Odia Books

Satakadi Hota was born in 1929 at Jagannath Khunta, in the district of Mayurbhanja, in northern odisha. His early education was at Baripada, the district headquarter town of Mayurbhanja, after which he shifted to Puri and Cuttack to complete his education. In 1954 he joined Indian Railway Traffic Service, in the course of which he was posted in many places. Currently he is working in Calcutta, as the Additional General Manager of South Eastern Railways. Always interested in social service Hota is associated with a large number of social and cultural institutions and has acquired a rich and varied experience about life. All these have enriched his creative life, and have, distinguished him as a man of letters. Hota started his literary career by writing poems.

Mostly rhymed pieces on traditional themes, these were collected in 1966 in a book entitled Madhuchhanda (Sweetly rhymed). But he gave up poetry and began writing stories from 1972, and so for published 12 story-collections (a total of about 180 stories). They are Phular gotie surabhi (The fragrance of flower, 1977), Sonitar swapna (The dreams of blood, 1977), Begam saheba (1978), Kiriburu kanya (The daughter of Kiriburu, 1980), Mahasnana (The holy bathing, 1981), Sayanar shobha (The beauty of afternoon, 1982), Madhulagna (The sweet moment, 1982), Jagannathanka hasa (The laughter of Jagannatha, 1982), Asatark muhurta (Unguarded moment, 1982), Nilachalaku rasta (The road to Nilachala,1982), Nangala raja (The naked king, 1983) and Mo galpar nayak (The hero of my stories, 1984).

The stories portray the complexities and varieties of life, with reference to the general decay in values and morality and man’s increasing condition of loneliness and helplessness. They have, at the same time, strong social content, and often the stand is against social narrowness and for liberality and openness of mind. On the whole, while providing a vivid arid intelligent document of contemporary odia life, they portray the modern man’s predicament, particularly his restlessness and uncertainty as well as his desire to rise beyond pettiness to a benign wholesome life.

In addition to story-collections, Hota has 6 novels. They are: Byakula hridaya (Wearied heart, 1966), Swapna siuli (The dream moss, 1968), Ete swapna, ete aloka (So many dreams and so much light, 1976), Anek diganta (Many horizons, 1981), Ashanta aranya (Reslless forest, 1984) and Shatabdira sosha (The thirst of century, 1986). The novels have strong social content, dealing with burning social problems, such as, unemployment and exploitation in the name of class struggle (Ete swapna), evils of dowry (Shatabdira sosha), village reconstruction and loss of morality in the aristocratic families, etc.

Particularly Ashanta aranya deals with the changing life of the tribals in the north of odisha and portrays their hopes, agonies and suffering. The novels have a wide canvas, and they portray a cross-section of society and social characters. As in stories, here too, the assessment is often incisive, but always with a view to improving the lot of man not only as a social person but also as a sentient being responsible for a better living.

Hota is an essayist too. He has written more than 100 essays which have been published at different times in different journals and newspapers. They generally deal with contemporary social issues and problems, social reconstruction and defence of values and culture.

Odia Books By Satakadi Hota

Phular Gotie Surabhi
Sonitar Swapna
Begam Saheba
Kiriburu Kanya
Mahasnana
Sayanar Shobha
Madhulagna
Asatark Muhurta

Novels

Byakula Hridaya
Swapna Siuli
Ete Swapna
Anek Diganta
Ashanta Aranya
Shatabdira Sosha