BHUBANESWAR: THINKER, educationist, critic, pioneer of Oriya essay and one of the finest translators of the present generation - Prof Chittaranjan Das- passed away here today. He was 87.
Prof Das had taken ill on December 20 after he fell and broke his hip bone in his Bapuji Nagar residence here. He was undergoing treatment at the Kalinga Hospital. However, his condition deteriorated three days ago and he never recovered.
An original thinker and literary commentator of our time and author of 250 books in Oriya and English, Das was known as Socrates of Orissa.
Born in the undivided Cuttack district in 1923, Das studied at Ranihat Minor School and Ravenshaw Collegiate School before he took active part in student movement in Class X. He joined the Satyagraha Movement led by Manmohan Mishra and was arrested.
During his student days at Ravenshaw, he was involved with the Communist Party of India. Later in 1942, he joined Quit India Movement and was imprisoned.
Das went on to study at Shantiniketan in 1945 where he was exposed to a world of intellectuals, thinkers and writers and deeply inspired. Subsequently, he went to Europe and Asian countries where he studied psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology. An associate of philosopher Martin Buber and Naba Krushna Chaudhury, he was trained in clinical psychology at the Vienna School, established by Sigmund Freud, who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry.
Das returned to India but instead of taking up a regular job, he chose to open a residential school near Angul in 1954.
Also known for his travelogues and research works, Das translated into Oriya some of the voluminous works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He was conferred with Kendriya Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998 and went on to bag more accolades.
Governor MC Bhandare and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have deeply mourned Das.