ABSTRACT
It is not a new observation that Oriya literature, sahitya, emerged as an academic discipline in the 1870s. Natabara Samantaraya says as much in his classic Odia Sahityara Itihasa: 1803–1920. 1 He observes that literature did not feature as a subject to be taught in colonial school syllabi before 1867. Instead, expertise in grammar and language (vyakarana o bhasa jnana) received marked emphasis in the curriculum. Pupils cultivated their abilities in these subjects and were tested on the same in diverse examinations. The larger colonial philosophy of school education and textbook production emphasized dissemination of general information (sadharana jnana bitarana). Possibly deemed unfit as a vehicle for the dissemination of general information, literature received no recognition as a subject worth teaching in schools.
