01Kataka of the Gajapatis
Kataka means a royal camp or capital. Odia tradition, kept in the Madala Panji of the Puri temple, gives the town’s beginnings to the Somavamshi kings around the late 10th century, and credits a king of that line with the stone embankment that still holds back the Kathajodi. The Eastern Ganga kings built Barabati fort on the Mahanadi bank, and the Gajapatis who followed ruled from it. Mukunda Deva was the last independent king; after he fell in 1568, the Bengal Sultan’s general Kalapahad ran through Odisha, and the fort passed to the Afghans. Man Singh brought it under Akbar in 1592, the Bhonsles of Nagpur took Odisha in 1751, and the British stormed Barabati on 14 October 1803.
02Bali Jatra and Netaji’s town
On Kartik Purnima Odia families float little boats of banana bark lit with lamps, and at Cuttack a huge fair, the Bali Jatra, fills the Mahanadi bank. It remembers the sadhabas, the merchant mariners of Kalinga who sailed in that season to Bali, Java and Sumatra. Cuttack Chandi is the city’s guardian Devi, and Durga Puja here is famous for its silver-work pandals. Subhas Chandra Bose was born in Cuttack on 23 January 1897, in the house in Oriya Bazar that is now a museum. The capital moved to the newly planned Bhubaneswar in 1948.
The life of this place
- 13th–14th centuryEastern Ganga kings build Barabati fort; Cuttack becomes the royal seat.
- 1568Mukunda Deva falls; the Bengal Sultanate’s army under Kalapahad overruns Odisha.
- 1592Man Singh brings Cuttack under Mughal rule.
- 1751The Bhonsles of Nagpur take Odisha.
- 14 October 1803The British storm Barabati fort.
- 23 January 1897Subhas Chandra Bose is born in Cuttack.
- 1948The capital of Odisha moves to Bhubaneswar.
Barabati’s gateway and moat are beside the stadium; Netaji Birthplace Museum is in Oriya Bazar. Come in Kartik for the Bali Jatra.
