Utkala Kingdom was located in the northern and eastern portion of the modern-day India

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...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 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...

. This kingdom was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata

Mahabharata

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....

, with the names Utkala, Utpala, Okkal and Odra desha. It is mentioned in India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana

Jana Gana Mana

Jana Gana Mana is the national anthem of India. Written in highly Sanskritized Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It was first sung at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress on 27 December 1911...

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Early Sanskrit Literature

The early medieval literature says "उत्कृष्ट कलायाः देशः यः सः उत्कलः ".Means the land which has excellent opulence of artists and art is called Utkala(Kala=Art,Utkrishta=Excellent);land of Utkrishta=Excellent-Kala=Art.