(Foreword by Prof. G. Rangarao, written in 2003 introducing Swetansu Mohapatra to the readers’ community)
Shri G. Rangarao,
Reader & Head, Dept. of English,
Vikram Deb College, Jeypore, Orissa.
Foreword
I have great pleasure in introducing Ayushman Swetansu Mohapatra and his poetry to the reading public.
Shri Mohapatra, who has just got into Class X, has been, as is only to be expected of precocious children, penning poems for quite some years now. For after all, when all is said and done, the Wordsworthian observation on the ‘spontaneity’ aspect of ‘powerful feelings’ etc. can be called into question only by minds that choose to take their own time in seeing Eternity through the temporal process. The wonder in Swetansu’s case furthermore, is that he so felicitously pours out his rich experiences in an alien tongue that most ‘Educated’ Indians would rather shy away from and that, with a creativity, in form as in phrase, in tone as in temper, that is astounding save on the ‘recollected in tranquility’ theory. One would hasten to add that the ‘tranquility’ in question is, as a state, subsequent, and not antecedent, to the absorption into one’s being of all dynamics and to that extent, represents an ontologically superior state.
The poems, without exception, reveal the seminal thinker within, given to astonishingly vast generalisations that in their majestic sweep accommodate a great many particulars, sensitivity rare even among poets much older, besides a tendency, however faint, to coin words and phrases to meet the pressures of exteriorisation. Yet another remarkable feature of this budding genius is his world-view that is so detached and yet at the same time, fairly-enough involved, thus striking a mature balance requisite for Impersonality. The reflective side of the poet’s personality that mocks at time itself, the poet’s age bring only 13, is again yet another breath-taker.
Analysis of ingredients apart, the poet’s poems as a whole breathe an unmistakable freshness of approach in forms as well as content coupled with suitably veiled yet discernible messages pertinent to our none-too-happy times that in no way intrude upon one’s enjoyment of the poetic art per se.
G. Ranga Rao
Jeypore,
04 July, 2003
Prof. G. Ranga Rao retired from active teaching of English literature, and was honoured by the Divine Life Society with the name and title Swamy Paramapriyananda Sarasvati. He spent his time as an ascetic teaching Eastern Philosophy in the Ashrams of Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, and in the November 2011 left his mortal body for the heavenly abode.