Odia Journalism day

August 4, 1866, the day of glory for odia journalism. ‘Utkal Deepika’ launched itself as Odisha’s first Odia newspaper. Gaurishankar Roy was its editor. It was first published as a weekly and later as a daily. The newspaper was published by the Cuttack Printing Company established in Cuttack by the efforts of Gaurishankar and his close associate Bichitrananda Das.

Utkala Deepika played an important role in giving new directions in the social and political spheres of that time and presenting strong demands to the government for the self-defense of the Odia people. The newspaper made efforts for social reform by raising its voice against abhorrent practices like child marriage. Utkal Deepika’s success created a trend in newspaper publishing in Odisha. Therefore, every year August 4^th is celebrated as Odisha Journalism Day.

‘Magazine’ has played an important role in Odia journalism. Its journey began with a manuscript magazine in 1769. Sadhusundar Das of Kujibar Math near Cuttack Choudwar started a handwritten journal in 1769 called ‘Kujibara Patrika’. At that time, the journey was started with the aim of informing the common people about the current situation and about the odia language. It is true that with time it is now reaching digital, but Kujibara patrika continue to carry its golden history. Gyanaruna was published in 1849 as the first print magazine after Kujibara patra. Later magazines were published under the name Prabodha Chandrika in 1856 and Arunodaya in 1861. But it could not last much longer.

Within 3 years, the publication of the said magazines was stopped due to various reasons. Later, in 1873, a monthly magazine called Utkal Darpan was published from Balasore. It is the first literary magazine in Odia language. Later in 1878 Utkal Madhup was published, in 1885 Pradeep magazine was published for a short period of time. The Utkal Sahitya magazine published in 1897 ushered in a new era in Odia literature. Subsequently, several magazines were published. Mukur in 1906, Satyabadi in 1915, Sahakara in 1920, Navabharat in 1934 etc. Magazines were very helpful in popularizing the Odia language and literature.