Literature of Eastern languages is very influential
Bhubaneswar, YNN (Rajat Bansal): Countless masterpieces have been created in Eastern languages like Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Santali, Bodo, Manipuri, Nepali and Maithili. The collective contribution of these languages in the fields of prose, poetry, drama and criticism has enriched the Indian literary heritage. Literature in Eastern languages is very influential. This was the opinion expressed by the speakers of the Eastern Regional Writers’ meet organized by the joint initiative of the Central Sahitya Akademi and the Odisha Sahitya Akademi.
The first session of the second day of the writers’ meet organized at the auditorium of Sanskruti Bhawan, was presided over by Sahitya Akademi’s General Council member and well-known playwright, Professor Bijay Kumar Satpathy. In this session, Professor Satyakam Barthakur (Asamese), Director of ILSR Kolkata, Dr. Swati Guha (Bengali) and eminent Odia scholar Dr. Asit Mohanty discussed contemporary trends in the literature of Eastern languages. Professor Satapathy discussed the theater of Eastern Regional languages.
The next session was chaired by Chaitanya Prasad Majhi, Convener of the Santali Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi. Short stories were read by Sorkhaibam Devendra Meetei (Manipuri), Chirshree Indrasingh (Odia) and Kalicharan Hembram (Santali). Sri Majhi presented a speech on the evolution and importance of short stories. The last session was chaired by eminent poet Dr. Ashutosh Parida. Poems were recited by Thaneswar Goyari (Bodo), Kshetrimayum Rajen Singh (Manipuri), Milan Thulung Rai (Nepali), Pabitra Mohan Dash (Odia) and Rakshak Nayak (Odia). Dr. Parida spoke about the social appeal of poetry. The poems symbolically reflected many current events and also emphasized the philosophy of Gandhi and Buddha.
The invited writers were felicitated by Dr Gourahari Das, Convenor of the Eastern Regional Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi and Dr. Chandrashekhar Hota, Secretary of Odisha Sahitya Akademi. The programme was coordinated by Kshetrabasi Naik, Officer-in-Charge of Sahitya Akademi, Kolkata Office. The programme was attended by many writers, researchers, literature lovers and students.
