Cuttack Travel and Tourism Guide

The history of Cuttack goes back to 989 CE, when the present-day city was established as a military cantonment by King Nrupa Keshari of the Keshari dynasty. During the reign of the renowned Maharaja Markata Keshari, a stone embankment was built to protect the capital from flood in 1002 CE. Later in 1211 CE, Cuttack became capital of a kingdom established by Raja Ananga Bhima Deva III of Ganga dynasty. Later, it was passed on to the rule of the Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty (1434–1541 CE), under whom the city continued to flourish and served as a capital to Odisha. Cuttack came under the first Muslim rule after Raja Mukunda Deva, the last Hindu King of Orissa, passed away. The Mughals also had their share of rule over the capital and then by 1750, Marathas had conquered Cuttack. It grew quite quickly as a business centre and was a perfect point of contact between the Marathas of Nagpur and the English merchants of Bengal. In 1803, the city fell into the hands of British, and was later named as capital of Odisha division in 1816. Even in 1948, after India gained independence, the city continued as the administrative headquarters for the state of Odisha, while Bhubaneswar was named as the capital.