The history of Sambalpur, as depicted by eminent historians, is full of events including Indian freedom struggle representing the different sections of society. Since Sambalpur is one of the ancient places of India, which survived even in the prehistoric age and holds a very important place in the history of Odisha and India.
Sambalpur is mentioned in the book of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) as Sambalaka on the left bank of river "Manada", now known asMahanadi, other evidence are available from the records of Xuanzang, and in the writings of the celebrated King Indrabhuti of Sambalaka of Odra Desha or Oddiyan (oldest known king of Sambalpur), the founder of Vajrayana Buddhism and the Lama cult. He has written the book Jñānasiddhi.
Kalapahad was the title of an Iconoclast Muslim general of Mughal governor Sultan Sulaiman Karrani of Bengal. According to some historical documents he was either, Rajiv Lochan Ray, an Oriya convert to Islam or a Pashtun from Afghanistan. After conversion toIslam he took a Muslim name but is popularly know as Kalapahad. He was instrumental in conquering Odisha for Mughal Empire.Kalapahad was buried in Sambalpur. Large number of tombs believed to be those of the dead soldiers of Kalapahar are also located in a mango grove near Samaleswari College building on the bank of river Mahanadi in Odisha. The tomb of Kalapahad and the graves of his soldiers were destroyed in 2006 by Hindu extremists.
French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) in his travel account “Six Voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes (1676–77)” translated into English by Valentine Ball as “Travels in India” (2d ed., 2 vol., 1925) wrote about the numerous famous diamond mines of Sumelpur (Semelpur), the present day Sambalpur. He states that, 8,000 people were at work in these mines at the time of his visit, in the dry season at the beginning of February.
In 1540 A.D., the kingdom of "Patna", ruled by the Chauhan dynasty
