Manoj Das

Manoj Das (born 1934) is an award-winning Indian author who writes in Odia and English. In 2000, Manoj Das was awarded with Saraswati Samman. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth highest Civilian Award in India for his contribution in the field of Literature & Education. Kendra Sahitya Akademi has bestowed its highest award (also India's highest literary award) i.e Sahitya Akademi Award Fellowship.

In 1971, his research in the archives of London and Edinburgh brought to light some of the little-known facts of India's freedom struggle in the first decade of the twentieth century led by Sri Aurobindo for which he received the first Sri Aurobindo Puraskar (Kolkata).

His deeper quest led him to mysticism and he has been an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry since 1963 where he currently teaches English Literature and the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo at the Sri Aurobindo International University.

Early life

Manoj Das was born in the small coastal village of Shankari in the Balasore district of Orissa. His father , Madhusudan Das worked under British Govt. He had started writing early. His first work a book of poetry in odia , Satavdira Artanada published 1949 when he was in highschool . He launched a literary magazine, Diganta in 1950. He graduated high school in 1951. His first collection of short stories Samudrara Kshudha (Hungry sea) that year. He was influenced by left wing ideology in college . He was active in student politics while studying BA in Cuttack College . He was a youth leader with radical views in his college days,and spent a year in jail for his revolutionary activities.In 1959 he was an delegate to the Afro-Asian students' conference at Bandung, Indonesia.He did not complete his degree in Cuttack . He ultimately finished his graduation from Samanta Chandra Shekhar College, Puri in 1955 . During his college ,he kept on writing and he published a novel Jeebanara Swada , a collection of short stories Vishakanyar Kahani and a collection of poems Padadhawani . After graduating with a degree in English literature , he got a post graduate degree in English literature from Ravenshaw college. After a short stint as a lecturer in Christ College (Cuttack) , he joined Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Puducherry.Since 1963, he has been professor of English Literature at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Puducherry.

He cites Fakir Mohan Senapati, Vyasa, and Valmiki as early influences.

As Editor and Columnist

He edited a cultural magazine, The Heritage, published from Chennai in the 1985-1989. The magazine is no more in circulation.

He wrote columns on quest for finding eternal truth in common lives in India’s national dailies like The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, The Hindu and The Statesman.

Creative writing and story-telling

Manoj Das is perhaps the foremost bilingual Odia writer and a master of dramatic expression both in his English and Odia short stories and novels. Das has been compared to Vishnu Sharma, in modern Odia literature for his magnificent style and efficient use of words and for the fact that, he is one of the best story-tellers in India at present times. Over the years many research scholars have done their doctoral thesis on the works of Manoj Das, P. Raja being the first scholar to do so.

National and International Positions

Among the other important positions that Das has held are, Member, General Council, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi 1998–2002, and Author-consultant, Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore, 1983–85. He was the leader of the Indian delegation of writers to China (1999).

Awards

• Orissa Sahitya Academy Award, 1965 and 1987
• Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, 1972
• Sarala Award, 1981
• Vishuba Award, 1986
• Sahitya Bharati Award, 1995
• Saraswati Samman, 2000;
• Orissa State Film Award for Best Story 2001
• Padma Shri, 2001
• Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, 2006
• Atibadi Jagannath Das award, 2007
• NTR Literary Award, 2013
• Amritakeerti Puraskar, 2013
• Veda Vyas Samman

Selected works

Novels

• The Escapist, 2001
• Tandralokara Prahari, 2000
• Aakashra Isara, 1997
• Amruta Phala, 1996 (Saraswati Samman)
• A Tiger at Twilight, 1991
• Bulldozers and Fables and Fantasies for Adults, (1990)
• Cyclones, 1987
• Prabhanjana
• Godhulira Bagha
• Kanaka-Upatyakara Kahani
• amruta phala

Short Story Collections

• Upakatha Sataka
• Abu Purusha
• Sesa Basantara Chithi, 1966
• Manoj Dasanka Katha O Kahani, 1971
• Dhumabha Diganta O Anyana Kahani, 1971
• The Crocodile's Lady: A Collection of Stories, 1975
• Manoj-pancha-bimsati, 1977
• The Submerged Valley and Other Stories, 1986
• Farewell to a Ghost: Short Stories and a Novelette, 1994
• Legend of the Golden Valley, 1996
• Samudra-kulara Eka Grama (Balya Smruti), 1996
• Aranyaka; (adapted to Aranyaka, 1994)
• Bhinna Manisha O Anyana Kahani
• Abupurusha O Anyana Kahani
• Lakshmira Abhisara
• Abolakara Kahani
• Aranya Ullasha
• Selected Fiction,
• Chasing the Rainbow : growing up in an Indian village, 2004

Travelogue

• Kete Diganta (Part I)
• Kete Diganta (Part -II)
• Antaranga Bharata (Part I) (My Little India)
• Antaranga Bharata (Part II)
• Dura-durantara
• Adura Bidesh – 2004

Poetry

• Tuma Gaan O Anyanya Kabita, 1992
• Kabita Utkala

History & Culture

• Bharatara Aitihya: Shateka Prashnara Uttara,1999
• Manoj Das Paribesita Upakatha Shataka (Tales Told by Mystics), 2002
• Mahakalara Prahelika O Anyana Jijnansa, 2006
• Jibana Jijnasa o Smaraika Stabaka
• Prajna Pradeepika

Commentary

Graham Greene once said, I have read the stories of Manoj Das with great pleasure. He will certainly take a place on my shelves besides the stories of Narayan. I imagine Odisha is far from Malgudi, but there is the same quality in his stories with perhaps an added mystery.