Writers pay tribute to Gopinath Mohanty and (above) the guests release a book containing letters of Mohanty written to his family members, on his centenary birth anniversary celebration by Odisha Sahitya Akademi in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, April 20: Eminent literary figures of the state today described Gopinath Mohanty, litterateur of the mid-20th century, as another trendsetter after Fakir Mohan Senapati, considered the doyen of modern Odia literature.

“Gopi babu has presented a range of prose – literature rich in colloquial Odia vocabulary after Fakir Mohan,” said noted poet Sitakant Mohapatra.

Besides keenly observing human characters, he had also tried to understand the mysteries of nature and express them vividly, said Mohapatra while presiding over the centenary celebration event organised by Odisha Sahitya Akademi here, citing the instance of how Mohanty had described different colours of fire in his novel Amrutar Santan.

Mohapatra said veteran writer Mahasweta Devi was so much inspired by the literary works of Mohanty that she had expressed her desire to have Amrutara Santan in her hand at the time of her death.

Noted linguist Debi Prasanna Pattanayak said Gopinath was one of the modern Odia litterateurs who used wide range of Odia vocabularies spoken by commoners in rural and tribal pockets to enrich the language.

“His characters converse in typical Odia. There is a feel of throbbing life in each of his literary works,” said Pattanayak. Describing Mohanty as “the architect of words”, noted literary critic, Rajkishore Mishra listed out some of the colloquial Odia words used by the literary genius. Mishra, himself an accomplished translator, said many of Mohanty’s words had no synonyms or prototypes in other languages.

Throwing light on Mohanty’s creative genius, veteran writer Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo cited a short story She, in which the Chilika lake is the main character. President of Odisha Sahitya Akademi Satakadi Hota said through Mohanty’s literary works, man gets closer to himself, society and the nature.

Sitakant Mohapatra unveiled a collection of letters titled Hrudayaru hrudayaku (heart-to-heart), written by Mohanty to his near and dear ones.

Professor Biswaranjan, who compiled the collection of letters, said the missives were written to his near and dear ones, starting from his novelist-elder brother, Kanhu Charan to his grandson.

“His letters reflected the contemporary socio-economic scenario and environment,” he said. An exhibition on Mohanty’s life history, rare photographs, literary works and manuscripts was also organised on the occasion.

His eldest son and chairman of Gopinath Mohanty Foundation Trust, Omkar Mohanty said several rare objects including unfinished works were put on display.

Later in the evening, Upamanyu Chatterjee, an IAS officer and author of best selling novel English, August: An Indian story that was later adopted into a major film starring Rahul Bose, delivered the 23rd Gopinath Mohanty memorial lecture here. He narrated a play titled Othello sucks written by him on the occasion. He said that the play would have amused Gopinath Mohanty, a litterateur whom he admires.