Natabar Samantaray, the noted Odia critic, said in 1955 that the progressive movement in Odia literature “began only about twenty years ago. But no literary movement in Odisha has brought about a transformation of the sensibility of the readership the way this rather short-lived movement has done”. Thoroughly analytical and well-researched, this is one of the many versions of the history of the pan-Indian movement in the local context of Odisha. Most such reconstructions of the history of the movement in Odisha are based on individual works of the writers of the period. This article aims to weave the sequence of events between 1920 and 1940 based on the periodicals of the time. The fifty-year-old demand for the reorganization of Odia-speaking tracts culminated in the formation of, in 1936, the first language-based state, Odisha. The memory of the devastating famine of 1866 that had cast a long shadow on the Odia mind was exacerbated when the 1932 famine struck terror in the minds of Odias. These were also the years when many prominent Odia intellectuals joined the various Gandhian movements after 1918. Gopabandhu Das emerged as the foremost Gandhian leader in Odisha and constantly fought for the hungry Odias. His many public speeches were replete with progressivist ideas. The confluence of these diverse movements and ideas in the relatively brief period of two decades seems to have taken the edge off the progressive movement in Odisha. However, and significantly enough, spearheaded by Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi (affectionately called Bhagu by his older brother, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi), the movement acquired a sharp focus in Odisha. In the decisive year (on many counts) of 1936 itself, the first Odia periodical with the unequivocal editorial aim of promoting progressivism was also launched. Calling itself Adhunik and explicitly articulating its littérature engagée, it ceased publication by the end of the year. It was immediately succeeded by the periodical Pragati. Both were edited by Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi, who was posthumously recognized as the pioneer of the Progressive movement in Odisha. Ironically enough, his brother Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, who contributed to both, was a key member of the Sabuja group of Odia poets whose poetic principles were formed based on their admiration for Rabindranath Tagore. In fact, the Odia Sabuja group launched their movement, Sabujasahitya Samite Sabuja Kabita [1931], inspired by Tagore-centric Sabuja Patra. Before the Progressive movement was formally launched, one can clearly discern the emergence of the new radical aesthetic by the end of the 1920s. Combined with the influence of the growing Marxist ideas among the new intelligentsia, these significant events and ideas took the edge off the Progressive Movement in Odisha. This article traces the genealogy of the movement in Odisha to highlight its uniqueness even while identifying it as a part of the progressive cosmopolis.