Odia Books

Raghunathraj Harichandra belonged to the royal family of Banapur, an area on the western side of the lake Chilika, on the Bay of Bengal, and he himself became the king of Banapur for a short while (1655-1656). His family was given to literary and religious activities, and particularly as Banapur was on the middle of the way between the north and south of Orissa and as the kings were benevolent, a large number of scholars and poets used to visit Banapur and stay there under the active patronage of the kings.

Among these were well-known poets such as Lokanath Bidyadhar and Bishnu Das and a scholar like Haladhar Mishra who composed Sangita kalpalata, the famous treatise on music. Also it is said that Raghunath’s grand daughter was married to Upendra Bhanja, the famous poet. Besides, Raghunath’s father Achyutaraja, who was the king of Banapur from 1650 to 1655, was reputed as a poet and a patron of poets. Thus a strong literary tradition was in the family and in the atmosphere as well, and Raghunath imbibed all that to a large degree in himself.

He wrote a number of love lyrics called ‘chaupadi’, long dialogue and address-poems on love called ‘chautisa’, such as Chandramukhi chautisa (The moon-faced chautisa, or the chautisa of a young woman whose face is like that of the moon) and Kalakantha chautisa (The cuckoovoiced chautisa, or the chautisa of a young woman whose voice is like that of the cukoo) and a kavya entitled Lilabati where accounts of love as well as beauty of the princess Litabati are given in detail.

Thus Raghunath can be considered as belonging to an important tradition of odia poetry, dealing with love and lover’s experiences both in his lyrics and kavyas, and to that extent he anticipated masters like Upendra Bhanja and Dinakrishna who came in the 18th century, and carried this tradition to great heights. A sample extract may be given to establish Raghunath’s poetic felicity. This is how he describes the coming of rains:

Then slowly with great vehemence
It embraced the sun,
And scattered deep, dense darkness around,
Like inky blackness from horizon to horizon.
Thus inmimerable frogs croaked,
Shells made noise day and night,
And the forest-fire was extinguished,
And rains came and filled the earth.

Raghunath inherited a poetic tradition, improved upon it, and contributed significantly to the new,
emerging poetry of love, imagination and stylistic beauty.

Odia Books By Raghunathraj Harichandra

Chaupadi
Chautisa
Chandramukhi Chautisa
Kalakantha Chautisa
Lilabati