Fakir Mohan Senapati- Makers of Indian Literature

In the sixties of the last century, three budding intellectuals of Orissa met at Balasore and became life-long friends. And each of them ushered in fresh trends in Oriya literature. Of these, Radhanath Ray and Madhusudan Rao had had excellent English education and were well-placed in life. But the third member of the trio-Fakirmohan Senapati (1843 1918) had not even a good primary education, and life to him was a prolonged battle for existence.

But unfortunately there has not been an estimable biography in Oriya of the father of modern nationalism of the Oriyas and of modern Oriya literature. This monograph compiled by the late Dr. Mayadhar Mansinha is a pioneering effort to build up, as objectively as possible, the literary as well as the human image of Fakirmohan, out of materials supplied by himself in his overpowering autobiography in Oriya.

The story of Fakirmohan Senapati is indeed the story of the Renaissance of Oriya national life and of Oriya literature in the nineteenth century.

**Contents and Sample Pages**