Rayagada district

This article is about the district. For its eponymous headquarters, seeRayagada.

Rayagada district
DistrictofOdisha
Top:Jagannath TempleatRayagada Bottom: Hills nearGunupur
Location in Odisha
Coordinates:19.166°N 83.416°E/19.166; 83.416
Country	India
State	Odisha
Headquarters	Rayagada
Government
•Collector & District Magistrate	Ms Parul Patwari, IAS,IAS
•Superintendent of Police	Harisha B.C. IPS,IPS
• Divisional Forest Officer, Rayagada Forest Division	Aswini Kumar Kar, OFS
Area
• Total	7,584.7 km2(2,928.5 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	967,911
• Density	116/km2(300/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Odia,English
• Local	Kui,Sora,Kuvi
Time zone	UTC+5:30(IST)
PIN	765 xxx
Vehicle registration	OD-18
Sex ratio	0.972♂/♀
Literacy	49.76%
Lok Sabhaconstituency	Koraput(ST)
Vidhan Sabhaconstituency	138Gunupur(ST) 139Bissam Cuttack(ST) 140Rayagada (ST)
Municipality	Rayagada Gunupur
Notified Area Council (NAC)	Gudari NAC
Website	www.rayagada.nic.in

Outskirts ofSambalpurRayagada Railway line

Rayagada districtis a district in southernOdisha,astateinIndia,which became a separate district in October 1992. Its population consists mainly oftribes,primarily theKhondsand theSoras.In addition toOdia,KuiandSoraare spoken by the district's indigenous population. It was founded by MaharajahBiswanatha Deba Gajapatiof theSurjyabanshadynasty ofJeypore.

Rayagada covers an area of 7,584.7 square kilometres (2,928.5 sq mi), and is divided into elevenblocks.Agriculture is the chief source of income, andpaddy,wheat,ragi,greenandblack gram,groundnut,sweet potato and maize are the district's major crops.

Administrative setup

The 11 Blocks and Tahasils in Rayagada district under two administrative Sub-Divisions are listed in the following table.

11 Blocks and Tahasils

#	Rayagada Sub-Division	Gunupur Sub-Division
1	Rayagada	Gunupur
2	Kashipur	Gudari
3	Kalyansingpur	Padmapur
4	Kolnara	Ramanaguda
5		Bissam Cuttack
6		Muniguda
7		Chandrapur

There are 17 Police Stations under the three Police Sub-Divisions in Rayagada district are listed in the following table.

17 Police Stations

#	Rayagada Police Sub-Division	Gunupur Police Sub-Division	Bissam Cuttack Police Sub-Division
1	Rayagada P.S.	Gunupur P.S.	Bissam Cuttack P.S.
2	Seskhal P.S.	Gudari P.S.	Muniguda P.S.
3	Tikiri P.S.	Padmapur P.S.	Ambadola P.S.
4	Doraguda P.S.	Puttasing P.S.	Chandrapur P.S.
5	Andirakanch P.S.
6	Kashipur P.S.
7	Chandili P.S., Jaykaypur
8	Kalyansingpur P.S.
9	Energy P.S., Rayagada

History

In the third century BC, during the reign ofAshoka,Odisha was part of theKalingaempire. The hilly track between theVamshadharaandNagavali Riverswas known for its spices.The Rastriks were defeated byKharvela,the emperor of Kalinga, during the battle of Chawpagada.

Vishwanath Dev Gajapati (1527 - 1571 CE), thesuryavanshiking of Nandapur (laterJeypore) established his capital on the bank ofNagavaliand named it Rayagada or Rai-gadh. Under his rule the place flourished economically which proved beneficial to the vast kingdom that stretched from the confines ofJharkhandandWest Bengalto RiverGodavariin south. During his reign he fought a war withQuli Qutb Mulk,the firstQutb ShahiSultanofGolcondaand successfully stopped his advance towards his kingdom. However, he had to surrender the rich fertile land located in the middle of Godavari-Krishna Delta to execute a peace treaty which made Godavari the border of the two kingdoms. Rayagada remained under theKingdom of Jeyporeuntil the dissolution act of 1947.

During theBritish Raj,Rayagada was under the then-newly demotedJeypore Samasthanamand was part ofKoraput district;it was carved from the district on 2 October 1992 as part of Odisha's district-expansion plan.

Economy

The district is reportedly rich inbauxiteandsilicon.In 2006, theMinistry of Panchayati Rajnamed Rayagada one of the country's 250most backward districts(out of a total of640).It is one of the 19 districts in Odisha receiving aid from theBackward Regions Grant Fund(BRGF).

Constituencies

Main article:List of constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly

The district has threeOdisha Legislative Assembly(Vidhan sabha) constituencies.

No.	Constituency	Reservation	Blocks	Member	Party
138	Gunupur	ST	Gunupur, Gudari (NAC), Gunupur, Gudari, Ramanaguda, Padampur	Raghunath Gomango	BJD
139	Bissam Cuttack	ST	Bissam Cuttack, Muniguda, Chandrapur	Jagannath Saraka	BJD
140	Rayagada	ST	Rayagada,Kashipur,Kolnara, Kalyansinghpur	Makaranda Muduli	Independent

Rayagada district is part of theKoraputLok Sabhaconstituency.

Rail transport

Rayagada railway stationhas direct service toChennai,Kolkata,Hyderabad,Bhubaneswar,Raipur,Bengaluru,Ahmedabad,Mumbai,Jamshedpur,JodhpurandNew Delhi.Gunupuris also an important railway station; viaParlakhemundi,it is connected toNaupadaon the main east-coast railway line from Kolkata to Chennai by a 90-kilometre (56 mi)1,676 mm(5 ft 6 in)broad-gaugeline which was converted from762 mm(2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge in 2011. The 40-kilometre (25 mi) narrow-gauge line (the Paralakhemedi Light Railway, or PLR) was established by Gajpatirajas of Paralakhemundi, the formerrajaof Paralakhemedi, to connect his capital withNaupada.The government authorized construction in 1898, and the line was opened to traffic two years later at a cost of₹700,000.

TheEast Coast Railwaybegan in 1893 with construction of the 96-kilometre (60 mi) Cuttack-Khurda Road-Puri line, and its subsequent 1,280-kilometre (800 mi) link along the East Coast toVijayawada(the junction ofSouthern Maratha RailwayandNizam's Guaranteed State Railway) was opened for traffic between 1893 and 1896. The railway brought service to Naupada in 1894.

Due to a policy change by the British government, theBengal Nagpur Railwaytook over East Coast Railway's northern section from Vizianagaram to Cuttack, including thePuribranch line, by 23 January 1902. The PLR was also taken over by the Bengal Nagpur Railway that year. In its first few years, the PLR had incurred losses; after 1910 it began making a profit, which increased after 1924–25. This motivated the raja to extend the line to Gunupur in two phases in 1929 and 1931. There were now ten stations between Naupada and Gunupur: Tekkali, Paddasan, Temburu, Ganguvada, Patapatnam, Paralakhemedi, Kashinagar, Lihuri, Bansidhara and Palasingi. The standard PLR locomotive was a 20-ton 0-6-4 tank engine with 27-inch-diameter (69 cm) coupled wheels and a 4.75-ton axle load.

Management of the BNR was taken over by the government of India in October 1944. On 14 April 1952, when Indian Railways was regrouped, it became part of the Eastern Railway. The merger was short-lived, however, and on 1 August 1955 it was merged with the new South Eastern Railway. A set of four postage stamps was released during the 1987 BNR centennial, one stamp featuring the PL 691 locomotive.

The foundation stone was laid for the Naupada-Gunupur gauge conversion at Naupada on 27 September 2002. On 1 April 2003, PLR became a part of the East Coast Railway. The line was closed for gauge conversion on 9 June 2004. Although the 290-kilometre (180 mi) Khurda-Bolangir broad-gauge line was approved in 1995, only about half the work has been completed.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1901	186,480	—
1911	224,190	+20.2%
1921	217,200	−3.1%
1931	256,152	+17.9%
1941	303,663	+18.5%
1951	341,241	+12.4%
1961	403,471	+18.2%
1971	511,333	+26.7%
1981	608,751	+19.1%
1991	713,984	+17.3%
2001	831,109	+16.4%
2011	967,911	+16.5%
Source: Census of India

Religions in Rayagada district (2011)
Religion			Percent
Hinduism			90.34%
Christianity			8.77%
Islam			0.48%
Other or not stated			0.41%

Rayagada district had apopulationof 967,911 in the2011 Census of India,roughly equal to that ofFijior the US state ofMontana.The district ranked 454th of India's640 districts,and had a population density of 136 inhabitants per square kilometre (350/sq mi).Itspopulation growth ratefrom 2001 to2011 was 15.74 percent.Rayagada has asex ratioof 1,048femalesto 1,000 males,and aliteracy rateof 50.88 percent. 15.18% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 14.41% and 55.99% of the population respectively.

Languages of Rayagada district (2011)

Odia(41.64%)

Kui(33.36%)

Telugu(10.43%)

Sora(8.37%)

Kuvi(3.27%)

Others (2.93%)

At the time of the2011 Census of India,41.64% of the population in the district spokeOdia,33.36%Kui,10.43%Telugu,8.37%Sora,3.27%Kuviand 0.66%Hindias their first language.

The district's tribal population is 57.52 percent of the total. Its 11 blocks have been covered by a tribal sub-plan, with three micro-projects in operation for pre-literate indigenous tribal communities. Rayagada's topography helps the tribal communities maintain their cultural identity; 4,785.36 square kilometres (1,847.64 sq mi) is forested, 777.27 square kilometres (300.11 sq mi) of which isreserved forest.Its predominant tribes are theKhondsand theSoras.

Points of interest

Bhimashankara temple in Bhimapura

• Majhighariani Templein Rayagada
• Jagannath Temple,at the market on the south side of Rayagada, is near Majhighariani Temple.
• Laxminarayan templewas built by Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys inTherubali.
• Paikapada,near Therubali, is known for its PataleshwarShivatemple.
• Chatikona,a small village 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Rayagada, is known for its Shiva temple and waterfalls.
• Maa Markama Templeat Bissamcuttack is the only shrine (Shakti Peethas) of Devi Maa Markama and Maa karkama in the Indian state of Odisha and known for its history and also mentioned in Saraladas'sChandi Purana.
• Minajhola,a village nearGudari,is known for its Shiva temple at the confluence of three rivers: theVamsadhara,the Chauladhua and the Phalaphalia.
• TheDevagiri hill,50 kilometres (31 mi) from Rayagada, near Kalyan Singhpur, is 120 metres (390 ft) and has 476 steps.
• Kumudabali,a small village, is known for its Balunkeswar Shiva temple on the Vamsadhara River. The nearest railway station is inMuniguda,60 kilometres (37 mi) from Rayagada.
• Padmapur,90 kilometres (56 mi) from Rayagada, is known for theNilakantheswar Temple.According to historianSatyanarayana Rajguru,the temple housed the 6th- or 7th-century Buddhist philosopherDharmakirti.
• TheHanging Bridge at Chekaguda,over the Nagavali River, is Odisha's secondsimple suspension bridge.
• TheBhimasankar temple in Bhimpur,100 kilometres (62 mi) from Rayagada and 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Gunupur, is one of India's 12Jyotirlingas.
• The three-dayChaiti Festival,from 27 to 29 December in Rayagada, celebrates tribal art and culture.
• Parsali, a habitat of Dangariya Kandha, a PVTG tribe. One has to take a diversion from Chatikona, before Bissam Cuttack. For serene and picturesque greenery Niyamagiri Hills.

Education

Govind Chandra Dev (Zilla) High School,founded in 1938, is one of the district's oldest high schools.Government Girls' High School,in Rayagada, was founded in 1964. A primary school was founded at theThakkar Bapa Ashramin 1958 for tribal students. TheJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya of Rayagadaand Kendriya Vidyalaya Rayagada are two central government boarding school in Rayagada. There are many ODISHA ADARSHA VIDYALAYA [OAV] and walfare high schools and a EMRS strengthening district's eduacation system.

Rayagada Autonomous College,Model Degree College,Rayagada and Gunupur College, Gunupur are main Degree Colleges in the district. TheUtkal Gourav Madhusudan Institute of Technologyis an engineering school. TheGandhi Institute of Engineering and Technologyis inGunupur.College of Nursingwww.chbmck.orgaffiliated withBerhampur University,managed by theChristian Hospital,Bissam Cuttackoffers B.Sc. Nursing program.

References

• Schnepel, Burkhard (1995).Durga and the King: Ethno-historical Aspects of Politico-Ritual Life in a South Orissan Kingdom.Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.JSTOR3034233.
• Mohanty, Indrajit (2013).Jeypore - A Historical Perspective(PDF).Government of Odisha State.
• KBS Singh (1939).Nandapur A Forsaken Kingdom.Utkal Sahitya Press.

External links

• Official website
• Rayagada Gazetteer