Odia Books

Nilakantha Das was born in 1884,he was a teacher, sacial worker, litterateur, and politician. He started his eventful career after joining the Satyabadi school inspired by Gapabandhu Das. His literary career covers a wide field: poetry, essay, translation and stories and poems for children. His deep learning won him the title of Pandit.

His Autobiography told in a simple, lucid style encompasses all the facets of his life. It is more or less an exhaustive socio-political document of Odisha of his time. The narration starts fram his childhood days and maves to describe his Satyabadi years, the Non-cooperation movement, the Swatantra Odisha movement and the political scenario from the twenties to the sixties. It also throws light on personalities like Gopabandhu Das, Madhusudan Das, Godabarisa Misra, Lingaraja Misra and Kripasindhu Misra who figured prominently in the then socio-political scene of the country.

His prose writings are marked by profound scholarship and a deep awareness of culture and religion.
Sanskrita O Sanskriti (Sanskrit and Culture, 1951) is a scholarly work which traces the symbiotic
relationship between the growth of the Indian culture and the growth of the Sanskrit litnguage. It analyses various cultures and religious cults existing from the ancient times and finally focuses on the significance of Jagannath cult.

Nilakantha’s. Arya Jiban (The Aryan Life), divided into six chapters, attempts a philosophical analysis of the Aryan way of living that encompasses various. aspects of life like enjoyment, religion, spirituality, self-expansion, self-realization, etc. His odia Sahityara Krama Parinama (1948) is a deep analytical study of odia language and culture. Nilakantha has written a number of essays on various traits of human nature and social issues like superstition. He analyses the fundatnental facts of life and joes not hesitate to refute time-honoured opinions.

Nilakantha’s poetry covers a wide range of themes like chivalry, love, patriotism and devotion.
Bhaktigatha (Poems of Devotion, 1935) sings of various devotional experiences – the ecstasy of life and eternity, the intense search and questioning of the mind, the helplessness of man lost in the mundane transactions of life and the wonder of the magnificence of God’s vast creation.

His Pranayini (1919) and Dasa Nayaka (1924) are the ranslations of Tennyson’s The Princess and Enoch
Arden respectively. By changing names and using native images, netaphors and myths’, the poet has tried to depict the characters in concrete local situations. In Dasa Nayaka the poet by the use of colloquial language and a simple larrative style creates a familiar atmosphere of rustic simplicity and innocence, love and sacrifice and captures the poignancy that one experiences in the original English poem.

Konarka (1919), considered to be his best creation, is an account of chivalry and romance and of Odishas past glory. Nilakantha has written a number of songs for children such as Mo Tiki Ghara (My small Home), Sapua Kela (The Snake Charmer), Mahatma Gandhi, Mo Raja (My king). Machhi O Budhiani (The Fly and the Spider).

In all these poems the poet subtly communciates the moral lessons of life. The naturally flowing rhythm and the musicality of the simple words reach the children in a communication process of urgency and intimacy. Besides these, Nilakantha has adapted the Bhagavata, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata for children. In all his rritings as in the life, he has always been a seeker of truth and of the values which ennoble human existence.

Odia Books By Nilakantha Das

Odia Sahityara Krama Parinama
Konarke
Kharavela
Atma Jibanee
Gita Prabesha

Kavyas

Odia Bhasa O Sahitya
Sanskruta O Sanskruti
Children’s Ramayana
Arya Jeeban