Odia Books

Bhikaricharan Pattanayak was born in 1877.wrote by and large in the dramatic tradition of Ramshankar Ray whose junior he was as a lawyer. The spirit of reform and patriotism found in Ray marked his writings as well. In structure, dialogue, use of blank verse and arrangement of scenes he clearly followed his mentor.

His first play, Ingrej katrika kataka vijaya (Conquest of Cuttack by the English), written soon after his
passing the Matriculation examination and staged by the students of Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, was published in 1901. Depending largely upon Toynbee’s History of Orissa (1874) and Jagamohan Lala’s Orisa vijaya (Conquest of Orissa) and influenced to some extent by Lachhma, a novel by Fakirmohan Senapati, Bhikaricharan depicts in this drama the tragic defeat of Balaji, the Maratha ruler of Orissa, at the hands of the invading British army. The skeleton of history has been given flesh and blood through imaginative portrayal of characters and scenes that stir pathos and rouse patriotic sentiments. Bhikaricharan was a pioneer in introducing ‘khanda-amitra-kshara chhanda’ (blank verse in broken sentences), but his blank verse is often poor and inflexible. The play is burdened with too many songs in the traditional manners. The playwright introduced a ‘nandi’ or benedictory verse and a ‘nati’ singing a prayer to Saraswati. But the play has a tragic end in the manner of the western tradition.

Nandikesvari published in 1915 is semi-historical and is largely based on and deeply influenced by the language and style of the poetical work of the same name written by Radhanath Ray. The drama centres round a tale of the love of a princess which ends in tragedy. Written in blank verse, it is rather amateurish as it is marred by long speeches and asides and also by a profusion of songs.

He wrote another historical drama. entitled Raja Purushottama Dev (1925) dealing with the accession of
Gajapati Purushottama Dev to the throne of Orissa. It contains some satirical portraits. Ratnabali(1915), first staged in the Kanika palace, is a comparatively more successful drama. Moralistic in purpose, it shows the influence of Shakespeare in presenting the heroine in the disguise of a man. The dialogue is mostly in blank verse. In the social drama Samsara chitra (1915) Bhikaricharan attacks the dowry system, its unhappy consequences and the evils of usury and, in a later farce Yautuka (1924), he ridicules the dowry system again. In Sushila (1917), another social drama, he represents the ideal womanhood in the person of Sushila with her patience, tolerance and spirit of forgiveness and attacks the evils of western influence and libertinism in men and women. Nirupama (1952) is primarily a play with a purpose as the dramatist tries here to remove the popular misconception about leprosy. This drama too is burdened with too many songs.

Karmakshetra, published in 1960, was Bhikaricharan’s last drama which upholds the dignity of labour and pleads for the cause of the emancipation of women. The dramatist’s lifelong interest in cottage crafts and his ideal of self-dependence are revealed in his depiction of the unemployed graduate Chakradhara who financially sustains his family with the sale of his hand-made articles.Apart from Yautuka he wrote a farce named Adbhuta adarsha (1909) which was published in the journal Mukura.Bhikaricharan’s plays are not always aesthetically satisfying and they are hardly stageworthy. They reflect a spirit of patriotism and reformism and read like tracts or propaganda.

He wrote many types of bibliography like Girijashankar Ray. Oria natyakata; Hemant Kumar Das, Oria natakara vikashadharam. Oria nataka: udbhava vikasa; Mayadhar Mansinha, Oria sahityara itihasa; Natabar Samantaray, Oria sahityara itihasa; P.R. Sen, Modern Oriya literature; Ratnakar Chaini. Oria natakara udbhava vikasa; Sarbeswar Das. Nataka vichara; Sarada Prasad Dalbehera. Orisara rangamancha itihasa; Virakishore Das. Yuge yuge natya sahitya.

Modern Oriya Literature
Orisara Rangamancha Itihasa
Yuge Yuge Natya Sahitya
Udbhava Vikasa
Oria Natyakata
Oria Natakara Vikashadharam