Orissa is Odisha and Oriya is now Odia.

Odisha (until recently known as Orissa) was formed in 1926. With the merger of the states after the independence of India from British rules in 1947, the new Odisha became nearly twice as big in size and became one of the major territories of the Indian sub-continent. In course of the time, this eastern province of India has different names with varying territories. Some of the known names are Kalinga, Utkal, Koshala, Toshali, and Chedi .
In its long history spanning more than just the present millennium, the region of modern Orissa was known by different names at different points of time-Kalinga, Utkala, Kongada and Odr-desha.

Ancient Orissa had a number of important ports such as Paloura, Tamralipti and Dharmra along Orissa's 482 km long open coastline. It is little wonder then that a flourishing maritime trade existed between Paloura (now Puri) and the Indonesian islands. As a result, the influence of the Pali language and Buddhism spread, in due course, to Southeast Asia. The old Buddhist connection with these regions is visible in the 'Peace Pagoda' built by the Japanese Buddhists in this century and the Dhavateswar temple on the Dhauli hilltop near Bhubaneswar.
It is noteworthy that the first Aryan immigration from India into Ceylon also took place from the shores of Kalinga. Ashok the Mauryan King of Magadh, invaded Kalinga in 261 BC and this event has gone down in history as the Great Kalinga war. Then the people of Kalinga offered a relentless & dauntless resistance, but they lost at last. How desperate was the battle, how bitterly was it fought, and how terrible were the results, are known from Ashok’s own descriptions. This is what he wrote about the Kalinga war in his thirteenth Rock Edict. The country of Kalinga was conquered when King Priyadarshan, beloved of the Gods had been anointed eight years. One hundred and fifty thousand were there from captured, one hundred thousand were there slain, and many times as many died. The conquered Kalinga conquered her conqueror. This was the last war fought by him after which he became the great champion of Buddhism and upheld the values of peace and non-violence.
Then after that in the first century BC, under King Kharvel a famous king ,Jainism became the major religion and Buddhism declined. Khandagiri and Udayagiri are the living examples of the religion which was practiced, and gave a lot of information about those days. Later on Jainism vanished and hinduisim took its place in the 7th century AD. During this period ganga were the ruling dynasties who fought hard to keep the muslims away . By the end of 16th century , Mughals defeated them and gained control over them. After the mughals it was ruled by the Marathas and British. It has also shown its military strength and prowess during Buxi Jagabandhu, period of the warrior of Khurda Paikas. The glories of Orissa ended in later half of 16th century. Two centuries later the British administered the final blows by dividing the original territory in to several administrative units. Orissa became a separate province under the British Government in 1936.

Orissa is an attractive treasure home for cultures and customs, religions and traditions, languages and literature, art and architecture, scenic beauties and wildlife. There are some places in the world that are special, and Orissa is definitely one of them. Orissa is the home for various tribal communities who have contributed uniquely to the multicultural and multilingual character of the state. Their handicrafts, different dance forms, jungle products and their unique life style blended with their healing practices have got worldwide attention.