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The social and political context of medieval Orissa was informed by a kind of religious eclecticism. This religious eclecticism was organized around the institution of Lord Jagannath² at Puri, who had almost assumed the status of the principal state deity. Various ruling dynasties irrespective of their original sectarian affinities were assimilated into the denominational polyphony represented by Lord Jagannath. For example, though the Somavanshis were Shaiva-Saktas, they tempered their sectarian edge to be accommodated into the cult of Jagannath who was principally a Vaishnav deity. Similarly, the Gangas, originally Shaiva by faith, consolidated the accommodative and tolerant practice of faith around Jagannath. By the time Kapilendra Dev came to the throne, this assimilative spirit had become so pronounced that he could proclaim himself as Shaiva, Shakta and Vaishnava at the same time while he worshipped Lord Jagannath.

          This spirit of religious assimilation could have been the basis of the Gangas’ hold over power for so long and the ability of Kapilendra to build an empire. It was evident that the Gangas used their religious tolerance and language policy of issuing proclamations in three languages viz. Telugu, Sanskrit and Oriya as a tactical ploy to appease their Oriya subjects, for, outside the Oriya-speaking domains, they were neither devotees of Lord Jagannath nor staunch followers of Vaishnavism (Satyanarayana:1982). Kapilendra Dev also buttressed his empire-building enterprise with religious eclecticism and language loyalty. However, this strong language loyalty, which was an asset for Kapilendra when he organized the Oriyas for empire building, ultimately became a liability once the empire became expansive. The non-Oriya speaking areas of the empire could not be welded together culturally with the center of power. Thus, the vast empire had already been riven with internal contradictions during Kapilendra’s lifetime. By the time Purushottama Dev ascended the throne, these contradictions had brought about a crisis for the state. This crisis was accentuated by a protracted economic mismanagement. Kapilendra spent the better part of his life raising an army and supporting it through the state revenue. During Purushottama’s time, the state became unable to generate enough resources to maintain a huge army and administer the far-flung provinces of the empire. When Prataparudra ascended the throne, Orissa was a crumbling state. However, the central part of the empire was held together merely by religious, linguistic and cultural sentiments.

Thus, when Chaitanya came, Orissa was a failed state but a culturally vibrant linguistic unit. For the next three hundred years this phenomenon continued defying conventional logic that ascribes the cause of cultural vibrancy to the prosperity and growth of the state. The vibrancy of the culture during that time can be discerned from the proliferation of written discourse and translational activity. However, the distribution of translated texts and creative works among the various Oriya speaking regions was uneven. This unevenness can be explained by the socio-political context that followed the fall of Gajapati kings. Most of the historians of medieval Orissa like B.C. Ray (1989) and M.A. Haque (1980) have failed to develop a coherent narrative of the context because of their inability to understand the regional dynamics within the Oriya-speaking people. The three main regions of Orissa had separate trajectories of socio-cultural growth because of the varying political–economic contexts.

          At the beginning of the 16^th century, the western region of Orissa was already under the control of Chauhan ruler. Their rule continued for more than four hundred years, unhindered even during the Muslim rule over the rest of Orissa. Only small parts of the region came under direct British administration after 1849. The socio-political character of western Orissa thus had a trajectory of growth different from that of the rest of Orissa. Of course the cultural affinities between the western and eastern segments established during the Somavanshi kings in the 10^th century continued in some form, but the effect of the cultural upheaval after Sarala Das was not felt in these areas.³ The difference between the spoken languages of these regions could be one of the reasons for the lack of growth of a uniform literary tradition across the various regions. The spoken language of western Orissa was derived from a different strain of Prakrit than the spoken language used in the eastern part.

          Secondly, the Chauhan rulers claimed that they were of Rajput origin and had migrated from north India. They patronized Sanskrit and Hindi, which were popular in north India at the expense of Oriya. Therefore, before the 19^th century we come across stray texts like Sashi Sena by Pratap Ray, Sudhasara Gita by Chandramani Das, Bharata Savitri and Kapata Pasa by Bhima Dhibara and Saraswata Gita by Ratanakara Meher. Adhyatma Ramayana is the only translated text of the region during this pre-colonial era. Its translator Gopala Telenga was the court poet of Ajit Singh, the king of Samabalpur in the 18^th century. That only one translated text was produced under the patronage of the court during all these years is proof of the apathy of the ruling establishments towards Oriya literature in general and translational practice in particular. So while discussing the development of translational activity in medieval Orissa, the western region can be conveniently put aside.

          The importance of eastern/coastal Orissa in terms of the development of translation is not merely because of Sarala Das, but also because of the tradition of translation activity that followed him. The Pancha Sakhas belonged to this area and their sphere of operation was within the districts of Puri and Cuttack, which were close to the religious and administrative centers of power. Several translations of Gitagobinda were also undertaken in this region. With the possible exception of Jagannath Das’s Srimad Bhagabata all these translation followed the model set up by Balaram Das with minor variations here and there. Translational activity was initiated by three texts of Balaram Das viz. Jagamohan Ramayana, Bhagabad Gita, and Uddhab Gita. Bamana Purana, another text ascribed to Balaram demonstrates translational strategies and other internal evidence, which are more common to an 18^th century text. For example, an identity centered on Lord Jagannath, which was common to Balaram’s text, is absent here. Moreover, the vocabulary seems to be a part of the 17^th century practice influenced by Arabic and Persian languages. Thus, we encounter two models of translation in the 16^th century coastal Orissa with their variants, one set up by Balaram and the other by Jagannath Das. Towards the 17^th century, after this area came under direct Mughal rule, translation activity seems to have dwindled. Mughal rulers’ involvement with Orissa was confined to collecting revenue through their subedars. They neither participated in, nor contributed to, the cultural life of the people. Whatever translations we encounter in this region after the 17^th century were therefore undertaken at the religious centres or the minor Gadajats or principalities under petty Oriya kings and zamindars.

          The focus of translation shifted to the south after 17^th century. The southern part of Orissa (from Chilika Lake onwards) had been occupied by Qutbsahi since the late 16^th century. Two citations in Satyanarayana (1983) about the strategy behind the administration of Qutbsahi rulers in general and their greatest ruler Sultan Quli in particular, are worth quoting here:

(The Qutbsahi kings) believed that it was expedient to allow a large measure of freedom to the Hindus who formed the bulk of the people subject to their rule, so that they might establish their power on firm and lasting foundations. This fact perhaps explains why they condemned the acts of intolerance perpetuated occasionally by some of their overzealous subordinates.

Further,

Of all the Muslim dynasties that ruled India, the Qutbsahi of Golconda was the most enlightened. True, they plundered and destroyed Hindu Temples in the enemy’s territory during the course of invasions, but within their own dominions the Hindus enjoyed a measure of religious freedom, not known in other Muslim kingdoms (516).

          Because of the measure of freedom granted, and the influence of enlightenment, the chieftains of southern Orissa under Qutbsahi during 17^th century, pursued a policy of patronizing the written discourse both in Sanskrit and in Oriya. This cultural practice continued in south Orissa even when it came under the Nizams of Hyderabad in the third decade of the 18^th century and under the British colonial administration in the seventh decade of the same century. The cultural autonomy prevalent in this area was so resilient that it remained unaffected until the last decade of the 19^th century despite various changes in the political domain and administrative set-up. This relative autonomy and a stable steady cultural atmosphere proved extremely fertile for  translation activity. Translation of almost three-fourth of the texts mentioned earlier had been undertaken in this area during the three hundred years.

          In order to have an idea of the strategies and methods of translation obtaining in medieval times a detailed analysis of the major translated texts is called for.

 

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