Odia Language Showcase

Everyone has some things she/he treasures – individuals, groups, societies… So also for the Odia nation. Some such treasures that are held dear to Odisha and Odias are showcased here.

This presentation aims at arousing interest about these treasures and to give a chance to the aroused to have a glimpse at them. More material on these subjects can be found in the book section.

1.
Earliest Odia Writings – Caryagitika, Writings from the middle period – Madala Panji, From the modern period – first drama, novel, short story.

2.
Gitagobinda – The immortal lyrics of Jayadeb with various translations of it – Original Sanskrit verses, Odia lyrics by Dharanidhar, Prose rendering by Nilamani Mishra and English translation by the Odisha State Museum.

3.
Siddhant Darpan – the great work by naked-eye astronomer Samanta Chandrasekhar (Pathani Samanta), original Sanskrit along with its translations into Odia, Hindi, English and analysis/interpretations of his work.

4.
The monumental lexicon of Odia language – Purnachandra Odia Bhasakosha

Gitagobinda

Gitagobinda, composed in the 12th century CE by the Odishan poet Jayadeb, is an immortal Kavya describing the union and separation of Radha-Krishna.

It consists of 72 slokas distributed unevenly in 12 sargas and 24 gitas.Gitas 1 and 10 have 11 and five stanzas respectively. All other gitas have 8 stanzas – hence called astapadis.

The language of Gitagovinda is charmingly lyrical conveying the deep thoughts of the kavya. This gives it an important place in the fields of music, dance and literature. Traditionally, Gitagobinda is sung in the temole of Lord Jagannath during the evening worship and on special occasions like the Badasinhar attiring of Jagannath. Devadasis of earlier era used to sing Gitagobinda and dance to its tunes in front of the Lord.

Lord Vishnu’s dasavatar (ten incarnations) finds a place in many Indian classics. But its presentation in Gitagobinda is the most popular, so much so that common people are found to be humming it. The original Sanskrit slokas of Gitagbinda has been translated into many languages since its composition. The early Odia rendering by Dharanidhar Das (Mishra) in the 18th century CE is among the most popular.

Gitagobinda is presented here as a composite of the original Sanskrit slokas, Dharanidhar’s Odia verses, Nilamani Mishra’s Odia prose and English prose by the Odisha State Museum along with thumbnails of the palm leaf folios. The palm leaf images have been sourced from the Odisha Virtual Academy (ova.gov.in) website – larger sized images of the palm leaf folios can be found there.

The Gitagobind composite given here is quite large (201 pages) – therefore it has been presented in six parts for easier viewing.

Please click here to view the Gitagobinda composite.