Cuttack, the erstwhile capital of Odisha with its thousand years of enriched historical legacy, is home to a century-old institution ‘Kalinga Gymnasium’ that is located near Shaheed Bhawan the city with heritage enthusiasts exploring the centenary institution in the 77th edition of Cuttack Heritage Walks.
This institution has made significant contributions towards building a healthy and disease-free society by staying healthy. The arts of wrestling, wrestling, and healthy lifestyle are taught here free of cost. From which era has this art of life been around? This art was there during the Mahabharata period in the ancient era, it was there during the reign of “Rajarajuda” and it is there even today. Even in our ancient temples, the art of wrestling has been engraved by our sculptors of
The foundation of this institution was laid in the year 1920 by the late Padma Charan Ray in the Kazi Bazaar and in 1928 in Nimchouri area of Cuttack. Later, impressed by his wrestling and physical arts skills, the then British government provided about one acre of land in the year 1943 to build Kalinga Gymnasium or Kalinga Gymnasium in the Chaudhuri Bazaar area of Cuttack.
Later, Odia public figures like Harekrushna Mahatab, Nabakrushna Chaudhuri etc. took steps towards the development of this institution. Harekrushna Mahatab formed a committee for the good management of this institution and, as the first president of the institution, entrusted all the responsibility of good management to Padma Charan Ray as the secretary of the institution.
After the demise of Padma Charan Ray in 1961, the responsibility of this institution was entrusted to Fakir Charan Mohanty as the Secretary and Fakir Akshay Panda as the managing head. During the tenure of Fakir Charan Mohanty and Akshay Panda, this institution gained a lot of fame at the national level and many developmental works were carried out for its development. The contribution of Kalinga Gymnasium in creating many wrestlers, weightlifters and bodybuilders added to the glory of the city of Cuttack is significant.
Dr Dipak Samantarai, Founder -Convenor of Cuttack Heritage Walks facilitated the walk and senior members of the organization Jayant Singh, Biswaranjan Dehuri, Kishore Bit, Hitesh Seth, Jitendra Singh, Aditya Prasad Ghosh, Lalit Mohan Panda and Amar Prasad Patra coordinated the same.