Madhusudan Rao was born in 1853. He is considered the father of modern Oriya lyric, was born at Puri in a Maratha family which had settled there. He started as an essayist. In 1873 he translated a few pieces of prose and poetry from Sanskrit and English which appeared in Utkal darpan, a literary journal. Two volumes of a collection of poems entitled Kabitabali, prepared in collaboration with Radhanath Roy, appeared in 1873 and 1874. They marked the beginning of a new era in Oriya lyric.

The old lyrical forms like the chautisa, koili, boli, padia, etc were replaced by ode, elegy, sonnet and other forms of Western poetry. Towards the end of his career Madhusudan wrote two short stories and translated Uttar Ramcharita of Bhavabhuti into Oriya.

His literary creations mainly consist of lyrical compositions. During a period of thirty years from 1880 till his death, he enriched Oriya literature with his exquisits lyrics. The most well-known of his verse-collections include Chhandamala (Vol. I, 1880; Vol. II, 1895), Sangitamala (1894), Basanta gatha (1910), Kusumanjali (1903) and Utkalgatha (1908).

Basanta gatha, which contains seven sonnets, was the first of its kind in Oriya literature. Kusumanjali contains a number of elegies, such as ‘Shoka lahari’, ‘Mahadevi Victoria’, ‘Radhanath biyoge’ (an elegy on the death of poet Radhanath), ‘Shoka shloka’ (couplets on grief), etc.

His poems ‘Pruthibi prati’ (Ode to Mother Earth), ‘ Nadi prati’ (Ode to the river)., ‘Akasha prati’ (Ode to the sky), ‘Jiban chinta’ (A psalm of life) and ‘Kounasi paraloka basini prati’ (Ode on the death of an unknown lady) are a few instances of his odes on various themes. Pious and devout in personal life, his poetry is charged with profound religious emotions. He is also regarded as a great mystic poet, for he sees divinity in every being.

With the spread of nationalism in the last decade of the 19th century, the mystic Madhusudan became a true patriot. He turned from the religious themes to the patriotic and the nationalistic. His Utkala gatha, containing such types of poems, testifies to his change of attitude. His poems like ‘Bharata bhabana’(Thoughts about India), ‘Bharata bandana’ (The worship of India), ‘Utkala bandana’ (The worship of Orissa), and ‘Janmabhumi’ (The motherland) are replete with patriotic sentiments.

In one of his poems of Utkala gatha he prays to God to fulfil the aim of his life which is to serve his motherland and mother-tongue.In these poems, he tries to recapitulate the past glory of Orissa and calls upon the people of different parts of the state to unite, ignoring the barriers of caste, creed and religion and to dedicate themselves to the cause of their country.

He tries to infuse in them a Pan-Indian consciousness. In most of his poems, both religious and nationalistic, he shows robust optimism. He believes that the people of India will prosper if they accept the new education and the new religion (possibly the religion of Bramho Samaj which he embraced wholeheartedly). As a reformer, he voices a spirit of revolt against old superstitious beliefs, religiosity, and conservatism. For the first time in Oriya literature he preaches universal brotherhood.

His finest lyrical compositions are ‘Patita ramani’ (The fallen woman), ‘Bichhede’ (In separation),
‘Risiprane debabatarana’ (The descent of God into the soul of a saint), ‘Himachale udaya utsaba’ (Sunrise on the Himalayas), ‘E shrusti amrutamaya he’ (The creation is immortal), etc. His poems on the seasons of the year, and also such other poems as ‘Prabhat’ (The morning), ‘Sundar sansara’ (The beautiful world) and ‘Shova’ (beauty) are of abiding interest to young men.

As an essayist, Madhusudan shows a preoccupation with moral and philosophical ideas, but his genius
lies in the literary prose that he wrote. He developed an Oriya prose style that continued long after his death. His contribution to the growth of juvenile and children’s literature is significant.He wrote some bibliography like Avanti Devi, Bhakta kabi Madhusudan Rao o Utkala nabajuga (Jignasa, Calcutta, 1963); Brajamohan Mohanty, Kabi Madhusudan; K.C. Panigrahi, Bhakta Kabi Madhusudan.

Chhandamala
Sangitamala
Basanta Gatha
Kusumanjali
Utkalgatha
Sachitra Madhu Barnabodha

Pruthibi Prati
Nadi Prati
Akasha Prati
Jiban Chinta

Bharata Bhabana
Bharata Bandana
Utkala Bandana
Janmabhumi