulation districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore (southern 
half). Beyond this area the Oriya is undergoing changes to a smaller 
Or greater extent according to geographical position. The changes are 
primarily due to the influence of the three great vernaculars by which 
Orissa is surrounded. In the north-east and north is the Bengali; in 
the north-west and west is the Hindi ; in the south-west and south is 
the Telugu. The changes are perceptible even in the adjoining main 
tracts ; and are most clearly marked in the parts of the Oriya speaking 
area included in each province, e.g., in Bengal, the southern parts of 
the Miduapore District, and the eastern and southern parts of the 
Singbhum District 1 ; in the Central Provinces, the Sambalpur Dis¬ 
trict and the adjoining tributary states of Sonepur, Patna, &c. ; in 
Madras Presidency—the entire north of the Ganjam District down to 
Iclihapore including the hilly zemindaris of the three Khemdis and the 
hilly zemindari of Jeypore in the Vizagapatam District. In these areas 
the current Oriya has been much changed especially in the tone and the 
pronunciation ; and a Kataki Oriya would not often understand the talk 
of a Dantani Oriya (Miduapore), a Sonepuri Oriya (C. Provinces) ora 
Berhampuri Oriya (Ganjam.) 
These dialects of the Oriya Language have not yet been studied, and 
afford a good field for philological researches. From my scanty materials 
I find that the Bengali has been influencing not only in Bengal Proper 
1 “ Singbhum is the most polyglot district in the Lower Provinces, the Ho 
dialect of Mundari being the parent tongue of 2,23,031 persons, Uriya of 1,14,402, 
Bengali of 1,06,686, Sonthali of 59,212, Hindi of 25,867 and Korwa of 15,533 
persons.” O’Donnel’s report on the Bengal Census of 1891, p. 236. It would be 
interesting to watch the further struggle between the various vernaculars in this 
district. « 
