Relationship (Jayanta Mahapatra’s Relationship)

The book of poetry, slim in corpus, carries to Jayanta Mahapatra Sahitya Akademi award for 1981, A book which presents the poet As a dreamer and a visionary, A poet doing random reflections Floating and flowing away. Into the seas, surfing over the waves, Diving deep, gathering pearls Or swayed away, Water, water, everywhere water, The shores far off But nothing to be disheartened. An Odia he thinks of the history, art, culture and tradition Of Odisha, the land, Its cartography and topography, The coastal presence, Life and livelihood, The dark daughters and its inhabitants. The Kalinga war which Ashoka fought many years ago, The way he slew the sons of the soil ruthlessly, Letting out in bloodshed and agony By the river Daya Which is still a witness of that But the relics are not. Depleted in time, forgot we the scars and wounds Which the rock-edicts of Ashoka speaking In terms of penance and remorse, After making the waters of the river red, Soldiers butchered mercilessly And that defeat he has not forgotten still. Passing through the dark corridors of history, He thinks of the vicissitudes Of the Odia people The boon and bane of seashores, Fishermen daring into the unfathomable waters, Deep down into the seascape. The poet tells about the tourist centres, picnic spots, bird sanctuaries, The temples and their heritage Together with the legacy of the myth and its tradition, Folk tales, Folk dances and songs Pulsating the heart. A poet of Odisha, he links with the animate and inanimate objects Of the land of his dwelling, The place of his birth and nativity, Rearing and growing up, The paths he has roamed over. The first Indian poet to receive the award for any book of verse in English, Jayanta Mahapatra’s Relationship is But a mythical text, One of visionary glide and delving, Dreamy surfing. Imagistic and landscapic, mythical and visionary, he sings the songs of Odisha And keeps flowing along with the currents Just like the mariners and navigators To tell of the lakes and rivers, The sea coasts and shores. What he says, means to clear, it means it not, only broodings, Visionary broodings and glides take us away from, Time the boat taking us and showing the things, The chariot wheel of the Konark Sun-temple Telling of light falling and time denomination. Seeking blessings from the Shiva-lingam, he tells of stone art and architecture And the motifs flowering in stone, The light emitted by the lingam, The third eye lightening, The lingam-yoni myths unfolding. Relationship is in reality a story of his relationship with Odisha and the Odias, Odisha the land of his birth And the Odias the fellow brethren And all these binding him into an attachment Drawing closer and closer to.