Manoj Das
Manoj Das (27 February 1934 – 27 April 2021) was an Indian author who wrote in Odia and English. In 2000, Manoj Das was awarded the Saraswati Samman. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth-highest Civilian Award in India, Padma Bhusan in 2020, the third highest Civilian Award in India for his contribution in the field of "Literature & Education." Kendra Sahitya Akademi has bestowed its highest award (also India's highest literary award) i.e Sahitya Akademi Award Fellowship. In 1971, his research in the archives of London and Edinburgh brought to light some of the little -known facts of India's freedom struggle in the first decade of the twentieth century led by Sri Aurobindo for which he received the first Sri Aurobindo Puraskar (Kolkata). His deeper quest led him to mysticism and he was an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry since 1963 where he taught English Literature and the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo at the Sri Aurobindo International University. Early life. Manoj Das was born in the small coastal village , Balasore of odisha. His father, Madhusudan Das, worked under British Government. He had started writing early. His first work a book of poetry  in Odia, "Satavdira Artanada" was published in 1949 when he was in high school. He launched a literary magazine, "Diganta" in 1950. He graduated high school in 1951. His first collection of short stories "Samudrara Kshyudha (Hunger of Sea)" was in that year. He was active in student politics while studying BA in Cuttack College. He was a youth leader with radical views in his college days, and spent a year in jail for his revolutionary activities. In 1959 he was a delegate to the Afro-Asian students' conference at Bandung, Indonesia. He did not complete his degree in Cuttack . He ultimately finished his graduation from Samanta Chandra Shekhar College, Puri in 1955. During his college years, he kept on writing and he published a novel "Jeebanara Swada", a collection of short stories "Vishakanyar Kahani" and a collection of poems "Padadhawani". After graduating with a degree in English literature, he got a post graduate degree in English literature from Ravenshaw college. After a short stint as a lecturer in Christ College (Cuttack), he joined Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Puducherry. Since 1963, he has been professor of English Literature at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Puducherry. He cited Fakir Mohan  Senapati, Vyasa, and Valmiki as early influences. As editor and columnist. He edited a cultural magazine, "The Heritage", published from Chennai in 1985-1989. The magazine is no longer in circulation. He wrote columns on quest for finding eternal truth in common lives in India’s national dailies like "The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, The Hindu" and "The Statesman". Creative writing and story-telling. Manoj Das is perhaps the foremost bilingual Odia writer and a master of dramatic expression both in his English and Odia short stories and novels. Das has been compared to Vishnu Sharma, in modern  Odia literature for his magnificent style and efficient use of words and for the fact that, he is one of the best story-tellers in India in modern times. Over the years many research scholars have done their doctoral thesis on the works of Manoj Das, P. Raja being the first scholar to do so. National and international positions. Among the other important positions that Das held were, Member, General Council, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi 1998–2002, and Author-consultant, Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore, 1983–85. He was the leader of the Indian delegation of writers to China (1999). Selected  works. Novels Short Story Collections Travelogue Poetry History & Culture Commentary. Graham Greene once said, "I have read the stories of Manoj Das with great pleasure. He will certainly take a place on my shelves besides the stories of Narayan. I imagine Odisha is far from Malgudi, but there is the same quality in his stories with perhaps an added mystery."