Paralakhemundi


Paralakhemundi shortly known as Parala is district Headquarter of Gajapati district and one of the oldest Municipality established in 1885, in the Indian state of Odisha. The city and the district share its boundaries with Andhra Pradesh. The adjacent town of Pathpatnam is separated by the River Mahendra Tanaya. In later medieval period it became capital of Paralakhemundi Estate of Eastern Ganga dynasty kings of Khemundi Branch. The town is well known for being an ancient cultural center of Odisha and birthplace of noted personalities including poet Gopalakrusna Pattanayaka, statesman Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Deo, lexicographer Gopinatha Nanda Sharma and historian Satyanarayana Rajguru. This town is also known for its century old temples, monasteries, palaces and heritage buildings. Odia is spoken language in the town and villages

Demographics

India census, Paralakhemundi had a population of 48,990. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Paralakhemundi has an average literacy rate of 69%, lower than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 61%. In Paralakhemundi, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Paralakhemundi has a population of 51,181 in the year 2025. Majority of the people are Hindu; Christians being the second largest religious community.

History

is an ancient estate lying in the western corner of the southern portion of then larger Ganjam district, and it is bounded in the west by the district of then larger Visakhapatnam district and on the north by the Jeypore state and the eastern ghats which are called Maliyas or tribal agencies. The town of Paralakhemundi is: "a straggling town in plan much like the letter ‘L’ scattered around the foot of the well wooded hill which is the distinctive feature of the place. The horizontal portion of the ‘L’ faces south, and at the corner where the ‘L’ and the vertical portion join, is situated the palace, a most picturesque group of building". This group of buildings was designed and built by Mr. Chisholm.
The Khemundi country, consisting of Paralakhemundi, Badakhemundi and Sanakhemundi, was under a single ruler till 1607. Paralakhemundi came under British influence in 1768.
In the present day, several families tracing their descent from former ruling houses continue to reside in the Parlakhemundi region alongside the Ganga royal family of Parlakhemundi. Notable among them are the Bahubalendra Deva Rai family of Machamara, the Jenamani and Deo families of Pathapatnam, and branches of the Suryavamshi and Bahubalendra families in Gunupur.
Paralakhemundi owes much of its present-day existence to Sri Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Deo. Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Deo, Maharaja of Paralakhemundi of the Gajapati kingdom, was the direct descendant of the historic dynasty of the Eastern Ganga dynasty Gajapati kings that ruled Odisha for more than seven centuries. During the regime of these kings, the boundaries of the dynasty was extended from the Ganges in the North to Udayagiri, Nellore district in the South. Kolahomee, one of the sons of Gajapati Kapilendra Dev, the Gajapati monarch in the later half of the 15th century came to this part of Paralakhemundi and founded the royal family of Paralakhemundi.
Gajapati district has been named after Maharaja Sri Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Dev, the Raja Sahib of Paralakhemundi estate. He was honoured as the 1st Prime Minister of the State of Odisha after it was created on 1 April 1936, remembered for his contribution in the formation of a separate Odisha State and inclusion of Paralakhemundi estate in Odisha. Gajapati district came into being with effect from 2 October 1992. Prior to this it was a part of Ganjam district.

Geography and climate

Paralakhemundi lies in the south-east of the east Indian state of Odisha. It is on the banks of Mahendratanaya river. Paralakhemundi borders with a town called Pathapatnam of Andhra Pradesh. The town is located on a hilly terrain.
The climate is subtropical with high humidity. The temperature varies between 18 and 48 degree Celsius. Summer is extremely hot with some thunderstorms and minor cyclones, which occasionally cause power outages. Paralakhemundi receives rainfall from the southwest monsoons and the wettest months are July, August and September.

Education

The town of Paralakhemundi has many educational institutions. Some institutes have been there for over 100 years. These were initiated under the erstwhile rulers of the princely state. Maharaja Boys High School, Maharaja Girls High School are the ones operational even today. The rulers of yesteryear understood the importance of education and promoted education of the girl child about a hundred years ago. The SKCG Autonomous College, Paralakhemundi, named after the illustrious Sri Krushna Chandra Gajapati, enjoys the reputation of being the second oldest college of the state after the Revenshaw College of Cuttack. It has affiliation in almost all major disciplines in the faculties of Arts, Science and commerce. From the session 1996–97, P.G. Courses in Mathematics has been added to the already existing post-graduate teaching facilities in Economics, Chemistry, Oriya, Commerce and Life Sciences. Besides teaching facilities for Honours courses in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Computer Applications, English, Oriya, Sanskrit, Geography, history, Political Science and Economics, the college also offers teaching in subjects like Telugu, Hindi, Logic, Philosophy and Home Science. The Indira Gandhi National Open University has opened a center in this college. The college has a sanctioned strength of 2016 students and 83 faculty positions. The alumni of this college occupied and continue to occupy positions of distinction and pride in public life. The college celebrated its centenary from 10 to 12 January 2001.
The Women's' College, Paralakhemundi was established in the year 1983 and was initially affiliated to Berhampur University for IA course. Later it was affiliated to the Council of Higher secondary Education, Odisha, Bhubaneswar for the +2 Arts Course. The college came under G.I.A. fold since 1988. The college has received Permanent recognition from Government in the year 2003–2004.The college was included in u/s @ 2 and 12 Act of the U.G.C. from 2006 to 2007.
There is a Teacher's Training Institute in the town that trains and graduates teachers. It helps in imparting training on the latest methodologies of teaching to the Teachers of Primary and Upper Primary Schools. It also provides CT Training to prospective students on Teaching and certifies the apprenticeship expertise.
Jagannath Institute for Technology and Management was established in the year 1997. The institute was set up with the aim to bring technical education to the rural areas and produce highly skilled technical personnel for various sectors in the industry. The institute has been rechristened as Centurion University of Technology and Management recently. Students from all over Odisha and neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand are studying in this institute, which provides Agriculture, Fisheries, Engineering and Management degrees.
Sanskrit college is one of the oldest colleges in Paralakhemundi. It is affiliated to Puri Sanskrit University. Students here learn the ancient language of Sanskrit and thus help in keeping the language alive and making it relevant in today's context. Several other private-public partnered colleges have come up recently in the town and in the periphery of the town. MBA Degree College, Law College, Nursing College, Sri Ram College Kasinagar are a few of them.
There are several primary, upper primary and high schools in the town. Some of the prominent schools are MRBH, MRGH, Mahendra Giri High School, Gandhi School, Apanna Paricha School, Goura Chandra School. Some of the prominent private schools are the Saraswati Sishu Mandir, Sri Arabinda Purnanga Sikhya Kendra, Priyadarshini Convent School, Sri Satya Sai School. The town also has a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and a Kendriya Vidyalaya set-up by the ministry of HRD, Central Union Government.

Civic administration

The Paralakhemundi Municipality is in charge of the civic administration of the town. As the headquarters of the Gajapati district, it houses several district-level headquarters of government and private organizations.

Economy

Paralakhemundi is situated among the Eastern Ghats where there are vast plains and number of small streams and rivers. This has enabled cultivation as the chief source of income here. People cultivate mainly paddy, which is grown twice-a-year in the fields, once during Kharif and once during Rabi seasons. However many farmers also cultivate cash crops like sugarcane, maize, and tobacco. Some even cultivate long term cash crops like mango plantations, cashew, banana, etc. The latest trend is that farmers are getting inclined to grow cotton in their fields, which apparently is more profitable to them. Apart from Cultivation and Industries related to cultivation like Rice Mills, Mango Pulp Factories, Cashew Factories, Rice Flake Industries, Sugar Mill, the town is poorly industrialized. However, some medium scale granite factories have been set-up in the surroundings of the town. The other source of income of the residents is through the Handicrafts that are made by them, which they are learning traditionally from generation to generation. The economy is sustainable but is not flourishing due to lack of industrialization and exposure to bigger markets.

Transport

Paralakhemundi is connected to other parts of Odisha by the State Highway 4 which connects Berhampur at one end and Rayagada on the other. The National Highway 326A passes through the village, which connects Mohana in Odisha with Narasannapeta of Andhra Pradesh.
Parlakhemundi is connected to Naupada railway junction on the main East Coast railway line from Kolkata to Chennai by 90 km long 1676mm broad gauge line, that was converted from 762mm narrow gauge in 2010–11. The line was finally closed for gauge conversion on 9 June 2004. After conversion to broad gauge the Gunpur-Paralakhemundi-Naupada rail line was opened to public and from 21 August 2011.