Odia Books

Gopinatha Mohanty was born in 1914,he celebrated novelist and short story writer received the Jnanpith award in 1964 for his novel Mati matala. He lived mostly in Koraput district, a tribal area of odisha and many of his novels bear testimony to his intimate knowledge of the tribal life.

A visionary at heart, Gopinatha Mahanty, through his writings propagates his ideas about social
amelioration and spiritual regeneration. Amritara santana, Paraja, Dadi Buddha, Apahancha and some other novels successfully capture the rhythm of the tribal lives in all their innocence, sufferings and celebrations. Exploitation by money-lenders and the petty government officials coupled with frequent natural calamities always haunt their existence.

Yet with a supreme faith in life and in its beauty, the innocent tribals untainted by the pernicious influence of modern civilization dance in the lap of primordial nature in a sublime ecstasy of creation. Paraja heralds a new revolutionary awakening when the shrewd money-lender Ramachandra is killed by the exploited tribal. Apahancha carries the message of a social revolution that will cousummate through the spread of education, collective farming and the like.

This theme of a new awakening is further treated in Siba bhai, Mati matala and in many other novels. The tribal setting is perfectly drawn showing him as an intimate observer of the hills and forests, of the wild nature in its ferocity and fascinating beauty and of the poetry that is in their unpretentious living. Nature is endowed with a spiritual character: it is at once the protector and tpe destroyer. The tribals live in an intimate kinship with nature, an eternal mysterious presence that conceals many wonders of creation.

The ideal of community life that Tima announces in Apahancha is treated again in Mati matala. A
monumental work on odisha’s rural life, this novel describes in realistic detail the total transformation of two villages by means of various socio-economic projects and above all by a perfect reciprocity of human relationship. The community spirit that nurtures the root of the tribal existence prompts in this novel a beatific vision of humanity. Tantrikara, another novel of Gopinatha calls for such awakening against the enemy attack.

Harijana is the moving tale of the sorrows and joys of life in a sweepers’ colony. Danapani is a bitter tirade aginst the mad pursuit of material affluence which kills in the process all time-honoured values of life. Through the degeneration of Balidatta, the novelist exposes the ugly insides of the urban life. His other novel, Laya bilaya, written against the backdrop of a family’s short tour of three days to Puri moves to a psychological plane. In Laya bilaya and Rahura chhaya the novelist dives into the depth of human mind.

In all his novels and short stories Gopinatha Mahanty unfolds vistas of human experiences. A staunch
believer in the sunny side of human existence, his writings always convey an unflinching faith in man. In the delineation of village life his novels belong to the rural tradition which has been enriched by Fakir Mohan and Kalandicharan.

For the realistic description in his novels he banks upon the immense wealth of the tribal or rural vocabulary. He understands the delicate nuances of language and is always experiementing with its possibilities. He communicates the intense feel of life through his minute observation and innumerable wordpictures. His writings mark a landmark in odia literature because for the first time he presents a new reality, the reality of tribal existence, hitherto unsung.

Odia Books By Gopinatha Mohanty

Tantrikara
Danapani
Harijana
Tantrikara
Mati matala
Laya bilaya
Rahura Chhaya