Bhubaneswar: Enabling and empowering the masses with their timeless classics, works of saint poets like Saroladasa have enriched different Indian languages by bringing in new imageries, similes and metaphors from other cultures, said eminent writer and president of the Shitya Akademi Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara on Saturday.
“These newly brought imageries, similes and metaphors provide the writers and poets of different languages newer avenues to express their thoughts in diverse ways, away from the old beaten path,” said Dr Kambara, who released the critical edition of 10 ‘parbas’ of the works of Saroladasa – ‘Saroladasa Mahabharatha’ – at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) in Bhubaneswar.
“Each region, language and community had acquired and assimilated the best of other cultures and languages of the land. To reduce the alien elements, to make highest philosophical truths easier to understand for the masses and to reduce the cultural shocks, the scholars and pandits of the bygone centuries used adaptations wisely,” he
said.
Stating that Saroladasa and Kumara Vyasa of Karnataka, who were contemporaries, had adapted the epics of India to varying degrees to suit the local cultural milieu, Dr Kambara said the works of the Odisha saint poet were not merely literary, religious or philosophical in nature but also educated and enhance the awareness of the
masses, according to a SOA press release.
In a recorded message for the occasion, eminent litterateur Ramakant Rath said Odia, which was a spoken language, turned into a script only after Saroladasa wrote the ‘Mahabharatha’.
Dr KS Rao, secretary, Sahitya Akademi, said parallels had been drawn in the past between Saroladasa and Kalidasa and there were number of similarities in the end product of Sarala Mahabharatha and Raghuvamsa.
Prof Dasarathi Das, writer; Dr Pradipta Kumar Panda, member of the editorial team and Dr Gayatribala Panda, Head of PPRACHIN, also spoke. Prof Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, vice-chancellor of SOA presided the function which was conducted by Prof Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare).
The book, both in prose and verse, has been put together by an editorial team and published by Centre for Preservation, Propagation and Restoration of Ancient Culture and Heritage of India (PPRACHIN), the literary and cultural arm of SOA. A team comprising Dr Gouranga Charan Dash, Dr Pradipta Kumar Panda, Bhagyalipi Malla and Dr Fanindra Bhushan Nanda have edited the volumes.
A critical version of two ‘parvas’ of ‘Saroladas Mahabharatha’ containing the ‘musoli’ and ‘swargarohan’ parvas authored by Saroladasa was brought out by SOA in April last year.
