Odia is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Aryan language family. It is thought to be directly descended from an Odra Prakrit, which was spoken in east India over 1,500 years ago, and is the primary

Major varieties or dialects
• Baleswari (Northern Odia): Spoken in Baleswar, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Kendujhar districts of Odisha and southern parts of undivided Midnapore of West Bengal. The variant spoken in Baleswar is called Baleswaria.

The Odia language uses Odia script (also known as the Kalinga script). It is a Brahmic script used to write primarily Odia language and others like Sanskrit and several minor regional languages. The script has developed over nearly 1000 years with the earliest

The following is a sample text in Odia of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ମାନବିକ ଅଧିକାରର ସାର୍ବଜନୀନ ଘୋଷଣା):

India
Odia is mainly spoken in the state of Odisha, but there are significant Odia-speaking populations in the neighbouring states, such as

Odia retains most of the cases of Sanskrit, though the nominative and vocative have merged (both without a separate marker), as have the accusative and dative. There are three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) and two grammatical numbers (singular and plural).

The earliest literature in Odia language can be traced to the Charyapadas composed in the 7th to 9th centuries. Before Sarala Das, the most important