Dr P K Mohanty was awarded a UK Travel Award (2005-06) when ICHR Post-doctoral fellow, Department of History , Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, for research on the urban culture of Orissa. The award was for research on sources for a case study of colonial Cuttack as part of this wider study of the culture of colonial cities.
Dr Mohanty reported subsequently:
“After a general introduction to the South Asian collections at the V&A, I mainly devoted my time in the UK to refer to both printed and unprinted documents relating to my study mainly at the British Library and partly in other places like the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the Centre for South Asian Studies at Cambridge University. At the British Library I referred to the vast collections on early printed vernacular texts in Oriya like missionary writings, writings by Oriya litterateurs like poetry, textbooks, novels, drama, documentary on contemporary towns, advertisement in contemporary books and journals etc.; memoirs by missionaries, travelers and administrators; private papers like photos, letters, diaries and manuscripts; maps; paintings; police records etc. I explored similar categories of document and printed book at SOAS and in Cambridge. Overall the trip was very fruitful.”
Subsequently Dr Mohanty published Colonialism and South Asia: Cuttack, 1803-1947 (R N Bhattacharya, 2007), a detailed historical account of Cuttack under colonial rule, focusing on socio-political and economic changes. The book highlights the impact of British policies on local governance and culture and has been judged essential for understanding colonial history in South Asia.