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Jagannath Prasad Das, affectionately known to his friends and admirers as JP, was born in 1936, the year Odisha (then Orissa) became a separate province. It was the first province to be formed on the basis of language in British India. When JP was a schoolboy, India won independence from colonial rule.  These two formative historic events exercised a significant influence in the shaping of JP’s sensibility and outlook. A sensibility marked by a deep affinity for Odia literature, both ancient and modern, seamlessly blended with a profound concern with a nation in the making, which was striving to leave a mark on the world. In almost all his essays, while making a point, JP would invoke examples by moving effortlessly from the local to the national and the global.  His intense love for Odia literature and culture was not tainted by even the faintest trace of parochialism.

J.P. Das. Photo: By arrangement.

He received his early education in village Banapur, where his father Sridhar Das (1901–1988) taught at a school. A man of letters, Sridhar Das was a writer of children’s books, translator, lexicographer, and grammarian. Literary historian and scholar Binayak Mishra (1894–1971), was his friend and neighbour in Banapur. From early childhood, JP was thus exposed to a world of books and authors, and as a young boy he attempted to contact eminent writers and stay in touch with them. Once he showed me with a measure of pride the signature of renowned essayist Shashibhusan Ray (1876–1953), whom JP had met as a young student in Cuttack. After he himself became an established author, JP ceaselessly encouraged and mentored generations of young authors. For several years, under the auspices of The Poetry Society (India), he led workshops where young students were taught the art of writing poetry. Many of them went on to become well-known poets. 

Moreover, throughout his writing career, he translated into English the works of several young poets from Odisha and helped them gain wider visibility. He took special care to promote poetry written by women and Dalit authors and brought out several collections of their poems in translation. 

As a writer, JP displayed astonishing versatility; nearly all the fields of literature, from the historical novel to nonsense verse, absurd plays to art appreciation, and modern poetry to literary criticism, were enriched by JP’s brilliant inventiveness and playful imagination. His poetry earned him wide acclaim, among them the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990 (which he did not accept) and the........

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