Glossary:p.275-276.

Bibliography:p.277-279.

Index:p.280-293.

Introduction1. Odia FolktalesMohini Mohan SenapatiTranslated by Shaswat Panda2. Village Songs in OdiaChakradhar MohapatraTranslated by Animesh Mohapatra3. Colophons of Palm-leaf Manuscripts in OdishaDebi Prasanna PattanayakTranslated by Urmishree Bedamatta4. Sudramuni Sarala Das: The Author of Odia MahabharataShyam Sundar RajguruTranslated by Niroj Kumar Sethi5. Reflections on Sarala Das’s Mahabharata: Excerpts from Sree Bharata DarpanGopinath Nanda SharmaTranslated by Sumanyu Satpathy6. The Portrayal of Women in Sarala Das’s MahabharataSarala DeviTranslated by Kalidas Misra7. Representations of the Conflict between the City and the Forest in Odia LiteratureGaganendra Nath DashTranslated by Shaswat Panda8. An Essay on Dinakrushna Das’s RasakallolaMrutyunjay RathaTranslated by Urmishree Bedamatta9. Baladeb Ratha and his Experiments in PoetrySachchidananda MishraTranslated by Ujaan Ghosh and Amrita Chowdhury10. Perso-Arabic Influence on Odia LiteratureKrushna Charan BeheraTranslated by Sangram Jena11. Michael Madhusudan Dutta and his Meghanadvadh KavyaFakir Mohan SenapatiTranslated by Jatindra Kumar Nayak and Animesh Mohapatra12. System of Patronage and Attribution of Authorship in Colonial Odisha: The Case of Gangadhar MeherDebendra DashTranslated by Umasankar Patra13. War of Words: Aspects of a Literary ControversySudarsana AcharyaTranslated by Animesh Mohapatra14. The Need for a Literary PeriodicalBiswanath Kar and Chandra Mohan MaharanaTranslated by Aditya Nayak15. Two Odia Books: A ReviewGopal Chandra PraharajTranslated by Sumanyu Satpathy16. Fakir Mohan Senapati’s Mamu: A ReviewAshraf Ali KhanTranslated by Umasankar Patra17. Literature and MoralitySurendra MohantyTranslated by Aruni Mahapatra18. Odia Drama: A Study of its Social BackgroundGirija Sankar RayTranslated by Haramohan Nayak19. Accounting for Literary Change: A Survey of Modern Odia PoetryBasant Kumar SatpathyTranslated by Niroj Kumar Sethi20. Netramani’s DiaryNatabara SamantarayTranslated by Jyotirmaya Tripathy21. Rabindranath Tagore and Modern Odia PoetryGopinath MohantyTranslated by Snehaprava Das22. The Commercial Prospects of Modern Odia LiteratureKrishna Chandra PanigrahiTranslated by Amrita Chowdhury and Ujaan Ghosh23. The Poetry of Sachidananda RautrayChintamani BeheraTranslated by Jatindra Kumar Nayak24. Odia Literature: A Historical EnquiryNilakantha DasTranslated by Jatindra Kumar Nayak25. Literature and PhilosophyBipin Bihari RayTranslated Asim Ranjan ParhiGlossary

This volume forms part of the Critical Discourses in South Asia series, which deals with schools, movements and discursive practices in major South Asian languages. It offers crucial insights into the making of Odia literature and its critical tradition across a century. The book brings together English translation of major writings of influential figures dealing with literary criticism and theory, aesthetic and performative traditions, and re-interpretations of primary concepts and categories in Odia. It presents twenty-five key texts in literary and cultural studies from late-nineteenth century to early-twenty-first century, translated by experts for the first time into English. These seminal essays explore complex interconnections between socio-historical events in the colonial and post-Independence period in Odisha and the language movement. They discuss themes such as the evolving idea of literature and criteria of critical evaluation; revision and expansion of the literary canon; the transition from orality to print; emergence of new reading practices resulting in shifts in aesthetic sensibility; dialectics of tradition and modernity; and the formation, consolidation and political consequences of a language-based identity.

Comprehensive and authoritative, this volume offers an overview of the history of critical thought in Odia literature in South Asia. It will be essential for scholars and researchers of Odia language and literature, literary criticism, literary theory, comparative literature, Indian literature, cultural studies, art and aesthetics, performance studies, history, sociology, regional studies and South Asian studies. It will also interest the Odia-speaking diaspora and those working on the intellectual history of Odisha and Eastern India and conservation of language and culture.

English