THE BURNING FOUNTAIN 

MAIN CURRENTS OF ORIYA LITERATURE

Let my life rot in hell,    

But be the world saved,

                                                                                                                            - Bhima Bhoi

These are the astonishing sentiments of selflessness and self-sacrifice for the happiness and well being of the world at large expressed by a blind Adivasi Oriya poet subjected to the utmost rigours of poverty; and they set the tone for oriya literature till the advent of the modern age of materialism. The tone harks back to the Upanishadic prayer: "Sarve Bhabantu sukhinah, Sarve santu niramayah, Sarve bhadrani pashyantu, Ma katschit Dukhahbhat Bhabe." - Let everybody be happy.

THE WORLD VIEW IN EARLY ORIYA LITERATURE

The lines, however will not astonish any reader who is familiar with the cultural tradition of India, the matrix of which is in religion and spirituality. In these lines the semantic field encloses concepts of heaven/hell, salvation/damnation and an abjuration of self. All these suggest a philosophy of life in which individual life is thought of as a part of eternal life. If literature is the product of a world-view, Oriya literature of the ancient and medieval periods is in its essence a reflection of the world view that has prevailed in India from the Vedic age to the present times with the difference that in older times it was a reality whereas in modern times it has assumed the form of myth.

Basic Concept of Oriya Literature

Like her wonderful art and architecture, Orissa inherits a rich and ancient literature. In the opinion of the eminent scholar Pandit Nilakantha Das whose contribution to the Oriya literature is inestimable, "Kalinga culture and literature is based on sunyabad (formless supreme being). The basic concept of this culture and literature has come from Jainism which took its last shelter in Kalinga. The language of the Kalinga region was the mother of the entire oriya language. This language seems to have intimate connection with the ancient Babylonia, Capadosia, Egypt and Phinisia of some five thousand years ago. The distinct use of the word like "Ka", "Dwahi", "Rana" and "Bou (mother)" found in the literature of those countries are exclusively used in the Oriya language even today. It is a sure indication that the language of Kalinga was differentiated from the dialect of other region even from the very ancient times.

THE LITERARY ART

The world-view contained in ancient literature in Sanskrit, Parkrit and Pali, etc. takes us to a conception of truth that is eternal because it is revealed as Rita or the Sacred Law to the intrinsic values of the triad, Truth, Goodness and Beauty, which are closely interrelated and, in the final summation, identical. The realisation of this interrelationship culminates in supernal bliss or ananda. Such bliss is a product of the comprehension of life at the deepest and subtlest levels incorporating its four-fold aims of dharma, artha, kama and moksha, which shows clearly the blending of the worldly and spiritual claims, the last one being the ultimate aim.

At the level of artistic communication and enjoyment, literature is an expression of rasa or artistic relish of passion and sentiment (there being nine of them), which produces in the mind of the sensitive reader (sahridaya) a rare form of pleasure that is inseparable from the conception of sat-chid-ananda, the ultimate definition of Brahman in whom all antinomies are reconciled in total harmony. Such a concept of reality when expressed in words make poetry a channel of communication of the highest order of truth; it cannot be realised through linear thinking but by revelation. Under such conditions the poet becomes a burning fountain capable of perceiving other modes of truth than the ones available through sensory perception alone, a view akin to Pascal's. Hence he makes use of symbols, allegories and paradoxical expressions.

The early Oriya writers who made literature a medium for the communication of eternal verities of human life which they had realised in their own lives used in that way. Some of them wrote verse treatises or didactics tracts like Sunya Samhita or Stutichintamani; but when they were animated by genuine feelings about the relationship of Beauty and Truth, they also produced poetry of the highest order and the didactic element disappears altogether. It is this religio-spiritual vision of life that flows permanently as an undercurrent of Oriya literature, as of India literature, all throught.

DEVELOPMENT OF ORIYA WRITTEN LITERATURE

The present oriya language was derived from the Aryan group of language like Bengali, Hindi and Assamese. But Oriya written literature was developed a little later. In the development of language written literature always comes later. The basic concept of Oriya language like any other languages in the world is preserved in numerous folk tales, folk songs, legends, lullabies, rituals and festivals of Orissa. We have to spot out the essential characteristics of the Oriya literature from those folk treasures. Oriya language in the process of gradual evolution developed out of the Magadhi Prakrut and tool a distinct shape between the eighth and ninth century. "Buddhagan-o-Doha" is traced as the earliest specimen of the Oriya literature. These verses called Charyapada were written by oriya Buddhist saints Kahnupa, Lulpa and Sabaripa and other Buddhist saints. The words, idioms, expressions and usages used in some of these verses were distinctly recognised as specimen of old oriya language. Besides colloquial oriya words and phrases used in these verses continued to be used in the oriya literature for a long time thereafter.

Very few literary works are available from the eleventh century to the fifteenth century in the Oriya Language. In about the twelfth century a few popular literary works in the Oriya language like "Kalasa Chautisa" of Bachha Das and "Rudrasudhanidhi" of Abadhuta Narayanananda Swami and writing of Nathagurus are available. The story of the "Chautisa" and "Rudrasudhanidhi" is based on Siba-Parbati legend.

But before the first phase of the Oriya literature took its shape the Sanskrit language was popular among the oriya scholars. Inscriptions praising the rulers were written in Sanskrit in the fourth and fifth century during the rule of the Mathar dynasty.  This practice continued till the end of the twelfth century when the Ganga dynasty began their rule. The Ganga rulers encouraged the use of Sanskrit language. Therefore the Oriya scholars preferred to write in Sanskrit rather than Oriya. From the Mathar to the end of Ganga dynasty, oriya scholars produced a number of Sanskrit texts covering several branches of knowledge including the Vedas, Tantras, Dharmasastra, Darshan, Jyotish, Abhidhan, Vyakaran, Drama and Kavyas. Among the famous Sanskrit texts recognised as authoritive treaties on the subject, Sanskrit drama "Anargha Raghava Natak" of Murari Mishra, Sanskrit lyric "Gita Govinda" of the immortal poet Jayadeva and Sanskrit kabya "Sahitya Darpan" of Biswanath Kaviraj may be mentioned. Vishnu Sharma, the writer of "Panchatantra" has been proved to be a resident of Kalinga. He was living during the rule of the Mathar dynasty. Besides "Jumar Vyakarana" of Jumar,  Sanskrit "Dharmasastra" of Satananda Samgraha, Sanskrit musical text "Gita Prakash"  and "Sangita Kumudi", were famous Sanskrit works written by eminent Oriya scholars.

SARALA AGE - AGE OF RENAISSANCE

Awakening in Oriya literature ushered rightly in the fifteenth century during the reign of the Surya dynasty. Sarala Das popularly known as Shudramuni Sarala Das, a contemporary of the emperor Kapilendra Deva, the founder and the most powerful ruler of the Surya dynasty, wrote the Mahabharat in popular Oriya verse. The Mahabharat of Sarala Das is not just the Oriya version of Sanskrit Mahabharat. As Pandit Nilakantha Das observes Sarala Mahabharat  is just like an encyclopedia of the oriya culture and society. In a subtle manner Sarala Das has introduced different places of Orissa, the deities, the fares and festivals of Orissa  in his great epic. His description of the Mahabharat would suggest as if the great Mahabharat was fought on the soil of Kalinga, and the men and women of this war were people of Kalinga. Sarala Das is therefore called the Vyasa of Orissa and the founder of the Oriya literature. He popularised the "Dandi Bruta" the irregular meter in his Mahabharat, Sarala Das has also written "Bilanka Ramayan" and "Chandi Puarana" in Oriya. Sarala Das was born in a cultivator's family and said to have joined the army of the emperor Kapilendra Deva for which the emperor gave him some Jagir land for the maintenance of his family. 

PANCHASAKHA / FIVE SAINT POETS

After Sarala Das, five saint poets called Panchasakha - Balaram Das, Jagannath Das, Achyutananda Das, Yashobanta Das and Sisu Anant Das wrote the oriya version of the great Sanskrit works like "Bhagabat", "Ramayan" and "Purans" in the sixteenth century during the reign of Prataprudra Deva, the last emperor of the Surya Dynasty. Chaitanya Deva came to Orissa during this time and he influenced the poets and intellectuals of the time. Besides the Oriya version of the great epics, these poet-saints wrote voluminous philosophical and religious literature in Oriya. Much of their philosophical works are obscure to the common men but their numerous "Bhajans" and songs are still very popular. Although Panchasakha were influenced by the cult of Vaishnavism propagated by Chaitanya they kept alive the message of Orissan spiritual tradition in their literature. They were inspired by Sunyabad (concept of  a formless supreme being) which was handed down to them from very ancient time. The conception of Bhakti cult in Orissan spiritual tradition was different from the Bhakti cult propagated by Chaitanya. The Bhakti cult of Chaitanya is called "Bisuddha Bhakti" while the Orissan conception of Bhakti is called. Jnana misra Bhakti, the presiding deity of the oriya poet saints was Sri Jagannath. They stressed on the physical and mental discipline through Yoga for attaining the highest spiritual bliss.

Among the Panchasakha, Balaram Das was the eldest and is said to be the son of a minister of emperor Prataprudra Deva. Balaram Das is famous for his oriya Ramayan. It was not just the Oriya version of the Sanskrit Ramayan by Valmiki. The hills, rivers hamlets and forests of Orissa have found place in his Ramayan. His story of Ramayan was as if enacted in the land of Orissa. According to the research scholars, the derivations in his Ramayana are more original than the original Sanskrit Ramayan. Jagannath Das, another member of the Panchasakha wrote his immortal work Oriya Bhagabat. The great devotional work Bhagabat raised the spiritual and moral level of people. Great enthusiasm was created among the people of Orissa to read this great devotional work. B.C. Majumdar in his selection of Oriya literature rightly observed, "When people learnt that the Bhagabat, the most sacred of the sacred books was within their easy reach, people took the study of vernacular with uncommon zeal and energy. This is why the art of reading and writing is known and practiced more extensively in Orissa and Bengal. Familiar instance, the simple and chaste language used in his Bhagabat had lasting impact on the people of Orissa. Bhagabat Tungis or community centers were established throughout Orissa for reciting the Bhagabat".

As stated before it was the age of renaissance and awakening. The literary period began with the immortal work of Mahabharat of Sarala Das, who was the father of Oriya literature is rightly called Sarala Age. Besides the great epic Mahabharat and Ramayan Puranas were written in Oriya language. These great Sanskrit works were close preserve of few intellectuals till then. There was no access for common man to these texts. There were great scholars and learned men in Orissa before the Sarala Age but they preferred to write in Sanskrit. Great Sanskrit works on different branches of knowledge have been written by Oriya scholars. But Sanskrit was never the common language of the people. It was confined to few intellectuals. Therefore in the Sarala Age during the Surya dynasty there was cultural awakening when common got access to the great works of spiritual value. Instead of Sanskrit, learned men wrote numerous Oriya palm leaf manuscripts in all parts of Orissa since this period.

BHANJA AGE - AGE OF ORNATE POETRY

With the down fall of Surya dynasty, Orissa lost her independence and with it the literary standard created during this period declined. Orissa came under the foreign rule. There was no encouragement for cultural development. The Moghul and Marahattas  who occupied Orissa after the Surya dynasty ruled from Delhi and Nagpur. Common people were groaning under Subedars in charge of Orissa. During this period several estates were being governed by Chieftains of different dynasties. One such dynasty called Bhanja Dynasty was ruling in Ghumsar in district of Ganjam. This dynasty produced three generation of brilliant poets who wrote mostly ornate poetical works. Upendra Bhanja was the most prominent poet among them. His grand father Dhananjay Bhanja and his uncle Tribikram Bhanja were also prolific writers of ornate poetry.

Development of Ornate Poetry :

Ornate poetical works began in sixteenth century in Orissa. "Ramabibaha" of Arjuna Das, "Ushavilas" of Sisu Anant Das, and "Chandrabati Vilas" of Harihar Das were the earliest ornate poetical works. It was developed by Bhanja family. The Bhanja family had to work under political strain. There was palace intrigue, murder and treachery to usurp the throne of the Ghumsar estate. But even then the great poetical works of Ghumsar estate. But even then the great poetical works of the Bhanja family were written in the court of the rulers who were enjoying life in luxury and had little contact with the common man. That was the medieval age when poets in other parts of India were composing in the court of rulers. Not only the simple lyrical Sanskrit text of Jayadeva but the complete ornate poetical works like "Naishadha Charitam" were written before them, the works of Bhanja family members particularly the great works of Upendra Bhanja were written in the model of Sanskrit master pieces of the time. The themes of the story of their poetical works were almost the same. The passions of men and women were dominant in those poetical master pieces. These were feudal and sensuous in those poetical master pieces. These were feudal and sensuous in nature. But they followed the great poet Jayadeva to make their verse more musical so that it will be more popular among the people.

Kavisamrat Upendra Bhanja

The best specimen of Ornate type of literature are found in great poetical works of Upendra Bhanja. He is said to have written more than 80 ornate poetical works of which only 40 have come to light so far. Legend goes that like Sarala Das, Upendra Bhanja was endowed with the wonderful power of poetical expression by the blessings of Goddess. Whatever might be the truth of legend, Upendra Bhanja was a learned poet who had extensive knowledge of Sanskrit language and had exceptional command over language. He had departed from the traditional practice of choosing only Radhakrishna as his main character. Besides prince and princess, common men found their place in his wonderful poetical works. His master pieces include "Vaidehisha Bilas", "Labanyabati", "Kotibrahmanda Sundari", "Rasikharabeli" and "Purna Sudhanidhi". Bhanja has written a glossary for the words he used in his verse. Many of his songs particularly chaupadi songs.

His poems are in the form of Chautisas and bhajans some of which reach mystical levels. Stutichintamani is the most memorable of his works. Mahima Dharma which he followed resembles Mahayana Buddhism in its expounding of the doctrine of the body being the universe or cosmos - a doctrine that had also been adumbrated by the Panchasakhas. It is, therefore, evident that the quest for spiritual life flowed as an undercurrent in Oriya litarature till the end of the 19th Century.

DAWN OF THE MODERN ERA

The modern phase of Oriya literature is a product of western education which exposed the prominent Oriya writers to the concepts and specimens of western literature, with a different world view and a different philosophy of life. Thi world view modified their sensibility profoundly. The influence of Romantic and Victorian literature on writers like Radhanath Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Madhusudan Rao and Gangadhar Meher can be judged from their deviation from the classical literary models prevalent upto their time. 

Radhanath had read Oriya, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and English literatures and could make use of both India and western literary traditions to great advantage. As a poet he noticed for his felicitous descriptive and narrative power and his capacity to assimilate and express the cultural tradition of Orissa as incorporated in its history, myths, legends, folklore. If on the one hand he can depict the natural beauty of Orissa and its rich indigenous culture, on the other hand he can adopt Ovid's stories to the Orissan background as in KedarGouri, Chandrabhaga and Usha. The themes that he handled in KedarGouri, Nandikeshwari, Parvati are notable for their boldness when placed against the conservative mores of Oriya society at that time. Most of them deal with tragic love and as such depart from the convention of ultimate romantic union that the Indian literary tradition had conformed to so long and this innovation enlarges the scope of Oriya literature. In Parvati he takes up an iconoclastic theme like incest and exhibits his capacity to fathom the depths of this complex and powerful passion almost anticipating the theories of Freudian psychology. His narrative gift can adapt itself to the depiction of the subtle and intricate ramification of this passion and as such he paves the way for the realistic and experimental fiction of later times. In Mahayatra and Darabara he reveals a striking modern sensibility in dealing ironically and witty with political and social decadence in Orissa. As a descriptive poet his finest achievement is Chilika notable for his power of observation and capacity to use similes and metaphors for picturesque and sublime effects. Even more important is his use of nature as an independent entity and not merely as a setting or background which had been the practice of earlier poets. The most prominent aspect of his poetry is, however, the abandonment of the artificial and ornate style of medieval classical poetry, a change similar to that introduced by Wordsworth against the classical formality of the eighteenth century English poets like Dryden and Pope.

Gangadhar Meher who belongs to the same age, however, chose to follow the traditional interpretation of love in Indumati, Tapaswini, Keechakabadha and Pranayavallari in which he uses themes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana with a rare directness and spontaneity of feeling and simplicity of style - all in sharp contrast to the reeti style of poetry that he followed in poems like Rasa-ratnakara and Ahalya Stava. Meher had little formal education but his mature intelligence and exposure to the prevalent literary culture and awareness of what Radhanath was doing to the language of Oriya Poetry, helped him in changing his style. That intelligence is also revealed in craftmanship in a poem like Tapaswini in which he deals with the banishment of Sita and Rama's silence over the issue with great felicity.

Madhusudan Rao, a Bhahmo by faith, popularly known as Bhaktakavi (devotional poet), was imbued with the spirit of religious reform. Poems like Himalaya Udayastava, Rusiprane Devatarana, (Descent of divinity into the heart of a saint), to the Earth, To Sound, Jivana Chinta, [Meditation of Life] exhibit a transcendental vision and spiritual quest and a final surrender to the Divine Being. In Vasantagatha (song of Spring), a sequence of sonnets, he uses the sonnet form to present nature as a medium for moral reflection. As a prose writer he is known for his pioneering efforts at the writing of short stories and essays collected under the title Prabandhamala. These along with the text books he wrote for schools stressing love of GOD and love the motherland contributed significantly to the development of Oriya language, especially prose.

While Oriya romantic poetry at its best was produced by Radhanath and Madhusudan, another poet, Nandakishore Bal turned attention to directness and simplicity of village life in his Pallichitra (Vignettes of Villages) and composed several lyrics breathing into them the scent of soil through befitting materials, metres, imagery and diction. Nationalistic and humanistic themes such as evocation of Orissa's glorious past, her exploitation by the foreign rulers, the present plight of the people due to floods and famine and after all the pristine purity and dignity of the poor, rural folk were treated by the poets of Satyabadi school consisting of Pandit Gopabandhu Das and his colleagues at Satyabadi, Pandit Nilakantha Das and Pandit Godavarish Mishra. Yet another dimension was added to Oriya poetry by the group of writers called the Sabuja (green) poets who wrote in the the second and third decade of the century. They voiced a bold appreciation in poetry of the physical beauty of the nature, and of romantic love. It is to heir credit that they ushered into poetry newer modes of feeling with new patterns of rhyming and metre. The most successful among them are Annada Shankar Ray, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Dr. Mayadhar Mansingh, and Baikunthanath Pattnaik. Finally, there were individual poets like Godavarish Mahapatra, Radhamohan Gadnayak and many others who has made their mark in poetry before the World War II.

The major talent who gave Oriya prose a distinct shape and made it a medium for creative works of a high order in the form of novels, short stories and autobiography was Fakir Mohan Senapati. Though he did not have much formal education, he was well read in Oriya, Bengali, Sanskrit and Hindi and was acquainted with English literature. His appearance at that point of time was a great significance as he changed the nature and direction of Oriya fiction. Before writing his prose works he had written a lot of poetry for which he was known as "Vyasa Kavi", but his fame as a writer rests on his prose works. He has acquired first hand knowledge of Oriya life and society at different levels in course of his work as a teacher, printer and Dewan in different feudatory states of Orissa and that enabled him to produce fiction remarkable for its social realism. In the first Oriya novel Padmamali (1885) the auther, Umesh Chanda Sarkar, had followed the tradition of the Kavyas or romances as produced by Upendra Bhanja. Bhanja chose royal personages as the main characters, his novel dealt with their romantic love affair. Fakir Mohan discarded that tradition and chose middle and lower class people both rural and urban and placed them in situations of social conflicts. His most memorable novel Chhamana Athaguntha (Six Acres and Eight Gunthas), deals with the machinations of a wily landlord to grab the plot of land of a poor man and his end comes about as a kind of poetic justice. the success of the novel issue from his ability to create unforgettable characters like Mangaraj, Champa, Bhagia and Sarita, whose conflict ultimately becomes a contention between evil and good. Mamu similarly depicts the conflict between the new and old social classes. Lachhama is a historical novel in which the heroine, Lachhama, an Oriya country girl succeeds in taking revenge on the oppressive Marhatta rulers an thereby she reveals her heroic character. Fakir Mohan's success in his fiction and short stories like "Patent Medicine" arises from his skill in the use of the language and his fiction presents the changing Oriya society between the 18th and early 20th centuries and in this he reminds us of Balazac. Thought his plot construction is somewhat loose and episodic owing to serialization in magazine as was the case with Dickens, his characters are vivid and life-like, the bad characters being more impressive than the good ones. Like Dickens he possessed a natural sense of humour and it is ably used to enhance the appeal of his novels and stories. It is however, his social realism that has passed on to the later writers link Kalindi Charan Panigrahi in Matira Manisha (Men of the Earth), Gopinath Mohanty in Mati Matala (The Loamy Soil), Nityananda Mohapatra in Hida Mati (Bund earth) and Surendra Mohanty in Andha Diganta are of epic proportions. Mohanty's two other epic type novels are Paraja and Amrutara Santana which have been referred to earlier. What is important to remember here is the attitude of life depited in those works. In Mati Matala, Mohanty deals with the theme of social transition as in Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks or Bimal Mitra's Saheb Bibi Gulam under the pressure of higher aspiration of life. The ostensible subject of Mati Matala, the romantic relationship between Rabi and Chhabi overshadowed by the theme of political change in the country and its influence upon Chhabi's father Sindhu choudhury. The voice of renunciation and service that is heard in Bhima bhoi can also be heard in Matira Manisha and Mati Matala, as the emphasis is on the inner moral and spiritual life.

MODERN ORIYA LITERATURE

It is, however, with the arrival of contemporary literature after the Second World War that the truly modern tradition of Oriya literature began. This literature is marked by large scale experimentation in all genres - poetry, fiction, short story and drama exhibiting thereby the influence of modern world literature on the writers. This modern tradition in poetry is formed and enriched by the works of poets like Padmashree Sachi Routray ( a Jnapith Award Winner), Guru Prasad Mohanty, Bhanuji Rao, Ramakant Rath(Winner of Saraswati Samman), Sitakant Mohapatra, Soubhagya Mishra, Deepak Mishra, Rajendra Kishore Panda, Pratibha Satpathy and others. Most of these poets who are highly educated persons, have experienced the feelings of fin de siecle, the end and old order of an agrarian, communal social organisation with its web of interpersonal relationships producing a sense of security arising from its stress on an idea of unity and coherence. The human condition is delineated by poets like Baudelaire, Laforgue, Pound, Eliot, Rilke and Mayakovsky had a wide influence on them. They perceived the overwhelming changes in the ontological, political, selflessness, altruism which had been adumbrated by poets like Radhanath and Madhusudan gave way to ruthless aggrandisement of the self. The degradation and squalour of modern urban life which have become fragmented and rootless. (as percieved by Baudelaire or Eliot) oppressed them. The picture of lack of coherence, of being decentered in a universe whose meaning was incomprehensible owing to the waning of belief in any nexus with a traditional source of meaning, supernatural, natural or human and hence their quest for the meaning of life and the surrounding universe. These poets do look for certitude in the tradition of their own country to be quickly disillusioned by the interpretation available from the modern information channel and hence they developed an oblique and ironic mode of expression. The contemporary poets, therefore search for meaning in what appears them under the influence of Existentialism a meaningless or absurd universe. Poised between between the old world values enshrined in a religious, spiritual order of life and the modern world of iconoclasm, they look inwards on to be bewildered by the pressure of time as a historical force instead of being a flow of timelessness and of death as the route of extinction and nothingness. There is and acute feeling of loss and homelessness, of futility and despair in their works born out of the contrast between innocence and experience and that links them to contemporary poets elsewhere in India and abroad. These poets like modern poets all over the world find it difficult to communicate with a mass society at any serious level of discourse. Their interpretation of reality in the light of modern knowledge is not likely to evoke a ready response from the common reader. Being given to thinking about the issues of life in a civilisation characterised by the denudation and destitution of culture they cannot rely on the upsurge of their emotion only. Hence their quest for complex modes of communication in which thought and feeling are fused as in Samudra of Sitakanta Mohapatra or Aneka Kothari of Ramakanta Rath. They have to make their meanings available only at a serious level of understanding to achieve which they abjure the language of the tribe and opt for complex and difficult expressions, make verse and its rhythms adaptable to their very personal modes of perception. This is the literature of a minority culture in the modern world dominated by standardization an the mass. Few people today would care to ask themselves lay questions like Sitakanta Mohapatra: "Who am I ? Where have I come and going where ?". He thinks that it is better to put such questions to darkness. Indeed man has become problematic for himself confronted with the sense of loss of self. He searches for the truth of self, the conditions of its existence, its survival and growth and that constitutes the crux of modern poetry or for that matter modern literature in Oriya - a crux that is true of modern Indian literature as well. It is extremely important in our age which encounters negative concepts like 'anti-hero' in relation to our traditional feelings about art and literature. Such concepts constitute the modern movement of counter culture or anti-culture. As such Oriya poets or Oriya writers today go beyond the loca or regional to the national and international spheres for their subject or topics.

This experimental mode is also found in the other branches of Oriya literature thought it may not be the same extent. In fiction, for example, the idea of well-made novel with a neat plot and round characters presupposes a similar order or pattern in life itself but when that has disappeared, fiction in order to reflect the modern human condition has to abandon those co-ordinates and go in for experiments under the influence of natural and behavioral sciences. Although the post mortem condition of regarding the novel as constitutive of its own reality of being self-reflexive has not yet appeared in Oriya fiction, novels like Gopinath Mohanty's Laya Vilaya or Akasa Sundari, Santanu Acharya's Nara Kinnara and Pratibha Ray's Yajnasenee, which is a Murti Devi award winner, exhibit the influence of modern psychology on the authors especially the theory of stream of consiousness.

Contemporary drama in Oriya also exhibits similar experimental trends. Playwrights like Manoranjan Das, Biswajit Das, Bijay Mishra and Kartik Rath have taken contemporary Oriya drama to a national level; they have dispensed with the old realistic stage and have gone for symbolic presentations thereby giving abundant fluidity to the structure. Biswajit Das's Mrugaya (Hunt), Bijaya Mishra's Sabavahakamane (The Pall Bearers), Kartika Rath's Samudrara Ranga, Yantrana (The colour of the Sea, Pain), Manoranjan Das's Aranya Fasal (Wild Harvest) are major dramatic achievements. Of them Manoranjan Das has the widest range. He wrote a traditional history play Kavi Samrat Upandra Bhanja in his early career and his later plays like Aranya Phasal (Wild Harvest) and Katha Ghoda (Wooden Horse) incorporate the feature of absurd drama. The technical devices he has deployed in Nandikaswari, place him along with modern Indian dramatilists like Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sarcar and Habeeb Tanvir.

In the short story experiment covers the theme,style, tones and attitudes of the Oriya writers, some of whom can be regarded as the best in the country. their subject matter covers all kind of incidents and characters, the stories are representative of changing mores and manners of society and as in other genres, there is a pervasive tone of irony in the stories of the major authors like Gopinath Mohanty, surendra Mohanty, Kishori Charan Das, Akhila Mohana Pattnaik, Bama Charana Mitra, Manoj Das, Rabi Pattnaik, Binapani Mohanty and Jagadish Mohanty. Their stories are marked by novelty and innovation is technique; they have succeeded in being representative of tje rich complexity of life in the modern Indian Society.

Among the Indo-anglian poets of the country Jayanta Mahapatra is a poet of international acclaim. There are also a number of writers who by their translation have presented Oriya literature to the readers in other languages, among whom are Srinivas Udgata and Shankarlal Purohit.

The best contemporary writers in Oriya can be compared with the best in any Indian Language today especially in poetry and short story. At the same time it may be pointed out that these writers do not break away from the past and that is seen in their persistent search for roots in the Indian tradition in which the moral and spiritual order reigns supreme as has been discussed in the beginning of the article. If Sitakanta Mohapatra reveals the influence of Jagannath Das or Bhima Bhoi of  or Ramakanta Rath looks upto Sri Radha as a symbol of Indian conception of complex romantic love, it is an evidence of the main tradition of Oriya literature which emanates from a metaphysical and transcendental vision of life with all its ramification produced by changes in sensibility from age to age.