Kalahandi district

Kalahandi (locally pronounced Kalahani) is a district of Odisha in India. The region had a glorious past and great civilisation in ancient time. Archaeological evidence of stone age and Iron Age human settlement has been recovered from the region. Asurgarh offered an advanced, well civilised, cultured and urban human settlement about 2000 years ago in the region. In South Asia it is believed that the lands of Kalahandi district and Koraput district were the ancient places where people started cultivation of paddy. In ancient time it was known as Mahakantara (meaning Great Forest) and Karunda Mandal, which means treasure of precious stones like karandam (Corundum/Manik), Garnet (red stone), Beruz, Neelam (Sapphire/blue stone), and Alexandra etc. Manikeswari (the goddess of Manikya or Karandam) is the clan deity of Kalahandi may also signify its historical name.

It was a princely state in British India and in post independence period it merged with Odisha state in India as Kalahandi district comprising current Kalahandi district and Nuapada district. In 1967, Kashipur block from Kalahandi district was transferred to Rayagada district for administrative reason. In the 1980s, Kalahandi's name became associated with backwardness and starvation death, which is known as "Kalahandi Syndrome". Despite its backwardness it is one of the rich regions in history, agriculture, forest resources, gemstone, bauxite, folk dance, folk music, folklore, handicrafts and arts. In 1993, Nuapada sub-division was carved out as a separate district, but Kalahandi (Lok Sabha constituency) continues to constitute present Kalahandi district and Nuapada district together.

Kalahandi (poem)

"Kalahandi" is perhaps the best known poem of Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan, the Indian poet, writer and activist, and 2007 it won Kendriya Sahitya Akademi's Indian Literature Golden Jubilee Award for Poetry in 2007. The poem received critical acclaim following its publication in the journal Indian Literature in December 2007.

The Poem

Origin of the poem

The poem was first written by Dr Pradhan in his mother tongue Oriya in 1992 when he was a university student at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It was subsequently translated by the poet himself into English and got published in Vani Vikas, the literary journal of Utkal University in 1994 under the author's pen-name of Helios El Sol. In the words of the poet, the single event that prompted him to write the poem was "a news-item published in the daily Samaja in 1992 which described the story of a poor tribal woman who was compelled to sell off her six-months old child for a paltry sum of forty rupees in the face of starvation..." The poet had spent a few years in Kalahandi in his early childhood as also during his adult years as a researcher and investigator.

Kalahandi (Lok Sabha constituency)

Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 21 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Orissa state in eastern India.

Assembly segments

Before delimitation in 2008, the legislative assembly segments, which constituted this parliamentary constituency were: Khariar, Dharamgarh, Koksara, Junagarh, Bhawanipatna, Narla and Kesinga.

Following delimitation, this constituency currently comprises the following legislative assembly segments:

Members of Parliament