Bengal Gazetteers: Feudatory States of Orissa

Before Independence, British administrators in India published imperial district gazetteers, including those for Angul, Balasore, Cuttack, Koraput, Puri and the ‘Feudatory States of Orissa’. This gazetteer, published in 1910, describes various aspects of this group of 24 dependent territories attached to the Orissa Division. In 1910, these were: 17 states in the Orissa Division known as the Tributary Mahals or Garhjats; five Odiya-speaking states formerly attached to the Chhattisgarh Division of the Central Provinces; and two states formerly attached to the Chota Nagpur Division. Part one of the gazetteer surveys the economy, society, politics and administrative setup as well as the history, geography, climate, biodiversity and natural resources of all the Feudatory State as a whole. Part two covers the same aspects but has a detailed chapter on each territory. Ten years after Independence, in 1957, the responsibility of compiling the district gazetteers was transferred from the Centre to the states. In 1999 (in Odisha), this responsibility was transferred from the Revenue Department to the Gopabandhu Academy of Administration.