Fakir Mohan Senapati

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Main article: Oriya Literature

Fakir Mohan Senapati
Fakir Mohan Senapati
Born	14 January 1843(1843-01-14) Balasore , British India
Died	14 June 1918 (aged 75)
Occupation	Novelist ,Short Story Writer, poet, , philosopher, Social Activist
Nationality	British Indian
Writing period	Nineteenth Century

Fakir Mohan Senapati (Oriya: ଫକିର ମୋହନ ସେନାପତି) (14 January 1843 - 14 June 1918) was an Indian writer in the Oriya language, and is called the "Father of Modern Oriya Literature ".^[1]^[2]^[3] He is the prime figure of modern Oriya Fiction Prose is the product of that generation. He is considered the Vyasakabi or founder poet of Oriya language. Fakirmohan was born and brought up in the coastal town of Balasore. He grew up to be an administrator in ex-feudatory states. Enraged by the attempts of the Bengalis to marginalize even replace the Oriya language by Bengali, he took to creative writing rather late. Though he had translated from Sanskrit, wrote poetry, and attempted many forms of literature, he is now known primarily as the father of modern Oriya prose fiction. If either Fakirmohan or his progeny had preserved his short story, “Lachmania” which he had written in the late 1860s, and which was published in the journal Bodhadayini, edited by himself in Balasore, Fakirmohan would certainly been credited with having pioneered the genre in India. But as ill-luck would have it, except for a bare mention in his autobiography, the story cannot be traced, and thus his “Rebati” (1898) is widely recognized as the first Oriya short story. “Rebati” is the story of a young innocent girl whose desire for education is placed in the context of a conservative society in a backward Orissa village, which is hit by the killer epidemic cholera. His other stories are “Patent Medicine”., “Dak Munshi”,”Adharma Bitta” etc.Other than short stories ,Fakir Mohan Senapati is also known for his novel Chha Maana Atha Guntha.it is the first Indian novel to deal with the exploitations of landless peasants by the feudal Lord. It was written much before the October revolution of Russia or much before the emerging of Marxist ideas in India.