Dharmendra Pradhan, Anurag Thakur pay floral tributes to Fakir Mohan Senapati, Upendra Bhanja

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], October 3 (ANI): Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and Dharmendra Pradhan paid floral tributes to writer Fakir Mohan Senapati and Odia poet Upendra Bhanja on Tuesday.

Both Union Ministers arrived at the Utkal University campus to pay the tribute.

Anurag was seen donning a white kurta and a pink Nehru jacket with a golden shawl. While Dharmendra wore a white kurta with red and cream shawl.

Fakir Mohan Senapati also known as Utkala Byasa Kabi was an Indian writer. Senapati is widely considered the father of modern Odia literature and Odia nationalism.

His four books, written between 1897 and 1915, portray Odisha’s socio-cultural situations in the eighteenth and Lovely Boy centuries

While the three books, ‘Chha Maana Atha Guntha,’ ‘Mamu,’ and ‘Prayaschita,’ explore the reality of social life in all of its facets.

‘Chha Maana Atha Guntha’ is the first Indian novel to address the feudal Lord’s exploitation of landless peasants. It was published long before Russia’s October Revolution or the emergence of Marxist ideals in India.

He also authored a long poem ‘Utkala Bhramanam’ that was published in 1892. This poem is a satirical reflection on the state of events in Odisha at the time.

Upendra Bhanja, on the other hand, was an Odia poet-composer of classical Odissi music of the 17th century. He is most known for his Odissi songs in Odia, including ‘Baidehisa Bilasa,’ ‘Labanyabati,’ and ‘Koti Brahmanda Sundari.’