{"id":1992,"date":"2023-11-29T12:16:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T12:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utkalaage.in\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2023-11-29T12:16:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T12:16:04","slug":"tributes-paid-to-jayanta-mahapatra-at-soa-lit-fest-poet-described-as-beckon-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/?p=1992","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTES PAID TO JAYANTA MAHAPATRA AT SOA LIT-FEST, POET DESCRIBED AS \u2018BECKON LIGHT\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Glowing tributes were paid to the memory\nof eminent Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra at the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> SOA Literary\nFestival here on Friday with poets and writers describing him as a \u2018legend\u2019 and\n\u2018beckon light of Indian English poetry.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three-day festival, being attended\nby around 250 writers, poets, novelists, critics, historians, artistes and\ntheatre personalities from across the country, included a special session on the\n95-year-old poet who passed away on August 27 last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chairing the session, Ms. Sukrita Paul\nKumar, a renowned poet, said: \u201cMahapatra has left behind a huge legacy in\nIndian literature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"684\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Jayant-Mahapatra-684x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1994\" data-link=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/?attachment_id=1994\" class=\"wp-image-1994\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Jayant-Mahapatra-684x1024.jpg 684w, https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Jayant-Mahapatra-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Jayant-Mahapatra.jpg 711w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHis works were initially not given\nadequate attention in India but he got recognition only after his works came in\nfor much praise in the west,\u201d she said adding \u201che can be described as the\nbeckon light of Indian English poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mahapatra was the first Indian poet to\nwin the Sahitya Akademi Award for English poetry and received the Padma Shri in\n2009 for his contribution to literture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prof. Ashwani Kumar, Mr. Durga Prasad\nPanda, Mr. Nilim Kumar and Mr. Dipak Samantarai, all accomplished poets, also\npaid tributes to Mahapatra describing him as a legend in Indian literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms. Kumar said Mahapatra was rooted to\nthe soil and made Cuttack his work station. \u201cHe could have gone and lived anywhere\nin the world but chose to live in his ancestral home in Cuttack,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cChildlike in nature, he was existential\nin his thinking,\u201d Kumar said recalling that Mahapatra once said he accepted each\nday \u2018as a gift given to him.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mahapatra also translated other Odia\npoetry into English. He did not believe in a monolingual society but thought\nthat all the languages should negotiate with each other, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prof. Kumar, who teaches at the Tata\nInstitute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, said he used to speak to Mahapatra every\nday for the last six years. \u201cHe was a much adored poet but people have not done\njustice to his works which are immortal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assamese poet Mr. Nilim Kumar recited\none of his poems in Odia which was translated into English by Prof. Kumar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Tribute-to-Jayant-Mahapatra-1-1024x559.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1996\" data-link=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/?attachment_id=1996\" class=\"wp-image-1996\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Tribute-to-Jayant-Mahapatra-1-1024x559.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Tribute-to-Jayant-Mahapatra-1-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Tribute-to-Jayant-Mahapatra-1-768x419.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Samantarai, who was close to\nMahapatra, recalled that he had the opportunity to interview &nbsp;Mahapatra in one of the sessions of the 1<sup>st<\/sup>\nSOA Lit-Fest in 2020 which he attended. The poet\u2019s needs were minimal and he never\nfelt the need to have an air-conditioner in his living room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was accessible to anyone, be it the\nrickshaw puller or the mechanic in a cycle repairing shop near his home. They\nwere his friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Panda, who knew Mahapatra closely, recalled\nthat when the poet was invited by the Sambalpur University to be honoured with\nthe Gangadhar Sahitya Samman, the university authorities informed him that a\ncar would be sent from Sambalpur to pick him from his Cuttack home. But he\ndeclined the offer saying he would make his own travel arrangement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mahapatra informed them that he was\ncoming to Sambalpur by train. Those present at the railway station to receive\nhim were surprised when he emerged from a passenger train which was running\nseveral hours late. \n\nHe later informed those waiting to receive him\nthat he had a nice time in the train talking to villagers who were involved in\ncollecting forest produce, Mr. Panda said.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Glowing tributes were paid to the memory of eminent Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra at the 2nd SOA Literary Festival here on Friday with poets and writers describing him as a \u2018legend\u2019 and \u2018beckon light of Indian English poetry.\u2019 The three-day festival, being attended by around 250 writers, poets, novelists, critics, historians, artistes and theatre personalities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1997,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/1997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}