|
|
| Home
» Puri |
|
About Puri |
|
| |
The sources to support the pre-historic civilizations in areas what are now known as Puri, are mainly the stone tools that have been collected from the surface. It is hard for the historians to say something concrete about the history of its earliest era until the time when the Chinese traveler and pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited the region. The word 'Che-li-ta-lo' found in his records was identified, though dubiously, with the area covered by the present Puri, which was supposed to be known by the name of 'Charitra' at that time.
The town was at the height of its glory when it became an important seat of Vaisnavism, after the construction of the temple of Purusottama Jagannath by Chodaganga Deva.
| |
Later the town came to be known as Purusottama Kshetra, as we get evidence of it from the Nagari Plate of Anangabhima III who ruled the region during the early part of the thirteenth century. The Mughal and the Maratha referred to Puri as Purusottama Chattar or simply Chhatar in their official records, which again strengthens the conjecture of it being known by the name of Purusottama Kshetra during those period. Later, for the reason unknown to us, it became Purusottama Puri, and by the same token, it came to be known as Puri. The fact that the instances of 'Pooree' came recurrently in the British records give enough evidence of it.
The Mughal gained control of the region comprising the entire Orissa in 1592 and divided it into three parts for revenue purposes. These three parts, termed as circars by the Mughals, were Jaleswar, Bahadra and Kataka. Puri came under the Kataka Circar. During the Maratha rule from 1751 to 1803, Orissa was divided into five Chakalas. A major portion of Puri became a part of the Pipli Chakala. Orissa was subjected to another change when the British overtook power from the Marathas in 1803. The Province of Orissa was now divided into northern and southern divisions, with the river Mahanadi forming the boundary between the two. However, this was not to be the final shape of the province and later years saw several changes in it.
Puri became a district in 1828 when the whole of the province was divided into three districts, with Balaore and Cuttack being the other two. Orissa was separated from Bihar in 1936, and made a sparate province by the British. The area of the district of Puri increased significantly after the amalgamation of the several feudatory states with the province. The boundary of Puri continued to reflect changes made by the authorities even after the independence of the country. The recent change occurred in 1995 when the district was disintegrated to give way to three new districts in the state of Orissa. These were Nayagarh, Khurdha and Puri.
|
|
|
