BHUBANESWAR: Born to Late Naresh Chandra Patra and Pratima Patra, Debashis Patra has been the torchbearer of tribal literature in the state.
The talented writer was passionate about literature since his childhood. It prompted him to write poetry pieces since the time he was in Std VIII. His first poetry book was published when he was pursuing graduation. The book was titled ‘Khola Aakasha Tale’.
In 1999, he was appointed as an Odia Professor at Government Science College, Malkangiri. His interaction with the tribal communities led him to write more stories and poetry regarding them.
His poetry pieces titled ‘Nanduka Basiebe Nirudista’, ‘Jungle Jaluchi’ and ‘Adivasi’ were some of the popular ones where he has showcased the painful life of tribal communities after globalisation. ‘Lal Jhanda’ is a short story on how Naxals lure innocent tribal people into their trap. These people are killed by their recruiters later.
His most famous work is ‘Mudulipara Ra Loke’. The english version of the book is titled ‘Village of Mohua Flowers’. Another book on the Bonda community ‘Remo’ is written by Patra and published by Odisha Sahitya Akademi.
Interacting with Orissa Post, Patra said, “I am saddened about the lives that these innocent people have to lead. My only aim is to revive tribal art and culture. As I am more involved in tribal culture these days, I should do more research on the tribes of Odisha as winning their faith is a tough task.”
Patra’s work has won him many accolades. Several leading writers like Khageswar Mohapatra, Mahi Mohan Tripathy, Sweden’s PK Mahanandia and his wife Charllotte have appreciated his work. For ‘Muduliparara Loke’, he was feted with Bhubaneswar Book fair award by Guruji Chandrbhanu Satpathy and Barendra Dhal in 2012. His book was exhibited at World Book Fair 2013, where global writers have appreciated his work.
He has received D.LIIT from Utkal University for his thesis on ‘Dhakinachaliya Janajati Sanskruti O Sahitya’ in the year 2014. I was inspired to work on tribal people after reading Gopinath Mohanty’s novel ‘Parja’ and ‘Bondo Highlanders’ by Verrier Elwin.
Each tribe has its own community bond, management, tradition and judicial system. All these play a key role in maintaining law, youth dormitory, worship, economic policy, collection of food, hunting, shifting agriculture, and handicraft and so on for their lively subsistence.
Patra has showcased changing scenario of the tribes through his research books. Until now, Patra has written 30 books out of which 8 are based on tribes. UGC has approved him of a project on religious faith of tribal communities.