Odia Books

Kabisurya Baladeba Rath was born in 1779 at the village of Bijayanagara Goda and got his education
under the supervision of his father and maternal grandfather, both of whom were Sanskrit scholars. He was well-versed in Sanskrit. The zamindars of different estates of Ganjam (Jalantara and Athagada) appointed him their chief court poet.

For his outstanding poetic gift he was honoured with the title ‘Kabisurya Rayaguru’. Being a gifted poet and scholar of repute he exhibited his talent in various forms of Oriya poetry: chaupadi, chautisa, chhanda, champu and kavya. His Kishorachandrananda champu is a unique creation of its kind.

It is a beautiful well-knit miniature poem based on the conventional story of the union. of Radha and Krishna in the bowers of Vrindavana in which Lalita, the dearest companion of Radha, plays a vital role. It can be called a miniature song-drama (giti-natya) written in the form of song-dialogues. It contains thirtyfour beautiful chaupadis composed in chautisa form in various ragas and raginis befIttmg the emotion and atmosphere. Besides Kishorachandrananda champu, he wrote a large number of chaupadis, jananas,chautisas and chhandas.

They were pubhshed under the titles, Chaupadi ratnakara (Ocean of chaupadis), Samgita kalpalata (Divine creeper of music) and Kabita kallolini (River of poetry). We experience an important tone in these songs and that is evidently the tone of passion for earthy love. Baladeba is chiefly a poet of love-in-union (sambhoga shringara) where lust is preferred to love. The erotic consciousness and word music of Jayadeva’s Gita-Govinda being the main inspiration, his chaupadis convey the exuberance of erotic love. They are not like the devotional songs of the Vaishnavas, but are songs of life, love, joy and beauty. The same can be said of his Chandrakala, a long descriptive fictional poem on conventional theme in conventional rhetoric and style.

But there is the spontaneous emotion of a devotee discernible in his ‘Bhajanas’ and ‘Jananas’where he sings of the glory of the Lord, of hope and despair and anxiety for emancipation. Baldeva had also a sense of humour and was a good satirist. This can be seen in his Hasyakallola (Wave of humour), written in poetic prose. His Chhanda-Chautisas are stereotyped long erotic poems.

He is the exponent of a type of folk-song, called ‘dhumpa’, which is erotic in nature and has a close relation with rain. Though this form is an admixure of both the elite and the folk it is in spite of its musical appeal, a creation of unrefined, rustic taste. He is no doubt, a major poet in old Oriya hterature and is a favourite with the people.He wrote some bibliography like Dasarathi Dasa, Kabisurya kabya-bibha (Cuttack, 1978); Kulamani Dasa (ed.), Kabisurya granthabali (Cuttack, 1947); Mayadhar Mansingha, Odia sahityara itihasa (Cuttack, 1967).

Chhanda-Chautisas
Chaupadi Ratnakara
Samgita Kalpalata
Kabita Kallolini