Raja Basudeva Sudhaladeva was a feudatory chief of Barmanda, a small princely state of Odisha. He lived in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His literary career spanned over roughly a decade and a half. He was one of the foremost architects of modern Odia literature. Alankara Bodhadaya was his magnum opus. In this work, he presented the intricate and abstract themes of poetics in simple and lucid style in the vernacular. But he was essentially a poet of nature. His Citrotpala, Janhamamu and "Basanta Barnana" bear stamp of this. Moreover, through his translated works like Muktikopanisad and Maniratnamala, he made sincere attempts to make the esoteric teachings accessible to the common Odia unschooled in Sanskrit.
Subrata Kumar Acharya teaches History in Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha. He was a Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; a Senior Fellow of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi; and an Honorary Fellow of Ancient Sciences and Archaeological Society of India, Mysore. He has worked extensively on Odishan inscriptions. His major works include: Numerals in Orissan Inscriptions (Shimla, 2002), Palaeography of Orissa (New Delhi, 2005), Copper Plate Inscriptions of Odisha (New Delhi, 2014) and Studies on Odishan Epigraphy (Delhi, 2015).
Raja Basudeva Sudhaladeva (1850-1903) was a feudatory chief of a small and insignificant state of Bamanda in the Sambalpur Division under the Central Provinces. He was a nationalist and a patriot. He lived at a time when the Odia speaking people were artificially vivisected and were forced to the neighbouring provinces by the colonial government. Everywhere they remained under cultural subordination. There was an apprehension of extinction of their language and identity. Like many other Odia intellectuals, the Raja endeavoured to awaken the Odia consciousness through his writings. In his writings he not only gave emphasis to the traditional values but also to the familiar images of the land, the people, the nature, the temples, the epics, the legends, the traditions, and so on. His patronage and hospitality to the learned men and litterateurs of his age was a subject of appreciation among the beneficiaries. He imbibed a true spirit of renaissance. The developmental works he had undertaken in his tiny state speaks volumes about his enterprising skill. Scholars, critics and historians did not give adequate attention to his achievements. It gives me great pleasure to place before the larger readership an opportunity to get an insight into the life and works of the Raja. I am fully aware of the limitations of this small monograph. Still if the readers are benefitted, I would feel my efforts rewarded.
I express my deep sense of gratitude to the authorities of the Sahitya Akademi for giving me this opportunity to write a monograph on the Raja. I am also thankful to Dr Fanindra Bhusan Nanda, Dr Gauranga Charan Dash, Dr Jnani Debasis Mishra, and Dr Priyadarsi Kar for their ungrudging help and cooperation during the progress of this work.
I am equally obliged to the authors whose writings have been freely referred to in this monograph.
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