Odia Books

Sitadevi Khadanga was born in 1902. He is a dramatist and a novelist. Born in an orthodox brahmin family of the village Asika in district Ganjam, she had no formal education. Married to Banchhanidhi Khadanga, a school teacher, she has written a number of dramas like Sahodar (Brother), Nari (Women), Poshyaputra (Adopted son), Naisthika (An orthodox), Prachin panthi (Old-fashioned), Kshudhara pida (The pain of hunger), Matrihina (Motherless). These are all social dramas and were written and staged in various places of Ganjam during nineteen fifties. She has established a stage of her own called ‘Harihar natya Mandir’.

Moreover, she was the founder of Krishna Singh Sahitya Parishad at Aska. Then she diverted her attention to novels. Poshyaputra (Adopted son, 1948) was originally written in dramatic form and staged in Aska, subsequently rewritten as a novel. It is based on different problems of society.

Agraja (Elder brother) is a social novel in which turmoil of party politics is depicted. It contains twenty-seven chapters. Pratyabartan (Return, 1969) is also based on the rural life of odisha. The language and the style of these novels are stereotype. One can mark the influence of Fakirmohan on these novels. Mo jiban smriti (Memory of my life, 1976) gives an autobiographical note on the writer and is also included in the collected works. FURTHER WORKS: Sitadevi granthavali (Cuttack Students Store, Cuttack, 1978). (S.C.P.)

Odia Books By Sitadevi Khadanga

Sahodar
Poshyaputra
Nari
Naisthika
Prachin panthi
Kshudhara Pida
Matrihina