Kabibar Radhanath Ray - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Radhanath Ray (1848–1908) is the principal architect of the era of initial modernity in Oriya poetry

Oriya 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...

during the later part of nineteenth century and is honoured in Oriya literature

Oriya literature

with the title “Kabibara”. In his early life, he composed in both Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

and Oriya language

Oriya language

Oriya , 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...

s, but later he shifted his writings in Oriya

Oriya language

only.He was born on 28 September 1848, at Kedarpur village in Balasore

Balasore

Balasore is a strategically located city in the state of Orissa, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It is best known for Chandipur beach. It is also the site of the Indian Ballistic Missile Defense...

district. In the gradual development of Oriya literature

Oriya literature

Radhanath Ray occupies an important position. His creations have enriched Oriya literature

Oriya literature

and it can be undoubtedly told that through his unique literacy creations Oriya poetry

Oriya literature

in the nineteenth century has got new life, asset & appeal.

Role in Language Movement

At Radhanath’s time period, in Orissa, the Oriya Language Movement, which was active. Though the medieval Oriya literature was richer in comparison tothat of Bengali literature,but some of Bengali educationalist wanted to abolish Oriya language as the medium of teaching from schools. As Bengal was gripped by British Colonialism much before to orissa, the Bengalis had privilege to motivate the Anglicist scholars to prove Oriya as a branch of Bengali language.John Beams first tried to prove that Oriya is more ancient language than Bengali and it had a richer literature which Bengali had not. In the Orissa division, there were only seven Oriya schoolteachers; Bengalis formed the majority of teachers,even in remote areas. Consequently, Bengali books were prescribed textbooks for Oriya children.
At that time, Radhanath was one of prime figure with Fakir Mohan Senapati

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...

, who fought against the expansionism of Bengali educationalist to eradicate Oriya language

Oriya language

from Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

.He was the Inspector of Orissa Schools Association and along with Fakir Mohan Senapati

Fakir Mohan Senapati

and Bhakta Kabi Madhusudan Rao, he tried to promote text book writings

Major works

Radhanath Ray’s first major work was ‘Kabitabali’, a collection of poems in Bengali written at the age of 18. It featured in most of the major newspapers and journals in Kolkatta during that time. His other Bengali poem was ‘Lekhabali.’ He later switched over to Oriya language and wrote famous Kavyas like Kedar Gouri, Nandikeshwari, Chilika, Mahajatra – Jajatikeshari, Tulasistabaka, Urbashi, Darabara, Dasaratha Biyoga, Savitri Charita & Mahendra Giri. Besides he has written more than fifteen essays. Apart from his original works, he is also known for his translations and adaptations from the Latin literature. They include ‘Usha', 'Chandrabhaga' and 'Parbati.'
.

Father of Modernism

He believed in Keat

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...

’s words that ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. He is a panegyrist of nature. He enriched Oriya poetry by introducing into it new forms, new topics, a new approach and greater freedom. Among the many new things which he brought into Oriya poetry, there were blank-verse, pictorial, musical but direct and unambiguous language following Scott

Scott

- Companies :* H. H. Scott, Inc., vintage tube hi-fi company* SCOTT Sports, a producer of bicycles and sportswear* The Scott Motorcycle Company* The Scott Paper Company, brand of paper towels and toilet paper owned by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation...

and Wordsworth, satire in the manner of Dryden

Dryden

-People:* Dave Dryden, retired Canadian ice hockey goaltender* David Owen Dryden, renowned San Diego builder-architect*Erasmus Dryden * Helen Dryden, American artist and designer* Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Director...

and Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

, denunciation of despots, tyrants and oppressors, concern with social problems, a spirit of protest against conventional morality, a disbelief in the power of gods and goddesses, and patriotic sentiments, which last brought him trouble from his employers. He was viewed as a national poet of the first order in Orissa

Orissa

Controversy

Though Radhanath contributed a lot to Oriya Literature, but he was not accepted by the contemporary conservative readers of his time. Sooner, he was dragged into a controversy. Sudhala Dev, the then king of Bamanda

Bamra

Bamra, covering an area of 5149 km², was one of the Princely states of India during the period of the British Raj, and was acceded to India on 1 January 1948....

awarded the poet as a title Kabibar and it made some of the critiques and poets jealous. Some critiques wrote that Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja

Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja

Upendra Bhanja was considered as the greatest poet of Oriya Literature and was awarded the title "Kavi-Samrata" – "The Emperor of the Poets". Born in a royal family, Upendra Bhanja had never eyed for throne...

is more powerful than Radhanath and these silly arguments turned into a serious topic of controversy like modernity versus tradition. Two of the literary journals “The Indradhanu” and The Bijali” engaged in this controversy and later all the intellectuals entangled in this discussion. However, this literary controversy ended with a letter of Radhanath.

Confession of own love affairs

At the age of 53, when Radhanath had been transferred to Burdwan in his service,he came into the contact of a Bengali poetess Ms. Nagendra Bala Ray, with whom a passionate love affairs developed As Radhanath was very orthodox and had God-fearing personality, this affair made him disturbed and in 1907, he could not resist himself and confessed his ‘sin’ publicly through press. He begged his readers to forgive him for his such behaviour.However, this ‘confession’ made him to build his image of saint among his readers of that period.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.