Poet Guruprasad Mohanty

Guruprasad Mohanty (1924-2004) 

Guruprasad Mohanty was born in Nagabali, Cuttack district, Orissa. He was a member of the Orissa Education Service and retired from service as Principal, B J B College, Bhubaneswar. He authored Nutan Kavita (1955), Samudra Snana (1970), Ascharya Abhisara (1988) and Kavita Samagra (1995). He received the Sahitya Akademi award (1973) for his Samudra Snana. The poems of Mohanty occupy a unique place in the gamut of Oriya poetry.He is regarded as the founder of modernism in Odia poetry. He has written only sixtyeight poems during his life time.He depicted the alienation and morbidity of the modern man. When sonnet was gradually loosing its charm, Guru Prasad popularised Sonnet. He has written only ten sonnets which are perhaps by far the best after sonnets of Mayadhar Mansingh which are remarkable for their grace and emotion. For the benefit of present day modern poets and Facebook friends ,I am reproducing all ten sonnets written by Guru Prasad Mohanty in original Odia. It will be my constant endeavor to post his other poems in Odia along with English translation wherever available in Agni.

Contributed by- Mr Ashok Kumar Ray