Odia Books

Nandakisora Bala was born in 1875,He was a well-known odia poet. Born in a middle class family he
received his B.A. from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, and served as a teacher and later as an Inspector of Schools. He is one of the chief figures of the renaissance in odia literature in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Bala is famous for his lyrical poetry which depicts his love for the odisha countryside, its scenic beauty and the life of its people. He is rightly called the ‘pallikavi’ or the poet of the countryside In odia literature.

His first collection of lyrics, Pallichitra (Pictures of the countryside, 1896) is divided into three sections,the first describing the different socio-cultural institutions of the odisha village like temple, school, fair and cremation ground. The second depicts the scenery of the countryside through the six seasons, and the third presents a picture of social life in the village. Realism is the hallmark of these, lyrics. In a few pieces like‘Grishma’ ‘Barsha’ and ‘Gremakhala’ the poet with a penetrative insight, is able to capture the very spirit of rural odisha. One serious defect with most of these lyrics, however, is their total dependence on raw facts. Imagination seems to have played no role in their making.

As such they become quite faithful pictures but not poetry. The other disconcerting feature is their didacticism from which Bala could never free his art. His second collection, Nirjharini (The stream, 1900) contains such popoular pieces as ‘Nababarsha Bhabana’‘Barshamangala’ and ‘Kakabarata’. One of the most interesting features of these poems is the use of odia folk songs and proverbs not only as a structural device but for reanimating personal experience and raising it to almost a mythic level. Of the 16 poems in the collection ‘Ke’ is perhaps the best for its compact structure, its philosophical insight and its fusion of thought and feeling.

Other poems in the lyrical mode have been published in eight collections: Basanta Kokila (The Cuckoo in Spring, 1901), Charu Chitra (Beautiful pictures, 1902), Nirmalya (The sanctified rice, 1903), Janmabhumi(Motherland, 1903), Nanabaya Gita (Lullabies, 1915), Tarangini (The river, 1926), Prabhata Sangita(Morning song, 1928) and Sandhya Sang ita (Evening song, 1928). Basanta Kokila contains lyrics dealing mostly with the bliss of conjugal love. ‘Madhusajya’ captures well the dramatic quality of his experience on the very first night of his conjugal life. Bala’s love lyrics including those in Tarangini are characterised by an excess of idealism which raises doubts about its sincerity.

This weakness is more pronounced in Charu Chitra, Janmabhumi and Nirmalya which contain patriotic poems as well as pieces depicting the poet’s zeal for social reform. His reflections on God in Nirmalya are immature, stereotyped and dull. But Nanabaya Gita occupies a unique place in children’s literature in odia. These lyrics are noted for their consummate artistry, expression of parental love and for their evocation of the highly imaginative and creative world of children.

The odia lullaby, from which these poems borrow their form, diction, and rhythm, undergoes an imaginative reinterpretation in the hands of the poet. The last two collections, however, have very little to offer. They repeat the themes and style of earlier lyrics and reveal his poetic talents as already on the decline.

The three narrative poems are clearly didactic in their tone and temper. Sita Banabasa (Sita’s life in exile,1901) narrates the story of Sita since her banishment by Rama till her disappearance into the womb of the earth. Krishnakumari (1901) deals with the historical character of a Rajput princess of Mewar, and Sarmihtha (1901) depicts the suffering and the sacrifice of the daughter of Brishaparba in the Mahabharata.Bala’s talents were ill-suited to the needs of the narrative. He however succeeds in emphasizing the values he respected through the characterisation of the three women.

Bala’s prose works include nine essays,five pieces of literary criticism,two fictionalexercises, a short story ‘Lakshmi’ and a novel called Kanaklata (1913). He fares better in his appreciation of the merits and defects of his contemporaries like Radhanatha, Fakiramohana and Madhusudana, than in his reflections on society in the essays which have neither formal coherence nor an analytical style. The short story records its author’s protest against the dowry system.

The first part of Kanaklata was published in 1913 followed by the second, twelve years later. The novel deals with two problems of contemporary society-the dowry system and the widow marriage.BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bichitrananda Mahanti, Pallikavi Parichaya (Cuttack, 1956); Madhusudana Pati, Anusilana (Cuttack, 1979); Mayadhara Mansirnha, Odiya Sahityara Itihas (Cuttack, 1967, 1976); Natabara Samantaraya, Nandakisor Sahitya Samiksha (Bhubaneswar, 1964); Saratchandra Pradhana, Kavyadhara O Kavimanasa (Cuttack, 1976).

Nababarsha Bhabana
Barshamangala
Kakabarata

Poems

Basanta Kokila
Charu Chitra
Nirmalya
Janmabhumi
Nanabaya Gita
Tarangini
Madhusajya