The present state of Odisha which is mainly a part of ancient Kalinga Empire is situated on the East-cost of India. Odisha is surrounded by Bay of Bengal in the east, Chattisgarh in the west, Jharkhand in the north, Andhra Pradesh in the south and West Bengal in the northeast. The new shape of Odisha is not very old as it was made a separate province in 1936. Before that it was a part of Bihar for twenty four years and also a part of Bengal  before 1912. At various points in ancient and medieval times, the land corresponding roughly with modern Odisha was known as Utkal, Kalinga, Kosala and Udra.

The state of Utkal is named after Utkal- the eldest son of king Dhrub, the son of king Uttanapad. The states  Kalinga, Anga (Bihar), Banga (Bengal), Andhra etc. are named after the kings of those territories who were the sons of king Bali.  Bali was the son of Sutapa, the 5th forefather of king Dasaratha. The name ‘Udra’ is derived from the yogic posture ‘Uddiyana or Uddan-mudra’ which was very much practised in Kosala (previous Sambalpur). The names  Odiya, Odianee have come from Uddan-mudra. So gradually Udra became known as Udra-visaya, then Odra-visaya, Oda-visa, Odisa. Orissa  and finally Odisha.

During Mahavarat war between Kauravas & Pandavas the king of Kalinga and his son had joined with the Kauravas and were fought bravely with Pandavas.  Dr. R. K. Mukherjee, a renowned historian of India has expressed, ‘Ancient Orissa or the then Kalinga was ruled by many empresses such as Dandi Mahadei & others for long two centuries’. This is an unique feature in the history of the whole world. So for many centuries preceding and following the birth of Christ, Kalinga was a very strong political power. Its territories       extended from the Ganga to the Godavari and had trade relations with Java, Sumatra, Bali etc.

The Nandas of Magadha were the first to conquer Odisha. In 261 BC, Mauryan emperor Ashok-The Great defeated the Kalinga sena in the most bloodshed Kalinga War at Dhauli near river Daya. But after the war, Ashoka adopted Buddhism and became “Dharmashoka from Chandashoka”. King Kharavela regained independence for Kalinga in 183 BC,  and achieved great power by conquering vast tracts of land and setting up a mighty Kalinga Empire. After Kharavela Kalinga remained under the control of the Satavahan kings of south. In the year 342 AD, Kalinga was under the rule of Samudra Gupta of Gupta dynasty. In 610 AD, Odisha came under king Sasanka.   After that king  Harshavardhan conquered Odisha and propagated Mahayana Buddhism in Odisha. Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang visited Odisha in  638 AD during Harsha’s rule. In the middle of the 7th century AD  Soma-Vansi dynasty  was  established in Orissa. The famous Soma Vansi Rulers were Mahabhanu Gupta Janamejaya (680AD-712AD) , Mahasiva Gupta  Yayati (712AD-714 AD), and Uddyot Keshari (840AD-880AD) . Many temples were erected at  Bhubaneswar during the rule of Uddyot Keshari.

The Gangas succeeded the Kesharis and  ruled Kalinga till 1435 with their capital at Kalinga Nagar. The kingdom of famous king of this dynasty Cholagangadev was extended from the Ganga to Godavari. The world famous Jagannath Temple at Puri was rebuilt to its present structure  during his rule. The famous Sun temple at Konark was also built by Narasingh Deva another king of the Ganga Dynasty. Then Suryavansi kings like Kapilendra Dev, Purushottam Dev and Prataprudra Dev ruled Odisha. The last Hindu ruler of Odisha was Mukunda Dev of Bhoi dynasty, in 1563.

The Turko-Afgans were the first to lay the foundation of Muslim rule in Orissa in 1568 AD. In 1590 AD Odisha became a part of the Mughal rule and after the fall of Mughal Empire in 1760, a part of Odisha remained under the Nawabs of Bengal and the rest went to the Marathas. In 1757 the Britishers took the Bengal region to their hand by defeating the Nawab of Bengal and in 1803 they also conquered the Maratha regions. So in 1803 the British rule was fully  established in Odisha. They administered Odisha by dividing it as two separate units-the Northern   Division and the Southern    Division.

It was only in April 1936 that the Britishers constituted Odisha as a separate province on linguistic basis, with the exception of 20 princely states that stayed outside the provincial administration. Utkal Gourav Madhu Babu, Utkalmani Gopabandhu, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati and Fakir Mohan Senapati  were the main founders of Modern Orissa. Finally after independence in 1947, all these princely states except Saraikela and Kharasuan (now in Bihar) merged with Odisha.