Jayanta Mahapatra, the Eternal Traveller: A Dive into his Poetic Universe

Jayanta Mahapatra (1928-2023), a bilingual poet from Odisha, India, wrote prolifically both in English and Odia and was internationally acclaimed. His work has been variously interpreted from the perspectives of his experiments with language as well as use of modern techniques in poetry, his rendering of harsh reality including exploitation and injustice inflicted on the downtrodden, his urge for a total identification with his land and others. Keeping aside Mahapatra's experiments with technique and language, the present book focuses on his relentless self-search alongside his assessment of the outer reality, the nature of his anxieties as revealed in his poems published since 1976, his ethical standpoint and the ongoing conflict between reason and faith suggested through his work. The poet emerges as an eternal traveller searching for truth and love. In the five chapters of the book all these aspects of his poetry have been discussed, with a particular focus on his anxiety that is close to "existentialist angst" and his capacity for immense love that saves him from lapsing into pessimism. Finally, his search for truth has been equated to that of some sages in the Upanishads.