Jagannath Prasad Das

Jagannath is a writer, poet, painter, playwright, and novelist in the Odia genre. He was born on April 26, 1936, in Puri, Orissa Province, British India. He completed his education at Utkal University and Allahabad University. He worked as an assistant professor at the University of Allahabad. Jagannath also held positions in the government of Orissa and the central government. He decides to take a retirement from government services and engages in exploring the social and cultural life of the Orissa region. Jagannath also won several awards, such as the “Vishuva Award" at Pajatantra Prachar Samiti in 1976 and 1984, the “Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award" in 1975 for “Je Jahara Nirjanata," the “Sarala Award" in 1998 for “Priya Vidushaka," the “Nandikar Playwright Award" in 2000, and the “Saraswati Samman" in 2006 for “Parikrama.”

Jagnnath also awarded various fellowships for research and creative writing, such as the Homi Bhabha Fellow for research on Pata Paitings of Odisha, the Emeritus Fellow of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the K.K. Birla Foundation Fellowship in Comparative Literature. He also translated various novel works, such as “Women Poets,” in Odia, into English; Catherine Clement’s poems from French to English; Gulzar’s poems from Urdu to English; Swedish poet Werner Aspenstrom’s poems into Odia; a medieval Odia text, “Lakshmipurana,” into English; and Odia Dalit poet Basudev Sunani's poems into English. He also edited the first anthology of Odia short stories in English, an anthology of poetry from different Indian languages, and a volume of essays and films made for children.

Jagnnath has been skilled in poetry, short stories, plays, novels, essays, art history, and translations. His notable works are Puri Paintings, Prathama, Purusha, Parikrama, Desha Kala Patra, and Suryasta Purbaru. Jagnnath wrote various poems in Odia, such as “Anya Sabu Mrtyu" (1976), “Je Jahara Nirijanata" (1979), "Ahnika" (1990), "Sthirachitra" (1991), "Sacharachara" (1994), "Asamaya" (2004), and “Kabita Samagra" (2011). He also wrote various short stories, plays, and novels such as “Bhavanatha O Anyamane" (1982), "Dinacharya" (1983), “Ame Jeunmane" (1986), "Sakshatkara" (1986), “Priya Bidushaka" (1991), “Shesha Paryanta" (1995), "Icchhapatra" (2000), “Indradhanu Akhi O Kabitara Dirghajibana" (2009), “Suryasta Purbaru" (1977), “Sundara Das" (1993), “Asangata Nataka" (1981), and “Desha Kala Patra" by Prachi Prakashan (1991).

He also wrote children’s literature and nonsense rhymes in Odia, such as "Alimalika" (1993), “Alukuchi Malikuchi" (1993), "Anabana" (2008), and "Anamana" (2016). Various books have also been written on Jagnnath Das, such as “Words on Canvas: J.P. Das and His Work by Ganeswar Mishra, “Srijan Jatra" by Ganeswar Mishra, “Priya JP" by Shiksha Sandhan, “Jagannath Prasad: Bandhutara Aasara" by Ganeswar Mishra, and "Bahudha" by Sumanyu Satpathy.