English
Bhanuji Rao Was born in 1926.He is a well-known Oriya poet, is the grandson of the famous Oriya poet, Bhaktakavi Madhusudan Rao. He studied English Literature for his M.A. at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, but could not sit for the final examination. He was the first editor of Prajna, a quarterly, devoted to modernist writings.
He collaborated on a collection of poems with Guruprasad Mahanti, and the book, Nutana kavita (New
poetry), came out in 1955. The two poets have many things in common; both are committed to the modernist tradition; both are competent craftsmen and have striven in their poetry to be objective and impersonal. Bhanuji has one more collection of poems to his credit, Bishada eka ritu (Sadness is a season, 1973). He has had, however, few followers.
The reasons for this are not far to seek. First of all, his organisation of poetic material in any single poem is inimitably flawless. Second, his short lyrics did not look quite fashionable before the long poem which came into vogue in Oriya poetry in the late 60s. Few can, however, deny their beauty and charm, and it is a welcome relief to turn to them from the repetitive and verbose writings of some contemporary poets.
The chief excellence of his poetry lies in its easy communicability. Whether the poem is reflective
(‘Bhabana,’ ‘Bharatabarsha’), or slightly ironical (‘Konarka’) or even frolicsome (‘Sabun’), it always establishes an immediate rapport with the reader. The poet does not strive to probe the mysteries of life and death or of the world beyond; he is content with the here and now. He writes about moonlight, sea, river, birds, Sunday and the simple joys of domestic life. ‘Bahuda’ is unique in its fusion of the beauty of the moonlit night with the warmth of hearth and home. Prose-poems like ‘Stana’ and ‘Hueta’ are quite successful as experiments in Oriya poetry.
The poems like ‘Kathajodi,’ ‘Digha’ and ‘Machha’ are descriptions of natural scenery, but the beauty of the river and the sea suggest an almost mythic sense of renewal. An orange-coloured moon rises above the railway bridge across the river Kathajodi, the sea near Digha rolls and polishes the poet’s body into a dazzling oyster-shell, and the fish caught in the net are as bright as the sun. In ‘Satta o samudra’ the sea brings to the poet the promise of a home and children. These are poems of joy, of celebration, of the triumph of light over darkness. He wrote some bibliography like Jatindra Mohan Mohanty, ‘Introduction’ to Adhunika Odia kavita (Cuttack, 1978) and Bhanuji Raonka kavita’ in Asantakali (1968).
Odia Books By Bhanuji Rao
Nai Aarapaari
Rakta Manshara Kabita
Janhara Rakta Dhala
Sabda Sange Srungara
Chandana Banare Eka
Bisada Eka Rutu
