Manoranjan Das (23 July 1923 – 17 February 2013) was an influential

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and pioneer of

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

Odia Literature Odia literature is literature written in the Odia language, mostly from the Indian state of Odisha. The modern Odia language is mostly formed from Tadbhava words with significant Sanskrit (Tatsama) influences, along with loanwoards from ...

. He was known for his

experimentalism Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. It is also associated with instrumentalism, the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalis ...

and deep socio-political awareness, who became most known in the 1960s with his experimental theatre. Sachidanandan, p. 147-148 Amongst his most known work are, ''Kathagodha'' (The Wooden Horse) and ''Aranya Fasal'' (The Wild Harvest), which won him the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

(1971). In a career spanning over four decades, his plays include ''Janmamati'' (Land of Birth) written in 1943 and his latest ''Nandika Kesari'' which appeared in 1985.

Early life and education

Born in 1923 in a village (named "Patana,42-Mouza, Cuttack sadar") near

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 literally ...

, he did his schooling in Kujang near

Paradip Paradeep, also spelt Paradip (originally Paradweep, also spelt Paradwip), is a major seaport city and municipality, from Jagatsinghpur city in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, India. Paradeep Municipality was constituted as an NAC on 27 Sep ...

, completing his intermediate in 1942. Thereafter he joined

Ravenshaw College Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw college, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The u ...

in Cuttack.

Career

He joined

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

where he rose to the level of Producer Emeritus. During his literary career, he has written 14 other plays, including ''Aranya Fasal'' (The Wild Harvest), which won him the

given

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

, India's National Academy of Letters in 1971, and the

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 conf ...

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in 2004.Padma Shri Awardees

website. His other plays are ''Jauban'' (Youth), ''August Na'' (The Ninth August 1947), ''Baxi Jagabandhu'' (The Sacrifice of Jagabandhu), ''Agami'' (The Oncoming), Abarodha (The Seize), ''Kathagodha'' (The Wooden Horse), and ''Sabdalipi'' (The Word-script).

Works

* ''Smriti samlap'' (autobiography). Friends Publishers, 1999; . * ''Ten essays on poet, poetry and psychology''. Future Publications, 2005. * ''Aranya Fasal''. Sahitya Akademi Publications, 2001; .

Works in translation

* ''The Wooden Horse: drama''. Pub. Bookland International (1982) * ''The Wild Harvest''. Translated by

Prabhat Nalini Das Prabhat Nalini Das (19 December 1927 – 14 November 2018) was an Indian public intellectual, academic and university president. She served as a professor of English and head of the English Department at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University; I ...

. Pub.

, 1993; * ''A game of words: a play''. tr. by Bibhu Padhi, Guru Charan Behera. Pub. Prachi Prakashan, 1997; * ''A ray's rope''. Pub. Ila Das, 1997. * * ''Nandika Keshari: (Sarala award winning play)''. tr by

. Prachi Prakashan (2000); * ''Afternoon flurries''. Pub. Subarnarekha, 2002. * ''A dialogue with memory'' (autobiography). tr. by Aruna Kumar Mohanty & J. K. Nayak. National Book Trust, India, (2002);

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Manoranjan 1923 births 2013 deaths People from Cuttack district Indian male dramatists and playwrights Odia-language writers Odia dramatists and playwrights Dramatists and playwrights from Odisha Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia Recipients of the Atibadi Jagannath Das Award Recipients of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian male writers