Volume : VII, Issue : VIII, August - 2017

Quest for Roots through Myths: Ritual Uncovering Culture and Social Realism in Jayanta Mahapatra’s Poetry

Arindam Ghosh

Abstract :

 Myths embody universal knowledge of human civilization, unspecified by time and history; they are generally accepted as the outcome of the ancient seasonal rituals. Many modernist writers held the myths in great esteem and explored them as providing fruitful knowledge of some ancient culture and tradition. In Jayanta Mahapatra’s case, born and ought up in a Christian family, myths become his very medium for establishing connection with the cultural values of the land surrounding him. Sometimes myth works as ‘defense mechanism’ for him providing relief and consolation from the pervasive inner world of loneliness and isolation. Amidst its difficulty, obscurity and allusiveness myth operates at different levels in his poetry: primarily, myth articulates his internal cravings for identity; then myth confirms his rootedness to the Orissan tradition; through myths he travels through time past, present and future; rites and rituals objectify his vision of a surreal and metaphysical world; aboveall myths are deeply concerned with contemporary social reality. His mythic world ranges from allusion to Virgil to Lord Rama’s illusion of golden deer; from the eternal conflict of body and spirit (integrated with this is the myth of Kali and tantric rituals) to Hindu religious cults associated with Lord Jagannath; from the recurring ‘phallus’ to the revelation of child Krishna. However, the domineering presence in his mythic world is that of the almost ruined temple of Konarka and the mythic images depicted on its wall. Mahapatra’s poetry explores the multiple strands of a local culture but the mythic associations give his poetry a universal dimenasion. Although on many occasions the poet develops a personal kind of myth, overall they become his vehicle for interpreting and imposing meaning over the existing world order.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Arindam Ghosh, Quest for Roots through Myths: Ritual Uncovering Culture and Social Realism in Jayanta Mahapatra¥s Poetry, INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH : Volume‾7 | Issue‾8 | August‾2017


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