Bhubaneswar: Sanskrit scholar, literary critic and former Vice-Chancellor of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University Gopinath Mohapatra breathed his last late on Friday in Bhubaneswar. He was 92.
Mohapatra was a distinguished researcher, critic and authority on Sanskrit literature and the Jagannath tradition. Born on January 1, 1944, at Biranarsinghpur Shasan in Puri district, he earned a postgraduate degree in Sanskrit and a PhD from Jabalpur University for his English dissertation ‘The Land of Vishnu: A Study on Jagannath Cult’. He taught at various colleges, collaborated with scholars such as Pandit Prabodh Kumar Mishra to popularise Sanskrit in Odisha, retired from the Sanskrit Department of Utkal University, and later served as Vice-Chancellor of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University in Puri.
Mohapatra was honoured with the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990 for his book ‘Shri Jagannath Tattva’. In 1995, he was conferred with Germany’s prestigious ‘Echmann Memorial Research Medal’. His widely discussed critical works include Kalidas Kabitara Rasa Madhuri and Sanskrit Sahityara Itihas. He also produced Odia translations of classical Sanskrit texts, including ‘Meghaduta’, ‘Abhijñana Shakuntalam’, and ‘Svapnavasavadattam’. Two of his English books based on Jagannath philosophy – The Land of Vishnu: A Study on Jagannath Cult and Jagannath in History & Religious Traditions of Orissa (1982) – have been particularly well received by readers and scholars.also received wide acclaim from readers.