Kalahandi district is a district of Odisha in India. 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 and Karunda Mandal, which means treasure of precious stones like karandam (corundum/manik), garnet, beruz, neelam, and alexandrite, etc. Manikeswari is the clan deity of Kalahandi may also signify its historical name.
Bhawanipatna is a city and headquarters of the Kalahandi district, in the Indian state of Odisha. Bhawanipatna has numerous temples dedicated to different deities of the Hindu pantheon. It is named after the presiding deity, Bhawani-Shankar and Patna which means "place" in Odia like "Padaa". Bhawanipatna municipality is the administrative head of the city, which is divided into twenty wards with different sub-areas called pada. Originally, these padaas were inhabited by people of different communities, but over the last few decades, these padaas have become homogeneous. Bhawanipatna has more than forty padaas.
Berhampur University is a Public teaching-cum-affiliating university in Brahmapur, Odisha, India.
Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) was established in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India in 1962. It is the second oldest agricultural university in the country. It is dedicated to agriculture related research, extension and education. The University has 11 constituent colleges. The University has separate wings for research, extension services and planning, monitoring & evaluation, etc.
Tapan Kumar Pradhan is an Indian poet, writer and translator from Odisha. He is best known for his poem collection "Kalahandi" which was awarded second place in Sahitya Akademi's Golden Jubilee Indian Literature Translation Prize for Poetry in 2007. His other works include "Equation", "I, She and the Sea", "Wind in the Afternoon" and "Dance of Shiva".
Rajendra University, formerly known as Rajendra Autonomous College is situated in Balangir, Odisha, India.
Bhubaneswar Behera was an engineer, writer and scholar from the Kalahandi district of Odisha.
Kalahandia is a dialect of Odia spoken in the region of Kalahandi and Nuapada district of Odisha state in India. Local weekly Odia newspaper such as Arjji and Kalahandi Express publish articles in standard Odia Form and Kalahandia Odia Form.
Manikeshwari Temple is located in Kalahandi district of Odisha, India. The temple is located to the south of Bhawanipatna. The main deity here is Goddess Manikeshwari. She is the Ishta Devi of Nagavanshi Khyatriya's. During Dussehra festival, animal sacrifice is offered at this temple. A film is also documented showing the ritual of animal sacrifice, before Goddess Manikeshwari. Karlapat, which is famous for its charming wild life, is near the temple.
The Western Odisha Development Council sponsors upcoming medical colleges in Balangir, Kalahandi and Sundergarh district of Western Odisha. These medical colleges are partly sponsored by the Western Odisha Development Council in India.
Bhawanipatna is classified as one of the major tourist destinations by the tourism Department of Government of Odisha. All the tourist attraction in Kalahandi region comes under Bhawanipatna jurisdiction. Though tourist potential of Kalahandi has not been exploited optimally due to poor marketing, political negligence and infrastructure development, the land is very rich in terms of water fall, forest and wild life, natural and scenic beauty, tribal life, mountains, agriculture field, historical sites and handicrafts. The best time to visit Kalahandi region is from October to March. April–June is hard Summer and the mercury may rise to 45 degree C and June to August is the Monsoon Season. It occasionally rains in September, but do not miss the great festival like Nuakhai in September and Dassara in end of September or early October. Beginning of Dessara marks the pleasant weather condition till the celebration of Chaitra in February/March.
The Government College of Engineering, Kalahandi (GCEK), is a public engineering autonomous college under the state government of Odisha at Bhawanipatna in the Kalahandi district. The college was established in the year 2009 as a constituent college of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) to offer undergraduate B.Tech degree program. Later in the year 2015, the college started offering two postgraduate M.Tech degree programs. It is now an autonomous college from 21 January 2021 along with PMEC, Bramhapur and GCE, Keonjhar.
Bhawanipatna is a Vidhan Sabha constituency of Kalahandi district, Odisha.
Kalahandi State, also known as Karond State, was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. It was recognized as a state in 1874 and had its capital in Bhawanipatna. Its last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1948. The present titular head of the state is Anant Pratap Deo who resides in the Kalahandi Palace in Bhawanipatna
Digambara Patra is a Professor of Chemistry at the American University of Beirut.
Odisha State Open University (OSOU) is a distance learning state university located in Sambalpur, Odisha, India. The university is established by an Act of the Odisha State Legislature in 2015. The university has jurisdiction over the entire State of Odisha.
Maharaja Pratap Keshari Deo was an Indian politician. He was the last ruler of Kalahandi State from 1939 to 1947. Post-independence, he was elected from the Kalahandi in Odisha to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament the Lok Sabha. He was deputy Leader of the Opposition, Orissa Legislative Assembly, 1952—1956.
Sarbeswar Bhoi is an Indian folksinger from Kalahandi, India of Sambalpuri folk music. He sang songs such as "Likri Jhkri' and "Lal Jhara Jhara" for the Sambalpuri movie Aadim Vichar, which won National Award for Best Feature Film in Odia Category in 2014.
Kiran Chandra Singh Deo was an Indian politician and Freedom fighter from Odisha. He was one of the founding members of Biju Janata Dal in Odisha politics. He was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Kesinga Vidhan Sabha constituency in the 1990 Odisha Legislative Assembly election as a member of the Janata Dal.
Khallikote Unitary University, formerly known as Khallikote Autonomous College, is a co-educational state university situated in Brahmapur, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Union College in 1878, the institution became a university in 2021. The university has a student enrolment of nearly 5,000. It is one of the oldest educational institutes in Odisha.
