How Odisha’s Padma Bhushan Awardee Pratibha Ray Exemplified Courage Through Her Writings

Fearlessly writing on social order based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discrimination, she did not cow down to critics who branded as a communist and feminist. “I am a humanist; men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being however woman is equal to man,” she says.

As a feisty young woman, she did not give in to her father’s wishes of making her a doctor and left medical college just after taking admission to fulfil her dreams. She continued her science studies at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha without informing her father.

Pratibha married Akshaya Chandra Ray, an engineer in Odisha Government, after her graduation. After sending her three children to school, she did her Master’s in Education and Ph.D in Educational Psychology. Her post-doctoral research was on tribalism and criminology on the Bondo, one of the most primitive tribes of Odisha, India.

Some of her well-known works include ‘Mangnamati,’ ‘Jajnaseni,’ ‘Adi Bhoomi,’ and ‘Maharaniputra.’