Gopinath Mohanty
Encyclopedia
Gopinath Mohanty (1914–1991),winner of the prestigious jnanpith award, eminent Oriya novelist of the mid-twentieth century is arguably the greatest Oriya writer after Fakir Mohan Senapati
.
for about three decades. Born at Nagabali (a small village on the bank of River Mahanadi
which can boast of producing some of the trendsetters in oriya literature be it Gopinath himself, Kahnu Charan and Guru Prasad) in Cuttack district
on 20 April 1914, Mohanty received higher education at Ravenshaw College
. He got his M.A. degree from Patna University in 1936.
. He retired from government service in 1969. In 1986, he joined San Jose State University in the U.S.A. as an Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences. He died at San Jose, Califormia on 20 August 1991.
in 1974 for his prose-epic, Matimatala (The Fertile Soil; 1964). He was awarded the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1970 for his Oriya Translation of Gorky’s work, My Universities, the D. Litt. Degree by Sambalpur University in 1976 and a Fellowship for Creative Writing in Oriya by the U.G.C. in 1979. In 1981, the government of India conferred on him Padma Bhushan
in recognition of his distinguished contribution to literature. He was an Emeritus Fellow of Government of India for creative writing.
.The vibrant life of people of Orissa, rural as well as tribal, found expression in the works of these writers. In his fiction Gopinath Mohanty explores all aspects of Orissan life: life, both in the plains and in the hills. He evolves a unique prose style, lyrical in style, choosing worlds and phrases from the day-to-day speech of ordinary men and women.
Gopinath’s first novel, Mana Gahirara Chasa, was published in 1940, which was followed by Dadi Budha (1944), Paraja (1945) and Amrutara Santan (1947). He published 24 novels, 10 collections of short stories in addition to three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays, and five books on the languages of Kandh, Gadaba and Saora tribes. Moreover, he translated Tolstoy’s War and Peace (Yuddh O Shanti in three volumes, 1985–86) and Togore’s Jogajog (tr. 1965) into Oriya.
Although Gopinath has tried his hand at various literary forms, it is for his novels that he will be best remembered. “Fiction, I realized, would best suit my purpose”, he once said in an interview to Indian Literary Review. He uses the novel to portray and interpret several dimensions of human existence. He draws the material for his writing from his rich experience and transforms it imaginatively into a powerful image of life.
Among his novels, Dadi Budha, paraja, Amrutara Santana and Aphanca are remarkable for their portrayal of tribal life in the densely wooded hills and forests of the Eastern Ghats. The Kondhs and the parajas are two colorful and proud tribal communities living in tiny clusters of helmets in the southern parts of Orissa. People of these primitive communities have been exploited by moneylenders and petty government officials of many years. They have felt in their body and bone that exploitation is as old as the hills and forest surrounding them. yet they celebrate the joys of life; they drink and dance and sing; they find joy in nature, in buds and flowers, in green leaves, in the chirping of birds, in the swift- flowing streams and in the mist covered hills. They find life constantly renewing itself in the quick- fading and sloe- blooming buds of the forest.
Dadi Budha (1944) is one of the shorter novels of Gopinath Mohanty. It has the distinction of being his first novel based on tribal life. The novels tells the moving story of the disintegration of a tribal community under the impact of modern civilization. Dadi Budha is an ancient datepalm tree representing the eternal ancestor; it stands for the cultural heritage of the tribal people manifest in their rituals and costumes. The tree stands as a silent witness to the joys and sorrows of the tribal folk; it dominated the drama of their existence. Close to Dadi Budha stands a termite mound called Hunka Budha, yet another symbol of the primitive and innocent faith of tribal people.
Thenga Jani, the son of Ram Chandra Muduli, the headmen of Lulla village, is beteothed to a beautiful girl, Saria Daan, the only daughter of the same village. But he comes under the spell of Sanotsh Kumari, a Christian Domb girl. Thenga and Santosh deeply in love and reject the discipline of the tribal society. They decide to run away to Assam to work on a tea estate; they planned to build their dream home in a town where the rule of the tribal society does not prevail.
Gopinath visualizes life tribal community against a cosmic background. The despair of Ram Muduli, the plight of Thenga mother after her only son leaves the village with the Domb girl, the declaration of the dishari that Thenga and Santosh were evil dumas, the terror caused by the tiger and the rise of a village at another site all these signify the unbroken continuity of life.
Paraja (1945) tells us a different based on the life of the same community. It is the tale of one’s attachment to land, the soil of one’s ancestors. Sitakant Mahapatra
describes the novel as “ the story of shattered dreams”. In Dadi Budha , the old order changes the yielding place to the new; in Paraja the intrusion of brutality in the guise of civilized law generates resentment and violence. Amrutara Santan (1947), the first ever Indian novel to receive the. Sahitya Akademi Award
, is centred round the life of Kondhas, another tribe in the southern parts of Orissa. The novel depicts the grandeur of living and the intensity of suffering or the tribal people.
Gopinath’s fictional world is not confined to tribals. He has also written about the people living in the coastal plains. Even when he shifts his focus from the hills to the plains, he retains his deep concern for the oppressed and underprivileged. His novel, Harijan (1948), deals with untouchables living in slums and their brutal exploitation by the rich. Danapani (1955) presents the grey world of a colourless middle class, petty and mean, and full of gossip and rumours. Laya Bilaya (1961) explores the psychological complexity of three members of a family from Calcutta on a short tirp to Puri. Matimatala (1964), a novel of epic dimension based on life in rural Orissa, celebrates the eternity of love. In this novel, he successfully brings about a fusion of two worlds: the private world of lovers and the public world of social workers.
Gopinath’s language is remarkable for its subtlety. Characters and landscapes come vividly to life in his novels through nuance and evocative descriptions. His language has a unique lyrical grace.
believes that it was not Gopinath, but Surendra Mohanty whose “Ruti O Chandra” has to be considered as first story of individualistic approach rather than the story “Dan” by Gopinth, which was formerly known as the first story of “individualistic attitude”. He published 10 collections of short stories in addition to 24 novels, three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays, and five books on the languages of Kandh, Gadaba and Saora tribes. Moreover, he translated Tolstoy’s War and Peace (Yuddh O Shanti) in three volumes, (tr. 1985-86) and Togore’s Jogajog (tr. 1965) into Oriya. In his short stories Gopinath Mohanty explores all aspects of Orissan life: life, both in the plains and in the hills. He evolves a unique prose style, lyrical in style, choosing worlds and phrases from the day-to-day speech of ordinary men and women.
Fakir Mohan Senapati
Fakir Mohan Senapati born on January 13, 1843, at Mallikashpur in Balasore, played a leading role in establishing the distinct identity of Oriya, a language mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa...
.
Early life and education
He and his elder brother, Kahnu Charan Mohanty, along with his nephew Guru Prasad Mohanty exercised tremendous influence on Oriya literatureOriya literature
Oriya is an official language of the state of Orissa, India. The region has been known at different stages of history as Kalinga, Udra, Utkala, or Koshala. The language is also spoken by minority populations of the neighboring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The...
for about three decades. Born at Nagabali (a small village on the bank of River Mahanadi
Mahanadi River
The Mahanadi in East Central India. It drains an area of around 141,600 km2 and has a total course of 858 km. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.-Source:...
which can boast of producing some of the trendsetters in oriya literature be it Gopinath himself, Kahnu Charan and Guru Prasad) in Cuttack district
Cuttack District
Cuttack district is one of the 30 districts in Orissa state in eastern India. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Cuttack. As of 2011 it is the second most populous district of Orissa , after Ganjam.-Geography:...
on 20 April 1914, Mohanty received higher education at Ravenshaw College
Ravenshaw College
Ravenshaw College is located in Cuttack, India.The college was established in 1878 for Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, a descendant of William Withers...
. He got his M.A. degree from Patna University in 1936.
Career
He joined the Orissa Administrative Service in 1938. Most of his service career was spent among the poor tribals of the undivided Koraput districtKoraput District
Koraput is a tribal dominated district of Orissa, India, and known for rich and diverse types of mineral deposits. It is located along the Eastern Ghats.-History:...
. He retired from government service in 1969. In 1986, he joined San Jose State University in the U.S.A. as an Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences. He died at San Jose, Califormia on 20 August 1991.
Awards
He received Visuva Milan citation in 1950. He won the central Sahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
in 1974 for his prose-epic, Matimatala (The Fertile Soil; 1964). He was awarded the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1970 for his Oriya Translation of Gorky’s work, My Universities, the D. Litt. Degree by Sambalpur University in 1976 and a Fellowship for Creative Writing in Oriya by the U.G.C. in 1979. In 1981, the government of India conferred on him Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
in recognition of his distinguished contribution to literature. He was an Emeritus Fellow of Government of India for creative writing.
Novels
Gopinath appeared in the literary scene at Post Independent AgeOriya literature
Oriya is an official language of the state of Orissa, India. The region has been known at different stages of history as Kalinga, Udra, Utkala, or Koshala. The language is also spoken by minority populations of the neighboring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The...
.The vibrant life of people of Orissa, rural as well as tribal, found expression in the works of these writers. In his fiction Gopinath Mohanty explores all aspects of Orissan life: life, both in the plains and in the hills. He evolves a unique prose style, lyrical in style, choosing worlds and phrases from the day-to-day speech of ordinary men and women.
Gopinath’s first novel, Mana Gahirara Chasa, was published in 1940, which was followed by Dadi Budha (1944), Paraja (1945) and Amrutara Santan (1947). He published 24 novels, 10 collections of short stories in addition to three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays, and five books on the languages of Kandh, Gadaba and Saora tribes. Moreover, he translated Tolstoy’s War and Peace (Yuddh O Shanti in three volumes, 1985–86) and Togore’s Jogajog (tr. 1965) into Oriya.
Although Gopinath has tried his hand at various literary forms, it is for his novels that he will be best remembered. “Fiction, I realized, would best suit my purpose”, he once said in an interview to Indian Literary Review. He uses the novel to portray and interpret several dimensions of human existence. He draws the material for his writing from his rich experience and transforms it imaginatively into a powerful image of life.
Among his novels, Dadi Budha, paraja, Amrutara Santana and Aphanca are remarkable for their portrayal of tribal life in the densely wooded hills and forests of the Eastern Ghats. The Kondhs and the parajas are two colorful and proud tribal communities living in tiny clusters of helmets in the southern parts of Orissa. People of these primitive communities have been exploited by moneylenders and petty government officials of many years. They have felt in their body and bone that exploitation is as old as the hills and forest surrounding them. yet they celebrate the joys of life; they drink and dance and sing; they find joy in nature, in buds and flowers, in green leaves, in the chirping of birds, in the swift- flowing streams and in the mist covered hills. They find life constantly renewing itself in the quick- fading and sloe- blooming buds of the forest.
Dadi Budha (1944) is one of the shorter novels of Gopinath Mohanty. It has the distinction of being his first novel based on tribal life. The novels tells the moving story of the disintegration of a tribal community under the impact of modern civilization. Dadi Budha is an ancient datepalm tree representing the eternal ancestor; it stands for the cultural heritage of the tribal people manifest in their rituals and costumes. The tree stands as a silent witness to the joys and sorrows of the tribal folk; it dominated the drama of their existence. Close to Dadi Budha stands a termite mound called Hunka Budha, yet another symbol of the primitive and innocent faith of tribal people.
Thenga Jani, the son of Ram Chandra Muduli, the headmen of Lulla village, is beteothed to a beautiful girl, Saria Daan, the only daughter of the same village. But he comes under the spell of Sanotsh Kumari, a Christian Domb girl. Thenga and Santosh deeply in love and reject the discipline of the tribal society. They decide to run away to Assam to work on a tea estate; they planned to build their dream home in a town where the rule of the tribal society does not prevail.
Gopinath visualizes life tribal community against a cosmic background. The despair of Ram Muduli, the plight of Thenga mother after her only son leaves the village with the Domb girl, the declaration of the dishari that Thenga and Santosh were evil dumas, the terror caused by the tiger and the rise of a village at another site all these signify the unbroken continuity of life.
Paraja (1945) tells us a different based on the life of the same community. It is the tale of one’s attachment to land, the soil of one’s ancestors. Sitakant Mahapatra
Sitakant Mahapatra
Sitakant Mahapatra is a notable Indian poet and literary critic in Oriya as well as English. He has also been in the Indian Administrative Service since 1961 until retiring in 1995, and has since held ex-officio posts such as the Chairman of National Book Trust, New Delhi.He is the first Oriya to...
describes the novel as “ the story of shattered dreams”. In Dadi Budha , the old order changes the yielding place to the new; in Paraja the intrusion of brutality in the guise of civilized law generates resentment and violence. Amrutara Santan (1947), the first ever Indian novel to receive the. Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
, is centred round the life of Kondhas, another tribe in the southern parts of Orissa. The novel depicts the grandeur of living and the intensity of suffering or the tribal people.
Gopinath’s fictional world is not confined to tribals. He has also written about the people living in the coastal plains. Even when he shifts his focus from the hills to the plains, he retains his deep concern for the oppressed and underprivileged. His novel, Harijan (1948), deals with untouchables living in slums and their brutal exploitation by the rich. Danapani (1955) presents the grey world of a colourless middle class, petty and mean, and full of gossip and rumours. Laya Bilaya (1961) explores the psychological complexity of three members of a family from Calcutta on a short tirp to Puri. Matimatala (1964), a novel of epic dimension based on life in rural Orissa, celebrates the eternity of love. In this novel, he successfully brings about a fusion of two worlds: the private world of lovers and the public world of social workers.
Gopinath’s language is remarkable for its subtlety. Characters and landscapes come vividly to life in his novels through nuance and evocative descriptions. His language has a unique lyrical grace.
Short stories
In the Post-Independence Era Oriya fiction assumed a new direction.The trend which Fakir Mohan has started actually developed more after 50’s of last century. Gopinath Mohanty, Surendra Mohanty and Manoj Das are considered as three jewels of this time. They are the pioneer of a new trend, that of developing or projecting the “individual as protagonist” in Oriya fiction. Eminent Feminist writer and critics Sarojini SahooSarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
believes that it was not Gopinath, but Surendra Mohanty whose “Ruti O Chandra” has to be considered as first story of individualistic approach rather than the story “Dan” by Gopinth, which was formerly known as the first story of “individualistic attitude”. He published 10 collections of short stories in addition to 24 novels, three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays, and five books on the languages of Kandh, Gadaba and Saora tribes. Moreover, he translated Tolstoy’s War and Peace (Yuddh O Shanti) in three volumes, (tr. 1985-86) and Togore’s Jogajog (tr. 1965) into Oriya. In his short stories Gopinath Mohanty explores all aspects of Orissan life: life, both in the plains and in the hills. He evolves a unique prose style, lyrical in style, choosing worlds and phrases from the day-to-day speech of ordinary men and women.
Gopinath’s novels in English
Four of Gopinath’s novels – Paraja , Danapani , Laya Bilaya and Dadi Budha – have appeared in English translation. The first three have been translated by Bikram K. Das and the last mentioned one of Arun Kumar Mohanty. The English version of Paraja was published by Faber and Faber (U.K.) and Oxford University Press (India) in 1987.The Survivor , the English translation of Danapani , was published by Macmillan India Limited in 1995. The translation of Laya Bilaya which bears the title, High Tide , Ebb Tide, has been published by Lark Books . . The Ancestor , the translation of Gopinath’s Dadi Budha , has been brought out by the Sahitya Akademi . Besides, a number of short stories of Gopinath have also been translated. It is extremely difficult to render in English the nuances of Gopinath Mohanty’s language. However, translators have attempted to convey the richness and complexity of the original texts to readers unfamiliar with Oriya.Tribal life in Gopinath’s novels
In his portrayal of tribal life, Gopinath Mohanty invites comparison with the Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe. At one level, their visions are almost identical: they visualize the disintegration of a primitive community under the impact of a new faith or an alien value-system. But to see the disintegration of Lulla village (In the novel, Dadi Budha) and the tribal community in Umuofia (In Things Fall Apart) as parts of the same process of change is to play down the role of colonialism as an agent of disruption. Achebe’s allusion to W.B. Yeats is not a gesture of submission; it interrogates its cosmic, universalist vision of change. Although Gopinath does not directly refer to Yeats, he also focuses the traumatic expression of colonialism in his work.Awards
He was conferred with:- Padma BhushanPadma BhushanThe Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
in recognition of his distinguished contribution to literature by Government of India, 1981 - Jnanpith AwardJnanpith AwardThe Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
, 1973 - Sahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
, 1993, - Orissa Sahitya Academy Award, 1993,
- Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1970,
- Fellowship for Creative Writing in Oriya by the U.G.C. in 1979 and
- D. Litt. Degree by Sambalpur UniversitySambalpur UniversitySambalpur University is located at Sambalpur, India in the Indian state of Orissa. Popularly known as Jyoti Vihar. It offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Governor of Orissa is the Chancellor of the university...
in 1976
See also
- Paraja Published by Faber and Faber (U.K.) and Oxford University Press (India), 1987:
- The Survivor Published by Macmillan India Limited in 199
- High Tide , Published by Lark Books, Bhubaneswar.
- The Ancestor Published by Sahitya Akademi ,Delhi
- Adim PurkhaAdim PurkhaAdim Purkha is the Maithili translation of Oriya novel Dadi Burha, written by Gopinath Mohanty and published by Sahitya Akademi. The work has been translated into Maithili by Dr. Binod Bihari Verma.-Theme of the novel Dadi Budha :...
, Maithili translation of Dadi Burha by Binod Bihari VermaBinod Bihari VermaBinod Bihari Verma was a Maithili littérateur by soul, medical doctor by profession and a defence officer by career. He is most noted for his pioneering work on Panjis, which are ancient genealogical charts, Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan. He is also known for his depiction of rural...
published by Sahitya AkademiSahitya AkademiThe Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
, Delhi - Oriya LiteratureOriya literatureOriya is an official language of the state of Orissa, India. The region has been known at different stages of history as Kalinga, Udra, Utkala, or Koshala. The language is also spoken by minority populations of the neighboring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The...
- Oriya languageOriya languageOriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...