Nityananda Mahapatra (17 June 1912 – 17 April 2012) was an Indian Odia politician, poet and journalist.

Political career

He was imprisoned three times by the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

between 1930 and 1942 for nationalist activities. He came to literary prominence as editor of the Odia magazine ''Dagara'', and as a short story writer after independence. In his political career Mohapatra served as a member of the

Odisha Legislative Assembly The Odisha Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Odisha state in India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state. The Legislative Assembly comprises List of constituencies of Odisha ...

from 1957 to 1971 and as state Minister of Supply and Cultural Affairs from 1967 to 1971.

Death

He died on 17 April 2012 at around 9:45am at Kharavelanagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from complications of respiratory failure. He had been in a coma at the Aditya Care Hospital following a breathing problem. He was three months short of his 100th birthday.

Literary works

Mohapatra has translated the ''

Ramavataram The ''Ramavataram'', popularly referred to as ''Kamba Ramayanam'', is a Tamil epic that was written by the Tamil poet Kambar during the 12th century. Based on Valmiki's ''Ramayana'' (which is in Sanskrit), the story describes the legen ...

'' (also known as the ''Kamba Ramayanam''), the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

version of the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, into Odia. Other works that he translated into Odia include Ramana Maharshee and Swarajya Sanghitaa.

Literary awards

Mahapatra received the

Odisha Sahitya Academy Award Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary award awarded to an Odia language litterateur for outstanding contribution to Odia literature in various categories by the Odisha Sahitya Akademi, an institution established in 1957 in Odisha for activ ...

in 1974 and the

Kendra 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 ...

in 1987 for his novel ''Gharadiha''.

References

1912 births 2012 deaths People from Bhadrak Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia Recipients of the Atibadi Jagannath Das Award Recipients of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award State cabinet ministers of Odisha Poets from Odisha Odia-language poets Indian magazine editors 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets 20th-century Indian male writers Recipients of the Utkal Ratna Samman Tamil–Odia translators Indian writers People from Odisha 20th-century Indian translators {{Odisha-politician-stub