Odia is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the official language in Odisha, where native speakers make up 82% of the population, and it is also spoken in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Odia is one of the many official languages of India; it is the official language of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand. The language is also spoken by 700,000 people in Chhattisgarh.
Ramakanta Rath is one of the most renowned modernist poets in the Odia literature. Heavily influenced by the poets such as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Rath experimented greatly with form and style. The quest for the mystical, the riddles of life and death, the inner solitude of individual selves, and subservience to material needs and carnal desires are among this philosopher-poet's favorite themes. His poetry betrays a sense of pessimism along with counter-aesthetics, and he steadfastly refuses to put on the garb of a preacher of goodness and absolute beauty. His poetry is full of melancholy and laments the inevitability of death and the resultant feeling of futility. The poetic expressions found in his creations carry a distinct sign of symbolic annotations to spiritual and metaphysical contents of life. Often transcending beyond ordinary human capabilities, the poet reaches the higher territories of sharp intellectualism. The contents have varied from a modernist interpretation of ancient Sanskrit literature protagonist Radha in the poem "Sri Radha" to the ever-present and enthralling death-consciousness espoused in "Saptama Ritu".
Jayanta Mahapatra was an Indian poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He was the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature. He was awarded a Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009, but he returned the award in 2015 to protest against rising intolerance in India.
Manoj Das was an Indian author who wrote in Odia and English. In 2000, Manoj Das was awarded the Saraswati Samman. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth-highest Civilian Award in India, and Padma Bhusan in 2020, the third-highest Civilian Award in India for his contribution to the field of Literature & Education.
Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is considered the first poet in the lineage of Indian English poetry followed by Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and Toru Dutt, among others.
Bhima Bhoi (1850–1895) was a 19th-century saint, poet, mystic, and social reformer from the state of Odisha in India. He was a follower of Mahima Swami, and his teachings and poetry were deeply influenced by Mahima Dharma, a monotheistic religious movement in Odisha. Bhima Bhoi was a bhakta of Mahima Gosain, the founder of Satya Mahima Dharma, an Indian religious tradition that challenged the authority of caste and other forms of discrimination. Bhima Bhoi is remembered for his mystical poetry, which was primarily in the Odia language, and his social reform efforts aimed at uplifting the marginalized sections of society.
Radhanath Ray was an Odia writer of initial modernity era in Odia poetry during the later part of nineteenth century. He was born in a Zamindar family in Baleshwar, now in Odisha, and is honoured in Odia literature with the title Kabibara . In his early life, he composed in both Odia and Bengali languages, but later he shifted his writings in Odia only. He was born on 28 September 1848, at Kedarpur village in Baleswar district, Odisha. He has contributed verses and poetry for Odia literature in the nineteenth century.
Sitakant Mahapatra is an Indian poet and literary critic in Odia as well as English. He served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from 1961 until he retired in 1995, and has held ex officio posts such as the Chairman of National Book Trust, New Delhi since then.
Manoranjan Das was an influential Indian dramatist, and pioneer of modernism in Odia Literature. He was known for his experimentalism and deep socio-political awareness, who became most known in the 1960s with his experimental theatre.
Mahapatra or Mohapatra or Mahapatro, is originally a Hindu family surname belonging to the Indian state of Odisha. This surname can be found among the Utkala Brahmin, Karan caste of Odisha.The surname is also used by Gopals and Kshatriya caste in Odisha. But the surname is mostly used by Utkala Brahmins.
Devdas Chhotray is an Indian Odia author, administrator and academician. He was the first vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha. His work consists of poetry, short stories, lyrics, musicals and screenplays. Chhotray's father Gopal Chhotray, a recipient of Padma, Central Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, was an architect of modern Odia theatre.
Jagannath Prasad Das is an Indian writer, poet,painter, playwright and novelist who writes in Odia.
K. V. Dominic , an Indian poet, short story writer, editor, and critic, writing in English. He is a retired Associate Professor of the PG & Research Department of English, Newman College, Thodupuzha, Kerala. He was awarded a PhD on the novels of R. K. Narayan from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
Prabhat Nalini Das was an Indian public intellectual, academic and university president. She served as a professor of English and head of the English Department at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Utkal University and Ranchi University. She was the first Director/Dean of the Humanities Division at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Founder-Professor and Head of the Department of English at Utkal University for almost 19 years, and Chairman of Utkal University's Post Graduate Council; and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University, a Central University established by an act of the Parliament of India, with independent charge of its Kohima, Nagaland campus.
Subrat Kumar Prusty is an Indian Odia-language scholar, activist, social entrepreneur, literary critic and author. He is Member Secretary of the Institute of Odia Studies and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He was instrumental in preparing the research documents, advocating the awarding of Classical Language status to Odia, forming Central Institute of Classical Odia, Odia University and implementation of the Odisha Official Language Act, 1954. He was awarded the Presidential Certificate of Honour and Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman – 2019 for Classical Odia.
P C K Prem is an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer, editor and critic, writing in English and Hindi. He is a former academician, civil servant, and member of the Himachal Public Service Commission, Shimla.
Basanta Kumari Patnaik was an Odia language novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet and essayist; considered to be one of the pioneers in Odia literature. She became famous for her three novels: Amada Bata, Chorabali and Alibha Chita, among which Amada Bata has been adapted into an Odia film by same name.
Aswini Kumar Ghose was an Indian dramatist from Odisha. He is known in Odia literature for his historical plays written in the Odia language based on various Indian historical personalities such as Kalapahad and Tipu Sultan.
Karamat Ali Karamat (1936–2022) was an Indian Urdu poet, author, literary critic, and mathematician. Karamat is known for collecting and introducing Odisha's Urdu literature to the Urdu-speaking world. His works include Aab e Khizar (1963), Shu'aon Ki Salīb (1972), Izāfi Tanqīd (1977), Lafzon Kā Aasmān (1984), and Lafzon Kā Ākāsh (2000). Karamat received the 2004 Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for his Urdu translation, Lafzon Kā Ākāsh.
