English
Pandit Gopinath Nanda was born in 1869,he was a great scholar of Sanskrit and Prakrit literatures, the first philologist, lexicographer and a pioneer of literary research in odia.Born at Manjusa (now in Adhra Pradesh) in a family of ‘raj vaidya’, traditional physicians who looked after the health of the royal house of Paralakemedi, he learnt Sanskrit at home. The profession of a physician did not attract him and he moved on to the realm of literature instead.
In his youth he became deaf which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it enabled him to concentrate more on his studies and research. He was a profound scholar of Sanskrit, Telugu and odia. In 1910 he joined the Raj College at Paralakemedi as an odia pandit where he remained upto 1924. During this time he compiled three of his monumental works: Bhashatattwa,Shabda-tattwabodba abhidhan and Bbarat-darpan. As a philologist and grammarian, he opened new avenues for further research. In Shabda-tattwabodba abbidban he provided the meanings of words showing their origins with illustrative quotations from odia literature.
His Bharatdarpan is an authoritative treatise on the Dandi Mahabharata, the first famous odia epic. His observation on the various aspects of this work are still valid. He also attempted to write a treatise on the odia Dandi Ramayana and the Bhagabata, but could not complete them. He translated many classical works such as Maghadutam, Kumara-sambhabam, Bikramorbashiya, Janaki-parinaya, Chaurapanchashika, Uttar Ramcharita, Unatt Raghaba into odia. He also wrote short plays such as Mukundananda vana, Rasollasa and Radhamadhaba villasa. In most of his poems and translated works he used the sanskrit metre instead of the odia metre. The language of Pandit Nanda’s works is highly Sanskritised, gorgeous and complex.
FURTHER WORKS: Ramashwamedha, (1901), Sita Banabasa (1904), Peeyusadhara (Poem, 1904), Draupadi Bastraharana (1905), Billahaniya Kavya (1908), odia Bhasatattwa (1927), Kumarabijaya.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.B. Dash, Pandit Gopinath Nanda: Jeebani o jeeban (1977), Pathachaka
prabandhabali, (‘odia sahitya ku Gopinath Nandanka dana’).
Odia Books By Pandit Gopinath Nanda
Dandi Ramayana
Ramashwamedha
Peeyusadhara
Odia Bhasatattwa
Mukundananda vana
Rasollasa
Radhamadhaba villasa
Kumarabijaya
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