ORISSA DIVISION
249
of the Central Provinces in r9o5, two large zaminddras which were
previously comprised within that District remaining attached to the
Central Provinces.
Land revenue
District. Area in Population, and cesses,
miles. 1903-.),
square ,got, in thousands
of rupees.
Cuttack . 3,654 2,062,758 13,gr
Balasore . 2,085 1,071,197 7,30
Angul x,681 191,911 87
Purl . 2,499 1,017,284 7,97
Sambalpur. 3,851 659,971 1,86
Total 13,770 5,003,121 31,91
* Includes Rs.4,500 (additional rate) and Rs. 18,300 (patwari cess).
M In the Census Report of 1901 the area of Cuttack was shown as 3,629
are miles, of Bat asore as 2,059 square miles, and of Purl as 2,472 square
es. The figures adopted above for purl are taken from the Settle-
ment Report, while those for Cuttack and Balasore were supplied by the
Surveyor-General.
The term Orissa, property speaking, means the country in which the
speakers of Oriya form the dominant people. During the period of
British rule the name has been applied to the tract extending from
the Chilka Lake to the Subarnarekha river, which comprises the four
Districts first mentioned and also the ORISSA TRIBUTARY STATES, a
group of twenty-four Feudatory States, with a population in 19oi of
3,173,395 and an area of 28,046 square miles. The Commissioner
of Orissa is Superintendent of these States, in respect of which he
exercises the powers of a Sessions Judge and High Court.
The population of the Division increased from 3,554,871 in 1872 to
4,309,923 in 1881, to' 4,666,227 in i8gi, and to 5,003,121 in igoi.
The density is 363 persons per square mile, compared with 438 in
Bengal as a whole. In rgoi Hindus constituted 95•5 per cent. of the
total; there were io6,88g Muhammadans, go,o38 Animists, and 5,751
Christians.
The four Districts first mentioned occupy a narrow alluvial tract
between the sea and the Chota Nagpur plateau, while Sambalpur, lying
in the valley of the Mahanadi, is separated from them by a broken
hilly tract and from the Chattisgarh plain on the west by a jungle-
covered range of hills. The Division possesses a language of its own,
and a system of castes differing alike from those of Bengal and of
Madras. Oriya is also spoken over a considerable area in the
northern Districts of Madras and in the adjoining parts of the Cen-
tral Provinces and of Chota Nagpur, while it has largely modified
the Bengali of South Midnapore ; the distinctive Oriya castes are
also well represented for a considerable distance beyond the borders
of the Division.
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