Dr. Laxminarayan Sahu (3 October 1890 – 18 January 1963) was an eminent and noted writer, poet, journalist, social worker, reformer, historian, politician from

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...

, India. He was born in a village named Manikhamba near

Balasore Balasore or Baleswara is a city in the state of Odisha, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the largest town of northern Odisha and the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It ...

and was the only son of his father, Khetramohan Sahu and got degrees of M.A. and L.L.B. after graduation from school. He was a teacher of repute. He was noted for his writings and books recording the tribal myths of Odisha. His stories were connected with creation, heaven, and hell, life and death, which the tribal people of Odisha have been taken down from the lips to lips from generations. He was also deeply involved in promotion and preservation of folk dance and music of Odisha and Odia culture, language and literature. Apart from Odia he was also for his writings in Hindi,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

, English and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

. His other famous stories are "Veena", "Sulata", "Control Room", poems " Pashara " and social story of "Springs of the Soul " etc. He was also editor of the Odia newspaper ''Sahakaara'' and English dailies - ''Vatarini'' and ''Star of Utkal''Laxminarayan Sahu
Balasore Official Website As a reformer, he fought against

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

and social evils against women. He was elected to Odisha Assembly in 1947 and was a member of

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

. He was noted for his fiery and to the fact debates while drafting of constitution of India and even Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had to admit in context of arguments put forth by Laxminarayan Sahu that the Constitution was carrying contradictions, harmful enough to shatter India, unless removed by the people's representatives in the earliest opportunity. At the debate in Constituent Assembly of India, he is said to have thundered:- '' Mr. Kamath has quietly introduced in it the God too. Some people hold that there is no God. The people of India do not want God''. He was awarded

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

in year 1955 for his contributions in field of Literature & Education. He was also given title of ''Ithihasaratna'' for his works and writings on history of Odisha. He was a member of

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

, President of

Odisha Sahitya Academy Odisha Sahitya Akademi () is an institution established in 1957 in Odisha for the active promotion of Odia language and literature. It was created as an autonomous literary organisation. In 1970 it was converted into a society. Activities Th ...

and also a member of Servants of India Society. A school in

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...

has been named after him as ''Lakshmi Narayan Sahu Mahavidyalaya''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahu, Laxminarayan 1890 births 1963 deaths Social workers from Odisha Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Activists from Odisha 20th-century Indian educational theorists Odia-language writers English-language writers from India Hindi-language writers Indian male journalists People from Balasore district Social workers 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian historians Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Scientists from Odisha 20th-century Indian male writers Poets from Odisha