ABSTRACT
Nilakantha Das here proposes a radically new framework for writing literary history and chooses to interpret “evolution” not in terms of a developmental scheme, in which the present is always superior to the past, but as the complex and non-linear unfolding of a historical process. In doing so, Nilakantha Das displays a bold originality of approach. Under the impact of colonial modernity and the pressure of identity crisis faced by Odias, an urgent need was felt in late nineteenth-century Odisha to redefine literature as a category. An early attempt in this direction was made by Biswanath Kar, who in one of his editorials in Utkal Sahitya (included in this volume) enlarged the category to bring in science, philosophy, education, industry, agriculture, commerce, religion, and ethics within its scope. Nilakantha goes a step further in emphasizing the centrality of language to culture and recognizing literature as embodying its fullest expression. He departs from the dominant tradition of writing a literary history of Odisha which focused on authors, texts and chronology by placing literature in a broader civilizational framework. As part of this approach, he traces the roots of Odia literature to its tribal past and shows how it is integrally linked with orality. He attempted to develop a theory of literature by elaborating three analytical tools which can be employed to account for literary change. These include chahani [ways of seeing], chalani [modes of life] and chamak [elements of novelty]. In applying these tools to developing a historical approach to literature, Nilakantha pays particular attention to the role of conflicts and disruptions in shaping the course of literary change.
