BHUBANESWAR : VISITORS to Balijatra will get a scope to learn about the history and richness of classical Odia language and writers who contributed towards enriching it.
The Culture department has decided to dedicate the theme pavilion of the Cuttack’s historic maritime festival to classical Odia language this year.
A meeting in this regard was chaired by Culture minister Suryabanshi Suraj recently, and a committee has been formed by the department to decide on the design and other modalities of the theme pavilion.
The highlight will be the Odia authors and sons of the soil who worked on the language during the period beginning from 15th century poet and scholar Sarala Das till 1947, and their literary contributions.
They include the old (Balarama Das, Jagannath Das, Achyutananda Das, Sisu Ananta Das and Yasobanta Das) and new (Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Pandit Nilakantha Das, Acharya Harihar Das, Pandit Godabarisha Mishra and Pandit Krupasindhu Mishra) Panchasakhas, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Radhanath Ray and Gangadhar Meher who contributed to the classical status of the language.
There is likely to be another section on Sahitya Akademi and Jnanpith awardees in the language. Discussions on literature and poetry recital are also scheduled to be held during the festival.
Besides, Indonesia will participate in the Balijatra festival as a partner country and cultural troupes from several South Asian countries will be invited to participate and showcase their traditional performances.
The Culture department has also extended invitation to West Bengal, Bihar and Assam governments to attend the festival as partner states under the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ initiative of the government, wherein they can showcase their handloom, handicrafts and culture through stalls.
Last year, the theme pavilion had featured eight Southeast Asian countries and their ancient maritime links with Kalinga (modern day Odisha) and the latter’s cultural influence on the countries.