I shall highlight here some prominent features of ancient Oriya poetry, which is not different from other Indian poetry in its essence and spirit. For this I have taken into account the poetry of fifteenth century to nineteenth century A.D., starting from Sarala Das of Mahabharata fame to the mystic poet Bhima Bhoi. Strangely, almost all the poets of these 400 years were spiritual seekers; they belonged to one or other path of Indian spirituality. They were seekers, saints, bhaktas, tantrics and mystics. But they did not express their experience just as an intellectual or philosophical concept, they converted it to living poetry, full of vitality and beauty, so that it could be received by the readers aesthetically.

Prior to fifteenth century, there were a series of poetical compositions, called Charyapada, composed by Buddhist Siddhacharyas. They were practitioners of esoteric Tantrism of Sahaja Jana. Here I am giving an example from the poet Kanhupad of tenth century :

Your hut stands outside the city
Oh, untouchable maid
The bald Brahmin passes sneaking close by
Oh, my maid, I would make you my companion
Kanha is a kapali, a yogi
He is naked and has no disgust
There is a lotus with sixtyfour petals
Upon that the maid will climb with this poor self and dance.

Here the image ‘untouchable maid’ is used for ‘ shakti’, it resides outside the city, i.e., outside the ordinary consciousness. Though she is untouchable, the bald Brahmin, meaning the so-called wise man, has a secret hankering for her. But only a kapali or an extreme Tantric can be a fit companion for her, because he is also an outcaste ; he is naked, for he does not have any social identity or artificiality. After the union with the shakti both of them would climb on the 64-petalled lotus Sahasrara Chakra, and dance there.

Evidently, the poet had drawn images and symbols from existing social milieu, social psychology, so that this deep realization could be easily grasped by the readers. This kind of poetry, full with the mystery of Tantra, spread over the Northeastern region of India from the tenth to the fourteenth century, and its style of expression was revived by the Oriya poets of sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.

Oriya poetry with a distinct language started with Sarala Das of fifteenth century who was acclaimed as “Adikabi” or the first poet. He is also a Shudra Muni, or a seer from backward class. He had no formal education and did not know Sanskrit. It is believed that he got his poetic gift from goddess Sarala (Sarasswati), and wrote Mahabharata as it was dictated by her. Among many of his poems and epics, he is best remembered for his Mahabharata. Though he took the original theme of Vyasadev, he departed from it in many ways and aspects. He visualized the Mahabharata in the atmosphere of Orissa, created many life situations peculiar to Orissa. Here Kunti is called Koenta, Draupadi is Drupati, Yuddhisthira is Jujesthi,  Duryodhana is Managobindai – so that characters will seem familiar and closer to the imagination of common people. From many original episodes I give here two examples, which are not found in Vyasa’s Mahabharata.

When Yuddhisthira lost everything, including his wife Draupadi, in the game of dice with Sakuni, Duhsasana dragged her to Kurusabha, by pulling her loose, luxuriant hair. He wanted to make her a slave and tried to take away her clothes. Fortunately, Krishna heard her prayer and saved her from this utter humiliation. But an enraged and revengeful Draupadi took a terrible vow, that her hair would remain loose and unbraided till she could wash it with Duhsasana’s blood. After killing him in the war, Bhima brought his blood for Draupadi, and she washed her hair with it, licking it even as it flowed down her face. This is the image of Mahakali of Indian spirituality, who takes delight in killing Asuras and drinking their blood. Thus Draupadi is painted here as a very strong woman, who believes in defending her honour and dharma by destroying the Asuric forces.

Another episode is in the last phase of the Kurukshetra war. All the Kauravas and great warriors like Karna, Drona, Sakuni are dead. Duryodhana, alone and panic-stricken, finds himself beside a long, deep river of blood. Innumerable dead bodies are floating there. Duryodhana cries a lot, catches hold of corpses one by one, and tries to sit on one in order to cross the river. But as soon as he sits, it sinks to the bottom of the river. Finally, with the help of a solid, strong body he crosses the river. On the other side, he discovers that it was the dead body of his son Laxman. Absolutely frustrated, he weeps, embraces his son’s corpse, remembers his glory and also remembers how Laxman requested him to give at least five villages to the Pandavas. So he repents : “Now I promise to give them half of my kingdom, please come back to life, my son.”

This incident makes one conscious of the consequences of an egocentric, ambitious, self-assertive way of life. Besides these two, there are many more original episodes, which contribute a lot to Indian culture.

The poet Jagannath Das of late fifteenth century was a scholar, philosopher and a bhakta.  He had given a new language to Orissa, which was almost sanskritised and it is presently spoken and written by Oriyas. There is a story regarding the translation of the Sanskrit Bhagavata into Oriya. At that time religious scriptures being in the custody of Sanskrit pundits, fees were collected from the villagers who wanted to listen to their discourses. One day, Jagannath Das’s mother was denied entry to the discourses of Bhagavata, as she did not have enough money. Greatly moved by the incident, Jagannatha translated it into Oriya for his own dear and Krishna-devoted mother, thereby helping the whole of Orissa to enjoy the privilege of reading their most favourite scripture of Hindu dharma. Afterwards, Bhagabata tungis or study circles were founded in each village of Orissa, where people of all classes would come and listen : even the illiterate womenfolk and children were not left out. 

Even though it is a translation, Jagannath made it quite original by his poetic genius. It is composed in Nabakhari, which means that each line consists of nine letters. An example will show the difference between the original and the translation. The original text in Vyasa (Chapter I, Book I) reads :

The fruit of Bhagavata has fallen from the tree of Vedic literature
It is sweet with the nectar of Suka’s mouth
Oh, the men of great sensibility of the world
Drink this and attain Divine Delight.

As is well know, though Vyasa wrote the Bhagavata, his son Sukadeva was its propagator. In Oriya and Sanskrit, “Suka” means parrot. Hence, the metaphors of tree and fruit are justified. In the Oriya version, these four lines have been expressed in fourteen lines ; Bhagabata is read in Oriya in a melody of this sort  :

“All the Vedas became a tree
And bore a fruit in the vast space
As the fruit ripened, it fell down
Suka the parrot came flying to the spot,
Leaving the company of friends
He drank the juice of the fruit
From his mouth flows it
Sweeter than nectar
Oh men of great sensibility
Drink this and attain Divine Delight.”

We can see how, without hampering the purity of the original, he had conveyed more with fresh, pictorial images.

The chapter Rasa-lila in the tenth Book of Bhagabata is a magnificent piece of poetry, just as in the eleventh Book Krishna’s message to Uddhaba, before leaving his body, has become a masterpiece in Jagannath’s able hand. In a full-moon night of autumn, Krishna calls his devotees, the Gopis with his magic flute. The Gopis, the married cowherd women of Gopa, come running, leaving their marital status and their home, leaving all the barriers of society and tradition of ages. And Krishna dances in Brindavan, near the river Yamuna, under fragrant Kadamba trees so lovingly, so passionately that each and every Gopi thinks that Krishna is dancing with herself alone : 16,000 Krishnas appear to be dancing with 16,000 Gopis. Thus, Krishna’s devotees who aspired to get him as a lover were delivered from earthly bondage by this love play. The entire scene of sensuous, love play has been transmuted into a piece of beauty – it would not be exaggerated to say that by sheer force of poetry, Jagannath made the eternal Brindavan descend on earth : it becomes real and vivid for one who reads with humility and devotion. On Sri Krishna’s birthday, every Oriya reads the chapter Balalila and, on his deathbed, listens to the eleventh Book.

The theme of Radha-Krishna dominated the field of Oriya poetry for the next 300 years. A versatile poet, Upendra Bhanja of seventeenth century, was an exception who wrote epics and poems in new and imaginary themes, such as his epic VaidehishaVilas, composed on Rama and Sita. Each line of the whole epic starts with the letter ‘Ba” and is based on ragas, so that it can be sung and used in dance.

Then came the Vaishnava poets, like Abhimanyu Samanta singhar, Kabisurya Baladev Rath, Banamali Das, Gopalakrisna and Bhaktacharan. Their poems are also a combination of song and dance. These are called Odissi songs and are used in the world-famous Odissi dance. Students from abroad come to research on it and learn it. Its significance lie in the deep emotion, of surrender, and ecstasy of union and pang of separation in Radha-Krishna’s love. 

In Bidagdha Chintamani, one of the best epics of the age, Abhimanyu tries to give definition of this love through Bisakha, an intimate friend of Radha. Unable to bear the pain of separation, Radha asks her friend about the criteria, quality and source of love. Bisakha replies  :

“It is not fire
But it burns the body
It is not a weapon
But it pierces the heart
It is not an intoxicant
But it intoxicates
It is not a fishing rod
But attracts the fish of the mind.”

So, love, like Brahman of Indian spirituality, is “not this” and “not that” – then what is it? Again she says  :

“It is difficult to sustain this love
More difficult than climbing the sky
Than walking on the edge of sword
It is as if one tries to catch air in a net
Or to hold mercury in one’s palm.”

It is a long and extraordinary poem written on love, which takes one away from the limited to the limitless.

Expression of love has been more simple, refined with Baladev Rath, who was honoured with a title of  “Sun among the poets.” He is best in an unusual poetic structure, called Champu – its first poem starts with the first letter of alphabet, “ka,” and it continues in that way till the last poem, which starts with the last letter, “khya.” It is surprising to find such a beautiful dance drama with a self-imposed regulation of form. Here is one of his poem, based on a raga, with a befitting rhythm or taal, so that it can be used in dance :

In Bhakta Charan’s epic poem Mathura Mangala, through the Gopis’ love for Krishna, the poet proves the superiority of Bhakti Yoga to Jñana yoga After finishing a talking with them, Uddhaba was overwhelmed by their sincerity, self-surrender and entire trust, and realized that Gopis had identified themselves completely with Sri Krishna, so he is not worthy of consoling these enlightened souls. 

Almost all the poets I have discussed here also composed many songs, as prayers to their personal god or Krishna or to Jagannath, the presiding deity of Orissa. Indian spirituality never believes God to be in heaven. God is one’s father, mother, teacher, son and friend. So the tone of all these prayers, or bhajans, is very intimate. We see Balaram Das begging nothing from Jagannath except a handful of dust from his temple courtyard ; we see Chandan Hajuri singing his glory, begging God’s grace, and Baladev Rath scolding him as much as he can ; by comparing him with a poisonous snake – a Kala Sarpa who devours living beings – Bhktacharan exposes the crude reality of the body’s death to make one conscious of the divine and transcend death. And there are also some heart-rending Bhajans by a Muslim poet Selabega, which proves that at that time Bhakti for Jagannath was beyond religion.

But the mystic poets had no personal god, they were praying to a formless being or void. The poet Achyutananda of sixteenth century conceived the creation of Brahman as such :

There was a place called non-void
It became the void in a strange way
In this void resides the formless
From the body of the formless supreme Brahman embodied

Or, to express that state of Brahman experience, he says :

In the moonless night
Shines a full moon
In the eternal night a sun is seen
A lamp burns day and night here
And a wild wind kindles the lamp.

That is the kind of riddles and contradictory images which mystic poets used to express their abstract experience and create situations full of ambiguity. 

The last poet of this discussion is Bhima Bhoi of nineteenth century, who belonged to tribal community – he is also called a saint-poet. His divinity is sunya or a formless, nameless being called Anama, but sometimes he sees him as a renunciate, wearing yellow robes, roaming around the world in summer and rain. He is never contented with his own salvation, he wants to uplift mankind to a spiritual height. At times he gets very angry with the people for their folly, inertia, and ignorance, and at other times he becomes so compassionate that he says :

“How can one tolerate the terrible suffering and misery 
                                           of these living beings
Even if my life goes to hell
                                           Let the world be saved.”

This is the ultimate message of Indian spirituality – to see the Divine in his creation, to be united with it, to try to raise it – which is wonderfully expressed it Bhima Bhoi’s poetry.

Have I told enough of my favourite and revered poets? I can now look back to that age of 450 years ago, when there was no printing press, no electronic media and these poets were writing on palm leaves. Some of them were uneducated, some were striving hard to earn their daily needs, some were dedicated Bhaktas or renunciates, but all of them were highly talented, with a thorough knowledge of poetry, music and dance. They loved Orissa and its language, they knew the people’s psychology and need, above all, they did not bother for name, fame or awards. They were immensely popular, but never came down to the level of common herd ; instead, they touched their souls and lifted them to a higher level of consciousness.

Should one not expect a little of this from modern-age artists, poets or writers? Must art and literature be either for an enlightened few or be perverted and commercialized to have a widespread mass appeal? It is a grave and serious point to ponder about. As stated by Sri Aurobindo :

“The greatness of a literature lies first in the greatness and worth of its substance, the value of its thought and the beauty of its forms, but also in the degree to which, satisfying the highest conditions of the art of speech, it avails to bring out and raise the soul and life or the living and the ideal mind of a people, an age, a culture, through the genius of some of its greatest or most sensitive representative spirits.” 

Should not we want Indian poetry to become as great as it was?

Thank you.

Author's Note : 

1. This article ( based on my address ) is published in Foundation of Indian Culture, 
    vol. 14, p. 254 ( Centenary edition ).

2. The citations from the original Oriya text are presented in approximate English 
    translation.