Madhusudan Rao

Madhusudan Rao (19 January 1853 - 28 December 1912) was an Odia poet and writer from India. He was known as Bhaktakavi.

Madhusudan Rao was born on 29 January 1853 in Puri, Odisha. His father was an employee of the Orissa police department, with many transfers to different places. As a result, Madhusudan took his school education from schools in different parts of Odisha - Gop, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri. After passing his FA from Ravenshaw College in 1871, he stopped studying, as, at the time, there were no colleges or other facilities offering a B. A. in the whole of Odisha. He started a career as a teacher in 1871. He taught at various places. in 1890, he became Deputy Inspector of Education.

He died on 28 December 1912.

He is popularly known in Odisha as Bhaktakavi. According to the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, he is considered the father of modern Odia poetry. His Prabandhamala, published in 1880, is considered the first collection of essays in Odia.

He started his literary career as an essayist. In 1873, he translated a few works from Sanskrit and English into Odia. They were published in Utkal Darpan, a literary journal. In collaboration with Radhanath Ray, he published two volumes of collections of poems entitled Kavitabali in 1873 and 1874 respectively. They heralded a new era in Odia poetry. In this collection, Rao replaced the old lyrical forms like chautisa, koili, boli, padia, etc., with western forms like the ode, the elegy, the sonnet, etc. His other poetry collections, which also consist of compositions used as lyrics for songs, comprise Chhandamala (Vol. 1, 188; Vol. 2, 1895), Sangitamala (1894), Basanta Gatha (1910), Kusumanjali (1903) and Utkalgatha (1908). He wrote two short stories. He translated the Uttararamacarita of Bhavabhuti into Odia. He also contributed to children's literature.