Radhanath Ray

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Radhanath Ray
Born 28 September 1848
Kedarpur, Baleswar, British India (now Odisha, India)
Died 17 April 1908 (aged 59)
Occupation Inspector of School
Language

[Odia]

Nationality

Indian

Genre Poet, novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, educationist,

cultural relativist, orator, song-writer.
Spouse

Parasamani

Radhanath Ray (Odia: ) (28 September 1848 27 April 1908) is an

[[Oriya language|Oriya]& Bengali] poet of initial modernity era in Oriya poetry
during the later part of nineteenth century,He was born in Bengali zamindar
family in Baleshwar (Bengal Presidency) Now in Odisha and is honoured in Oriya
literature with the title Kabibara.[1] In his early life, he composed in both Bengali
and Oriya languages, but later he shifted his writings in Oriya only.[citation
needed] He was born on 28 September 1848, at Kedarpur village in Baleswar
district, Odisha. He has contributed verses and poetry for Oriya literature in the
nineteenth century.
Contents [hide]
1

Role in the Oriya language movement

Major works

Father of Oriya modernism

Controversy

Confession of own love affairs

See also

References

Role in the Oriya language movement[edit]

At Radhanaths time, in Odisha, the Oriya language movement was active.
Though the medieval Oriya literature was richer in comparison to that of Bengali
literature, however some of the Bengali educationalists wanted to abolish Oriya
language as the medium of teaching from schools. As Bengal was gripped by
British Colonialism much before Odisha, the Bengalis had the privilege to
motivate the Anglicist scholars to prove Oriya as a branch of Bengali language.
John Beams, a British Officer of East India Company first tried to prove that Oriya
is more ancient language than Bengali, and it had a richer literature which

Bengali had not. In the Odisha division, there were only seven Oriya School
teachers; Bengalis formed the majority of teachers, even in the remote areas.
Consequently, Bengali text books were prescribed for Oriya students. At that
time, Radhanatha was one of prime figure along with Fakir Mohan Senapati, who
fought against the expansionism of Bengali educationalist to eradicate Oriya
language from Odisha.He was the Inspector of Odisha Schools Association and
along with Fakir Mohan Senapati and Madhusudan Rao, he tried to promote text
book writings.
Major works[edit]
Radhanatha Rays first major work was Kabitabali, a collection of poems in
Bengali written at the age of eighteen. It featured in most of the major
newspapers and journals in Kolkatta during that time. His other Bengali poem
was Lekhabali. Later, he switched over to Oriya language, and wrote famous
Kavyas like Kedar Gauri, Nandikeshwari, Chilika, Mahajatra Jajatikeshari,
Tulasistabaka, Urbashi, Darabara, Dasaratha Biyoga, Savitri Charita and
Mahendra Giri. Additionally, he wrote more than fifteen essays. Apart from his
original works, he is also known for his translations and adaptations from the
Latin Literature. They include Usha, Chandrabhaga and Parbati.[2]
Father of Oriya modernism[edit]
His writings were inspired by many English Littrateurs like Keats, Scott and
Wordsworth. He has contributed to Oriya poetry by introducing new forms. He
has penned blank-verses, satire inspired by writings of Dryden and Alexander
Pope, denunciation of despots, tyrants and oppressors, concern with social
problems, a spirit of protest against conventional morality, a disbelief in the
power of gods and goddesses, and patriotic sentiments, which finally brought
him trouble from his employers. He was viewed as a national poet of the first
order in Odisha.[3]
Controversy[edit]
Though Radhanatha contributed a lot to Oriya literature, however he was not
accepted by the contemporary conservative readers of his time. Soon, he was
dragged into a controversy. Sudhala Dev, the then king of Bamanda awarded the
poet the title 'Kabibara', and the gesture made some of the critics and poets
jealous. Some critics wrote that Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja is more powerful
than Radhanatha, and these silly arguments turned into a serious topic of
controversy like modernity versus tradition. Two of the literary journals The
Indradhanu and The Bijali engaged in this controversy, and later all the
intellectuals got entangled in this discussion. However, this literary controversy
ended with a letter of Radhanath.[4]
Confession of own love affairs[edit]
At the age of fifty-three, when Radhanatha was transferred to Burdwan in his
service, he came into the contact of a Bengali poetess Ms. Nagendra Bala Ray,
with whom a passionate love affair developed. Since Radhanatha was very
orthodox, and had a god-fearing personality, this affair made him disturbed. In
1907, he could not resist himself and confessed his misdemeanour publicly,
through press. He begged his readers to forgive him for his such behaviour.
However, this confession made him a saint among his readers of that period.[5]

See also[edit]