Oriya people
Encyclopedia
The Oriya, known classically by various names (Odiya, Odri, Utkaliya, Kalingi, Dakhini Kosli, jʊrz), are an ethnic group of eastern India
and of eastern Indo-Aryan stock. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state of Orissa
, with minority populations in Andhra Pradesh
, West Bengal
, Jharkhand
and Chhattisgarh
.
The vast majority of the Oriyas are Hindus
and are known for their history of Sun
worship. Orissa is home to some of the oldest Sun temples in India, including Konark
. There are small Christian and Muslim
minorities.
The term 'Oriya', while generally used today to refer to any inhabitant of Orissa, actual refers to the ethnic group of the same name. Orissa marks the south eastern frontier of Aryan expansion and is therefore also home to a large tribal population who have Dravidian
origins. While many of them have adopted the Oriya language
, they still maintain a very distinct identity and there is no discernible admixture between them and the Oriyas.
The Oriyas are distinguished by their religious customs as well as the use of the Oriya language. Orissa's relative isolation and the lack of any discernible outside influence has contributed towards preserving a socio-religious setup that has disappeared from most of North India. Orissa was first conquered by the Mauryan Empire around 250 BC. The resulting bloodshed was the catalyst that led to the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka
eschewing warfare and converting to Buddhism
. It remained an independent regional power for more than a thousand years thereafter when it began to undergo a slow decline. It was conquered by the Mughals under Akbar in 1568 and was thereafter subject to a succession of Mughal, Bengali
and Maratha
rule before finally falling to the British
. It was carved out from Bengal
in 1912 and finally became a separate province in 1936.
, a testimony to their Aryan roots. Pali
literature calls them Oddakas. Ptolemy
and Pliny the Elder
also refer to the Oretas who inhabit India's eastern coast. The modern term Oriya dates from the 15th century when it was used by the medieval Muslim chroniclers and adopted by the then ruling Gajapati king.
Occupying this frontier of the Aryan world, the Oriyas adopted and assimilated many tribal practices into their religion and culture over a long period of time. They are closely related to the Bengali people
and to a lesser extent to the Assamese people
and Bihari people
. The languages spoken by these communities all belong to the same Eastern Indo Aryan group with varying levels of Hindi
influence.
(Midnapore
), Jharkhand
(West Singhbhum
), Chhattisgarh
and Andhra Pradesh
(Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam district
). Surat
in Gujarat also has a large Oriya population, primarily from the southern district of Ganjam that works in its diamond industry. The sex ratio is around 970 women per 1000 men, high by Indian standards.
, an eastern Indo Aryan tongue that shares a common root with Maithili
, Bengali
and Assamese
. The spoken language varies substantially across the state and has no less than seven dialects. Mughalbandi Oriya, spoken in the Cuttack
and Puri
districts is generally considered as the standard dialect and is the language of instruction and media. Oriya shows little foreign influence but borrows liberally from tribal languages like Santhali and Ho
.
sect and its devotion is extremely popular in the state and the annual Rath Yatra
in Puri draws pilgrims from across India. Christians are generally found among the tribals especially in the interior districts of Boudh
and Kandhamal
. Around 2% of the people are Muslims
, most of them converts from the lower castes along with a few descendants of migrants from North India
and elsewhere.
is one of the classical dances of India and also one of the most popular. The Applique
work of Pipli, a small village in Khordha district
is world famous.
in the rest of India. Seafood and sweets dominate Oriya cuisine. Rice is the staple cereal and is eaten throughout the day. Popular Oriya dishes are Rasgulla, Chhena Poda, Chhenagaja and Pakhala
, Orissa
, Durga Puja
, Raja, Pana Sankranti (as Vaisakhi
is called in Orissa ).
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and of eastern Indo-Aryan stock. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state of Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, with minority populations in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
and Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
.
The vast majority of the Oriyas are Hindus
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and are known for their history of Sun
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
worship. Orissa is home to some of the oldest Sun temples in India, including Konark
Konark
Konark is a small town in Puri district in the state of Orissa, India, on the Bay of Bengal, sixty-five kilometers from Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Sun Temple , built in black granite by King Narasimhadeva-I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The temple is a World Heritage Site...
. There are small Christian and Muslim
Oriya Muslims
Oriya Muslims are an Islamic community in the Indian state of Orissa. Many members of Oriya Muslim community have migrated to Pakistan after independence and have settled in Karachi, Sindh.-History:...
minorities.
The term 'Oriya', while generally used today to refer to any inhabitant of Orissa, actual refers to the ethnic group of the same name. Orissa marks the south eastern frontier of Aryan expansion and is therefore also home to a large tribal population who have Dravidian
Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...
origins. While many of them have adopted the Oriya language
Oriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
, they still maintain a very distinct identity and there is no discernible admixture between them and the Oriyas.
The Oriyas are distinguished by their religious customs as well as the use of the Oriya language. Orissa's relative isolation and the lack of any discernible outside influence has contributed towards preserving a socio-religious setup that has disappeared from most of North India. Orissa was first conquered by the Mauryan Empire around 250 BC. The resulting bloodshed was the catalyst that led to the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
eschewing warfare and converting to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. It remained an independent regional power for more than a thousand years thereafter when it began to undergo a slow decline. It was conquered by the Mughals under Akbar in 1568 and was thereafter subject to a succession of Mughal, Bengali
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...
and Maratha
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of South Asia, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km²....
rule before finally falling to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It was carved out from Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
in 1912 and finally became a separate province in 1936.
Etymology
The word Oriya comes from ancient Sanksrit Odra. The Odrakas are mentioned as one of the people that fought in the MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, a testimony to their Aryan roots. Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
literature calls them Oddakas. Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
and Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
also refer to the Oretas who inhabit India's eastern coast. The modern term Oriya dates from the 15th century when it was used by the medieval Muslim chroniclers and adopted by the then ruling Gajapati king.
Origins
Most of modern Orissa was inhabited by native tribes since the Neolithic period. These tribes were later pushed towards the interior by the Aryans who occupied the fertile coastal belt. This was one of the last waves of Aryan migration and marks the south eastern limits of their expansion. While there is no unanimity regarding the date of this advance, the Oriyas were a well known community by the time of the Mahabharata.Occupying this frontier of the Aryan world, the Oriyas adopted and assimilated many tribal practices into their religion and culture over a long period of time. They are closely related to the Bengali people
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
and to a lesser extent to the Assamese people
Assamese people
The Assamese people are a well-defined subgroup of People of Assam. Though sometimes they are defined as the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley,, this definition is not legally binding...
and Bihari people
Bihari people
The Biharis are an ethnic group originating from the present state of Bihar with a history going back three millennia...
. The languages spoken by these communities all belong to the same Eastern Indo Aryan group with varying levels of Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
influence.
Appearance
As an Indo Aryan race, the Oriyas are no different from their neighbours like the Bengalis and the Assamese. They are generally of moderate height and of a wheatish complexion. The Dravidian population tends to be smaller in stature with darker complexions; depending on the level of admixture between the groups skin complexions and hair texture varies.Demographics
It is impossible to arrive at a precise figure for the Oriya population. The Census of India 2001 pegged the population of Orissa at around 36 million. Around 8 million of these are people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. Therefore the Oriyas number around 27 million. Smaller Oriya communities may also be found in the neighbouring states of West BengalWest Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
(Midnapore
Midnapore
Midnapore is the district headquarters of Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River . This area had taken a pioneering role in India's freedom struggle...
), Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
(West Singhbhum
West Singhbhum
West Singhbhum or Pashchimi Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand state, India. It came into being in 1990, when the old Singhbhum district was bifurcated...
), Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
and Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
(Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam district
Srikakulam district
Srikakulam District , formerly known as Chicacole, is the extreme northeastern District of Andhra Pradesh, situated within the geographic co-ordinates of 18°-20’ and 19°-10’ N and 83°-50’ and 84°-50’ E...
). Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
in Gujarat also has a large Oriya population, primarily from the southern district of Ganjam that works in its diamond industry. The sex ratio is around 970 women per 1000 men, high by Indian standards.
Culture
Orissa has a rich indigenous culture that is heavily influenced by the original tribal inhabitants of the land. It is also remarkable for its almost total absence of Islamic influence, largely owing to its relative isolation from the Indian mainstream.Language
The Oriyas speak the Oriya languageOriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
, an eastern Indo Aryan tongue that shares a common root with Maithili
Maithili
Maithili may refer to:* Maithili language, a language spoken in the eastern part of India and south - eastern part of Nepal and it is a second national language of Nepal. It belongs to the ancient Kingdom Mithila....
, Bengali
Bengali
Bengali may refer to something of, from, or related to Bengal, the region roughly divided between West Bengal, Tripura and Bangladesh.* Bengali people, a major linguistic group in South Asia* Bengali Hindu people, the ethnic group native to eastern India....
and Assamese
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
. The spoken language varies substantially across the state and has no less than seven dialects. Mughalbandi Oriya, spoken in the Cuttack
Cuttack
Cuttack is the former capital of the state of Orissa, India. It is the headquarters of Cuttack district and is located about 20 km to the north east of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The name of the city is an anglicised form of Kataka that literally means The Fort, a reference to the...
and Puri
Puri
Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...
districts is generally considered as the standard dialect and is the language of instruction and media. Oriya shows little foreign influence but borrows liberally from tribal languages like Santhali and Ho
Ho
Ho, HO, or variations, may refer to:* Ho, Denmark, a town* Ho, Ghana, a town* Ho , Japanese kana* Ho language, spoken primarily in India* Ho people, primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand...
.
Religion
Orissa is one of the most religiously homogeneous states in India. More than 95% of the people are followers of Hinduism. The JagannathJagannath
Jagannath is a transcendental non-anthropotheistic Hindu god worshiped primarily by the people of Indian state of Orissa, and, to a great extent, West Bengal...
sect and its devotion is extremely popular in the state and the annual Rath Yatra
Rath Yatra
Ratha Yatra is a huge Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Orissa, India during the months of June or July. Most of the city's society is based around the worship of Jagannath with the ancient temple being the fulcrum of the area...
in Puri draws pilgrims from across India. Christians are generally found among the tribals especially in the interior districts of Boudh
Boudh
Boudh is a town and a notified area committee in Boudh district in the state of Orissa, India. It is the district headquarters of Boudh district...
and Kandhamal
Kandhamal
Kandhamal is a district of the state of Orissa, India. The district headquarters of the district is Phulbani.-History:The Kandhmal district was created on 1 April 1993 from the former Boudh-Kandhmal district as a result of district reorganization in the state of Orissa.-Communal unrest and...
. Around 2% of the people are Muslims
Oriya Muslims
Oriya Muslims are an Islamic community in the Indian state of Orissa. Many members of Oriya Muslim community have migrated to Pakistan after independence and have settled in Karachi, Sindh.-History:...
, most of them converts from the lower castes along with a few descendants of migrants from North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
and elsewhere.
Art
The Oriyas express themselves in a variety of ways. OdissiOdissi
Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...
is one of the classical dances of India and also one of the most popular. The Applique
Applique
In its broadest sense, an appliqué is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface. In the context of ceramics, for example, an appliqué is a separate piece of clay added to the primary work, generally for the purpose of decoration...
work of Pipli, a small village in Khordha district
Khordha district
Khordha is an administrative division of the state of Orissa, India. It was formed on April 1, 1993 by the division of former Puri District into Puri, Khurda and Nayagarh districts. In the year 2000 the district name was changed to Khordha. The district headquarters is Khordha Town, formerly...
is world famous.
Cuisine
Oriya cuisine is a reflection of the state's location. Many dishes of Oriya origin are mistakenly considered to be BengaliBengali cuisine
Bengali cuisine is a culinary style originating in Bengal, a region in the eastern South Asia which is now divided between the Indian state of West Bengal and the independent country of Bangladesh. Other regions, such as Tripura, and Barak Valley region of Assam also have large native Bengali...
in the rest of India. Seafood and sweets dominate Oriya cuisine. Rice is the staple cereal and is eaten throughout the day. Popular Oriya dishes are Rasgulla, Chhena Poda, Chhenagaja and Pakhala
Pakhala
Pakhaḷa is an Oriya term for an Indian food consisting of cooked rice washed or little fermented in water. The liquid part is known as Toraṇi. It is popular in Orissa, Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The Bengali name for this dish is Panta Bhat. Eating pakhal has been recommended to...
Festivals
Well known festivals, that are popular among the Oriya people, are the Ratha Yatra which is celebrated in PuriPuri
Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...
, Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, Durga Puja
Durga Puja
Durga puja ; দুর্গা পূজা,ଦୁର୍ଗା ପୂଜା,‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava ; , is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and...
, Raja, Pana Sankranti (as Vaisakhi
Vaisakhi
Vaisakhi is an ancient harvest festival celebrated across North Indian states, especially Punjab by all Punjabis regardless of religion. In Sikhism the Khalsa was founded on same day as the Vaisakhi festival, so Sikhs celebrate twice as much....
is called in Orissa ).
Notable people
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- Naba Krushna Choudhari
- Harmohan Patnaik
- Hare Krushna Mahatab
- Biju PatnaikBiju PatnaikBiju Patnaik was an Indian politician. Also known as Biju Babu.Son of Lakshminarayan and Ashalata Patnaik, Bijayananda Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa on March 5, 1916..-Role in Indonesian freedom struggle:Biju...
- Madhusudan DasMadhusudan DasUtkal Gourav Madhusudan Das was born on 28 April 1848 in a village called Satyabhamapur, 20 kilometres from Cuttack, Orissa. He was the first Graduate and Advocate of Orissa.-Family:...
- Gopabandhu DasGopabandhu DasGopabandhu Dash known as Utkalamani was a social worker who excelled in the field of politics as well as literature.-Early life : The revolutionary student:...
- Fakir Mohan SenapatiFakir Mohan SenapatiFakir Mohan Senapati born on January 13, 1843, at Mallikashpur in Balasore, played a leading role in establishing the distinct identity of Oriya, a language mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa...
- Naveen PatnaikNaveen PatnaikNaveen Patnaik is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Orissa, India and the chief of Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party in Orissa.-Personal life:...
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- Jyotiprakash Patnaik
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- Roopa MishraRoopa MishraRoopa Mishra is an Indian bureaucrat who topped the I.A.S. Exam as a woman for the first time in Orissa in 2004.-Personal background:She was born in Angul, Orissa state on 9 June 1977 and went to various schools in Orissa. She completed her schooling from St. Joseph's Girls High School at Cuttack...
- Kelucharan MohapatraKelucharan MohapatraGuru Kelucharan Mohapatra was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century....
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- Sona MohapatraSona MohapatraSona Mohapatra is an Indian singer and lyricist. born in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Well known in India, she has performed in concerts across the world and has been featured in albums, singles, concert webcasts, music videos, Bollywood films and advertisements...
- Janaki Ballabh PatnaikJanaki Ballabh PatnaikJanaki Ballabh Patnaik is an Indian politician who has been Governor of Assam since 2009. A leader of the Indian National Congress, he was Chief Minister of Orissa from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1995 to 1999, holding that post for the longest time on record....
- Uttam MohantyUttam MohantyUttam Mohanty is one of the most popular Ollywood stars in the state of Orissa in India.-Early life:Uttam Mohanty is one of the most popular Ollywood stars in the state of Orissa in India. He has to his credit more than 135 Oriya films to date and has acted in 30 Bengali films and in the only...
- Manoj DasManoj DasManoj Das is an Indian award-winning author who writes in Oriya and English.Manoj Das, a profilic author,he is India's foremost short story writers. He writes both in Oriya and english and is a proffesor of English at the Sri Aurobindo International University, Pondicherry.Manoj Das was born in a...
- Ajit JainAjit JainAjit Jain is a businessman who currently heads several reinsurance businesses for Berkshire Hathaway and has been touted as a possible successor to Warren Buffett.-Early life:...
- Dilip TirkeyDilip TirkeyDilip Tirkey hailing from Sundargarh, Orissa is a former Indian hockey player and his playing position was of full back. He was best known for his penalty corner hit. Dilip was one of the most difficult defenders to beat in the world...