BHUBANESWAR: Literary creations should be comprehensible to the readers though incomprehensible writings are often viewed as quality literature, opined well-known poet Ramakant Rath on Sunday.
Rath in his address at the valedictory ceremony of the first SOA Literary Festival at SOA University here said the idea that literary creation, especially poetry, has to be easy to comprehend for the readers and poets must keep this in their mind. “If this was not the case then it would weaken literature as a whole,” he said.
Rath advised writers and poets not to be gratified by their own creations but be mindful of the timeless writings of previous generations and honour them. Though it was late Kanhu Charan Mohanty who blazed a trail in Odia novel writing, it is said that a copy of his book is not available in the book stores today, he lamented.
While the lit fest was chaired by SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof RK Chauhan, the eminent poet and Jnanpith award winner Sitakanta Mahapatra and eminent Odia novelist Bibhuti Patnaik spoke at the event. Mahapatra dwelt on the long tradition of Odia poetry saying that it was reflected in Mahabharat written in Odia by Sarala Das, Ramayan authored by Balaram Das and Bhagabat by Jagannath Das.
The same was also enshrined in palm leaf manuscripts, known as ‘pothi’, he said, adding that the Odia literary and performing art traditions worked in close tandem with each other even today. The festival, organised by the university for the first time, was attended by around 100 litterateurs from across the country.