Kalindi Charan Panigrahi

Kalindi Charan Panigrahi Biography

Kalindi Charan Panigrahi was a noted Oriya writer who lived during the period 1901 to 1991. He was known as a playwright, novelist, poet and short story writer. Prominent lady politician of Odisha and former chief minister, Nandini Satpathy was his eldest daughter. Noted parliamentarian and politician Devendra Satpathy was his son-in-law. His younger brother Bhagabati Charana Panigrahi was the founder of Communist Party Wing in Odisha. Noted writer of present times, Suparno Satpathy belongs to his family. Apart from a noted writer, he has also served as an editor for many journals. He was one of the members of the Sabuja Gosthi, an Odiya literary group.

Kalindi Charan Panigrahi was born on July 02, 1901. Since early days, he was inspired a lot by the romantic thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore. As a noted writer, his works include poems like ‘Jadu Ghara’ and ‘Puri Mandira’, novels like ‘Matira Manisha’ and ‘Luhara Manisha’, short stories like’ Dvadashi’ and ‘Rashi Phala’, dramas like ‘Padmini’ and ‘Priyadarshi’, and essays like ‘Sahitya Samachara’ and ‘Sahityika’. He was honoured with fellowship of Sahitya Academy in 1971 and same year Indian government honoured him with Padmabhushan also, for his overall contributions to Oriya literature.

He was actively involved in writings when the progressive Marxist movements were quite visible in Oriya literature in the 1930s. It influenced Kalindi’s writings too, though short lived. Later he was influenced by Gandhian principles and they were deeply reflected in his celebrated novel, Matira Manisha. He also served as the editor of English magazines, Bhanja Pradipa and Mayurbhanja Chronicle during this period. In 1976, he was honoured with D. Litt degree from Sambalpur University. He was active in writing till he died in 1991.

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Updated: May 07, 2014