# Haldhar Nag

Dr. Haldhar Nag (born 31 March 1950) is a Sambalpuri poet and writer from Bargarh, Odisha, India. Popularly known as "Lok Kabi Ratna", meaning "folk poet gem"). He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India by Government of India in 2016.
In 2019, Haldhar Nag was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by Sambalpur University.

## Biography
### Early life

Nag was born in a poor family of Ghens in Bargarh district of Odisha. After losing his father at a young age, he had to drop out of school during third grade so that he could work to financially support his family.
After Nag spent two years working as a dishwasher in a sweetmeat shop, the head of his village decided to take him to high school. There, he spent 16 years working as a cook. During this time, he also took a loan of ₹ 1000 so that he could open a small stationery shop near the school.
Though he is an awardee of the Padma Shree, which is the fourth highest civilian Honor in India, he lives a simple life as a shopowner and hawker. He also sells Raag Chanaa (spicy chickpeas; an Indian snack popular in Western Odisha) in the street.

### Literary career

He has been compared to Gangadhar Meher for his Sambalpuri style of writing. The BBC made a documentary film about his life and works.
One of his first poems was Dhodo Bargachh (The Old Banyan Tree), which he published in a local magazine. The poem was successful, and four more published poems followed soon. He has been quoted saying "Poetry must have a real-life connection and a message for the people."
His poetry is now considered a subject of research by five doctoral scholars. Sambalpur University has also compiled his works in a book called Haldar Granthabali-2. In the year 2016, he also received the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, from The 13th President of India Pranab Mukherjee for his contribution to the Sambalpuri language.

## Works

Some of his most popular works are:
* Lokgeet
* Samparda
* Krushnaguru
* Mahasati Urmila
* Tara Mandodari
* Achhia
* Bacchhar
* Siri Somalai
* Veer Surendra Sai
* Karamsani
* Rasia Kavi (biography of Tulasidas)
* Prem Paechan
In addition, he has also acted in two Sambalpuri films, namely Sahamate Maa Samalei and Maa Budhi Kamgei Kathani.

### Literary Style

His poetry is based on issues of daily life such as social issues, nature, religion and fighting oppression.

### Translation

In the year 2020, translations of "Haldhar Nag Ka kavya- Sansar" into Hindi from Sambalpuri by renowned Hindi writer and translator Dinesh Kumar Mali were released and intensively discussed by participants from India and abroad during a two-day international seminar organized by Professor Jaishankar Babu, Head of the Department of Hindi, Pondicherry University under the guidance of its Vice-Chancellor Professor Gurmeet Singh.
In 2021, under the joint editorship of Professor Jaishankar Babu and translator Dinesh Kumar Mali, the book "'Haldhar ke Lok-sahitya par vimarsh'" and the book "Ramayan prasangon par Haldhar ke Kavya aur yugin Vimarsh " were translated by Dinesh Kumar Mali based on Ramayana contexts and published by Pandulipi Prakashan from New Delhi.
In November of 2022, after becoming popular in the Hindi Belt, the books were honoured by Haldhar Nag with Dr Ram Manohar Tripathi Lok Seva Samman on the Silver Jubilee eve of Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Smruti Sanrakshan Abhiyan under the leadership of Gaurav Awasthi in the auditorium of Firoz Gandhi College, Rae Bareli.

## Dressing

Haldhar Nag is usually barefoot and does not wear any shoes. Because he often wore a white vest and dhoti to attend events, was called "The Vest Poet". He has said before that wearing these clothes made him feel "good and open".

## Social media

Advertising filmmaker and documentary director Bharatbala aimed to produce 1,000 short films under the banner Virtual Bharat , in which unpublished stories by Nag would be narrated by lyricist and film director Sampooran Singh Kalra, also known as Gulzar.
His narration in this short film begins with "I am writing a letter to you, Haldhar. Son of the soil of Sambalpur, this Adivasi poet. His language is Sambalpuri."
As part of the series, Gulzar narrated a brief summary of Nag in the approximately 8-minute long story Virtual Bharat, which is a collection of short stories about India. Following the release of the film, Gulzar also sent Nag ₹50,000 as a token of appreciation.

## Research centre

In April 2016, the government of Odisha announced that a Sambalpuri language and literature research centre at Ghens village in Bargarh district will be established soon under his name.

### Academic citation

Sambalpur University is in the process of creation a compilation of his writings, which will be published under the name Haldhar Granthabali-2 and is planned to become a part of its syllabus.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has included a review of the literary creations of Nag. According to sources, students pursuing a Master of Arts (MA) in Folklore and Culture Studies will study folk literature by Nag in a course component titled, ‘Folklore: Canon, Multimediality, Interdisciplinarity, and Social Epistemology’ in their second year. The course book has described Nag as the true representative of orality in the present times. His creations have been reviewed in the category, ‘Case study of orality from East India’.
Nandini Sahu, who has designed the MA course for IGNOU, has quoted the challenges folklorists and folklore researches face with regards to archiving, documentation, and dissemination of the folk material as a motivation. The programme also includes a chapter by Dinesh K Mali.