![]() But Pandit Gopabandhu was not there to see this eventful beginning of the new life of "Samaj". In 1931 it was made daily by Pandit Nilakantha Das, Pt. Pandit Das continued his relentless struggle against the British rulers through the columns of the paper and never yielded to any pressure and temptations of the British Government. "Samaj", the Oriya Daily of Cuttack now edited by Madam Manorama Mahapatra was founded by late Pandit Gopabandhu Das as a weekly in 1919 to support the cause of freedom struggle of the country. Pandit Vidyaratna had encouraged the great poet Gangadhar Meher and Radhanath Ray by publishing their literary works through the columns of the paper which he edited. He also joined the 'Sambalpur Hiteisini' in the last decade of ninteenth century and gave a new fillip to the cause of amalgamation movement and development of Oriya literature with the help of the Raja of Bamra, the great lover of culture and literature. Pandit Nilamani Vidyaratna a veteran journalist, social reformer and a political leader started an Oriya weekly paper 'Praja Bandhu' from Ganjam to espouse the cause of the Oriyas and the amalgamation movement. Both 'Nava Sambad' of Balasore and 'Utkal Deepika' of Cuttack gave strong support to the 'Swadeshi' movement and in their writings of 30th August 1905 and 2nd September 1905 respectively those two papers expressed the views that the Swadeshi movement would give impetus to the production of "Swadeshi" goods in Orissa. In the time of Swadeshi Movement another paper named 'Nava Sambad' also appeared from Balasore. It is believed that some copies of Kujibar Patra is at present available at India House Library in London. Sutton had a remarkable piece of translation from the 'Kujibar Patra' in 1927 which was sent to the Baptist Mission in London. ![]() This hand-written newspaper had such a great influence on the then missionary activities that the missionaries were translating the news items and sending to London and those were published and commented in London Baptist Missionary Reports and Journals. Since the printing machine was not available in Orissa, it was written on coarse paper in Oriya language and distributed in different central places of bazaars, the missionary centres and mission homes of Cuttack town and to the rulers and disciples. The same newspaper had irregular frequency (sometimes daily, weekly, and fortnightly) was being published from Kujibar Ashram near Chowdwar. The whole Orissa heralded a new era of journalism with the introduction of a handwritten newspaper called 'Kujibar Patra' edited by Sadhu Sunder Das, a social reformer of that time in 1769. In those days the spirit of social service and missionary zeal solely inspired the great men who had pioneered this noble profession in this part of the country. Oriya journalism played an important role in moulding socio-political within of the province several and in awakening the people's consciousness in particular.
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