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Jayanta Mahapatra, a renowned poet, enriched Indian English literature by bridging the past and present, celebrating Odisha’s rich heritage and human connection to history and culture, states Sudipta, exclusively for different truths.
Jayanta Mahapatra has left a rich legacy behind his immortal creations. He is no more but his absence will certainly create an incredible vacuum in the poetic world. The magical quill that had created indelible creations will no longer stay with us to spread the indigenous flavour of the land of Odisha. He was the first writer of Odisha, who, with his charming brush, painted the landscape of his native land a rustic colour.
English was not his mother tongue. It was his second language. Due to his schooling in an English-medium school, he chose English to shape his abstract ideas into concrete forms. As a voracious reader of English novels, he had decided to go for novel writing in the future. But destiny turned his direction into the dreamy alley of poetry. He became a living legend with his unforgettable creations.
His world-class creations are shared and placed in the curriculum of worldwide universities.
His world-class creations are shared and placed in the curriculum of worldwide universities. He evolved as a knowing face among the postmodern writers of the world. Along with his contemporaries like AK Ramanujan and R. Parthasarathy, he empowered the literature of our country across the globe. Though he initiated this long journey late in his life, he crossed millions of distances by surpassing an exemplary mark in the poetic domain.
y travelling an untrodden territory in weaving English poems, he bagged several international awards for our country. Countries like London, America, Japan, Australia, Italy, Russia, Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico, Ireland, and Germany acknowledged and honoured him for his exceptional contribution to the literary world.
He not only enriched Indian English literature by contributing more than twenty-seven collections of poems but also handed over essays, memoirs, short stories, and many more treasure-like blessings for the next generation. His first poetry collection Close The Sky, Ten by Ten is remarkable for its journey to the realm of immortality from the sphere of mortality. His choice of profound words, rich images, and metaphors shows his craftsmanship and deeper understanding of life. The poet is trapped in an existential question of life. Life and death are interrelated.
Loneliness is the pain that keeps visiting the poet.
He draws the attention of his readers to realise the ultimate truth of life. Loneliness is the pain that keeps visiting the poet. He has rightly pointed out the void of human lives. As a celebrated poet around the globe, he has transformed the outlook of netizens across the world regarding our state Odisha. He is a visionary who strongly felt the intimate connection of a man with his motherland. His next award-winning book, ‘Relationship’ is set in the backdrop of ancient Odisha. The poet could not release from the rustic taste of his homeland. His masterpiece, ‘Relationship’ is not a saga of relationships between man to man. This book creates a history by connecting humanity with the past, present, and future. The writer has taken the rich subject matter from the legend, and folklore of Odisha to connect with the forgotten memories of the past. ‘Relationship’ celebrates the glory of Odisha. The Sun, the temple is now in a state of ruins.
In this masterwork, Jayanta Mohapatra revisited the bloody battle of Kalinga with King Ashoka and the silent witness, river Daya. The poem with twelve grand sections continues in a lofty grandeur highlighting the divine quest of the poet. His complete acceptance of the past is emphasized throughout the work.
He successfully created a lasting harmony between the cultural uniqueness of Odisha and its sculptures in the concluding sections of the poem. He dives deep into the realm of art for a complete merger of his concrete self into an abstract form. The poet tries to establish an infinite connection between history and mankind with a lofty vision. He embraces the rich divine grace of the ‘dark daughters’ of Odisha. In the concluding sections, we can see the idea of ‘unification of sensibility’ as the poet completely merges into the vast sphere of abstract art by completely forgetting his concrete self. Hence, the poem is a momentous quest of the poet to mingle with the sublime spirit of the earth. In his solitude, he rightly feels the agony of the black daughters and craves to be one with them. The pages of history are rewritten and reproduced by the poet to create an infinite bridge between the past and present.
The word ‘ Hunger’ has been formed with different connotations by the poet.
The poem ‘ Hunger’ is one of the best critically appreciated works of the bard, Jayanta Mohapatra. In this highly sensitive work, the artist has delineated an extremely poignant portrait of the real world. The word ‘ Hunger’ has been formed with different connotations by the poet. He has visualized the situation of the contemporary world, just like other postmodern works where the pure relationship is in place of the mechanically stereotypical secondary world. In the shabby and filthy lives of modern people, sexual acts are performed like machines without any love and care for others. The poet was aware of the reality of these technicalities of modern men in his later works. In this poem, the protagonist is offered to have sex with a girl of fifteen. The pimp is none other than the poor father of the helpless girl. Here, the consent of the girl in this sexual act is not mentioned. Hunger is the primordial drive of the poor man that compelled him to sell the flesh of his daughter in the sex market. This poem is remarkable for the double meaning of the term ‘Hunger’.
The protagonist is aroused by an ambiguous desire to fulfill his sexual needs. He knows that there is sin in it. There is a feeling of hunger there.
The father is forced to engage in prostitution to satisfy his hungry stomach. Hunger is felt in the ‘white bones’ of the father.
The phrase ‘ she opened her wormy legs wide ‘ is suggestive of the bestiality of human beings and about poverty. The term ‘ wormy’ has various purposes in this context. This word also means that the legs are infectious due to extreme poverty and disease.
The line “the fish slithering and turning inside” is evocative of the sexual act that occurred between the two strangers.
The line, “the fish slithering, and turning inside” is evocative of the sexual act that occurred between the two strangers. All these images were delicately chosen by the poet to suggest the sexual drive of the protagonist in a highly suggestive tone. The regional impressions are juxtaposed with a grave issue of prostitution, here. The poet experimented with his ingenious mind by painting a real incident with a colourful fantasy. This poem has been interpreted by various critics across the world due to its universal approach.
For years, he was the guiding spirit for many writers. Now, it is high time for youngsters to hold the poet’s invaluable memories intact for constant inspiration and motivation.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
