History
It was the capital of Orissa from 1568 to 1803. It is also known for its fort, often described as the "last independent fort". The commander who kept it free from British East India Company was Bakshi Jagabandhu, popularly called 'Paika Bakshi'.
The Savaras tribal group, who are still to be found in the district in some pockets, once heavily populated the area. Khurda came into prominence when the first Rajas of the Khordha dynasty, Ramachandra Deva, made it the capital of his kingdom during the last part of the 16th century. Khurda suffered repeated onslaughts from Muslim and Maratha cavalry but its royal house retained independence till 1804, when the British East India Company dispossessed Raja of his territory following the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
Khurda occupies a distinct place in the historical map of Orissa. Khurda was the capital of Orissa Kingdom from 1568. British government took Orissa under its rule in 1803. But it could not include Khurda in its territory till 1827. The strong protest from Paikas of Khurda shook the backbone of British rule in Orissa. Khurdagada is known as the "Last Independent Fort" of India. Now the remains of this historic fort lies as an evidence of India's glorious past. Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa belongs to this district.
Read more about this topic: Khordha District
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)