Manoranjan Das is an influential India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n dramatist, and pioneer of modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

 in Oriya Literature

Oriya literature

Oriya is an official language of the state of Orissa, India. The region has been known at different stages of history as Kalinga, Udra, Utkala, or Koshala. The language is also spoken by minority populations of the neighboring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The...

. He is known for his experimentalism

Experimental literature

Experimental literature refers to written works - often novels or magazines - that place great emphasis on innovations regarding technique and style.-Early history:...

 and deep socio-political awareness, who became most known in the 1960s with his experimental theatre.

Amongst his most known work are, Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse) and Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won the won him the Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

 (1971). In a career spanning over four decades, his plays include Janmamati (Land of Birth) written in 1943 and his latest Nandika Kesari which appeared in 1985.

Early life and education

Born in 1921 in a village near Cuttack

Cuttack

Cuttack is the former capital of the state of Orissa, India. It is the headquarters of Cuttack district and is located about 20 km to the north east of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The name of the city is an anglicised form of Kataka that literally means The Fort, a reference to the...

, he did his schooling in Kunjang near Paradip

Paradip

Paradip, also spelt Paradeep, is a major seaport town and a designated notified area in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa, India.-Geography:Paradip is located at . It has an average elevation of .-Paradip Port:...

, completing his intermediate in 1942. Thereafter he joined Ravenshaw College

Ravenshaw College

Ravenshaw College is located in Cuttack, India.The college was established in 1878 for Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, a descendant of William Withers...

 in Cuttack.

Career

He joined All India Radio

All India Radio

All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...

 where he rose to the level of Producer Emeritus. During his literary career, he has written 14 other plays, including Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

 given Sahitya Akademi

Sahitya Akademi

The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...

, India's National Academy of Letters in 1971, and the Padma Shri

Padma Shri

Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

 by Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 in 2004.

His other plays are Jauban (Youth), August Na (The Ninth August 1947), Baxi Jagabandhu (The Sacrifice of Jagabandhu), Agami (The Oncoming), Abarodha (The Seize), Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse), and Sabdalipi (The Word-script).

Works

• Smriti samlap (autobiography). Friends Publishers, 1999. ISBN 8174012745.
• Ten essays on poet, poetry and psychology. Future Publications, 2005.
• Aranya Fasil. Sahitya Akademi Publications, 2001. ISBN 8126012137.

Works in translation

• The Wooden Horse: drama. Pub. Bookland International, 1982.
• The Wild harvest. Pub. Sahitya Akademi
  Sahitya Akademi
  The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
  
  , 1993. ISBN 8172014368.
• A game of words: a play. tr. by Bibhu Padhi, Guru Charan Behera. Pub. Prachi Prakashan, 1997. ISBN 8185824053.
• A ray's rope. Pub. Ila Das, 1997.
• Nandika Keshari: (Sarala award winning play). tr by Prabhat Nalini Das. Prachi Prakashan, 2000. ISBN 8185824126.
• Afternoon flurries. Pub. Subarnarekha, 2002. ISBN 8187467142.
• A dialogue with memory (autobiography). tr. by Aruna Kumar Mohanty & J. K. Nayak. National Book Trust, India, 2002. ISBN 8123739389.