Fakir Mohan Senapati (13 January 1843 – 14 June 1918) was an orthodox writer and a dewan working under the then East India Company . He was the author of Revati, the first modern Urdu short story.
Fakir Mohan Senapati, Utkal Gurum Madhusudan Das, Utkalmani Pandit Gopbandhu Das, poet Radhanath Ray, Swabhava Kavi Gangadhar Meher fought to save the Odia language from the hands of foreigners. Byasakabi Fakir Mohan Senapati is known as the Emperor of Odia literature.
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Childhood
He was born on 13th January 1843 to Laxman Charan Senapati and Tulasi Devi Senapati of Mallikashpur village in undivided Balasore District. His father Laxman Charan Senapati died when he was one year and five months old. Only 14 months after that, his mother Tulasi Devi Senapati also died. He was brought up by his grandmother from childhood.
Fakirmohan’s real name was Brajmohan. As he was often ill in his childhood, his grandfather used to take him to fakirs. His grandmother changed his name to Fakir Mohan in honor of those Fakirs.
Fakir Mohan’s grandfather Purushottam Senapati was a very jealous person. He was not allowing Fakir Mohan to read the text. As Fakir Mohan was always sick in his childhood, he started learning fala at the age of 9. As he could not afford to pay for tuition, he worked and studied in the teacher’s house. He was never satisfied with learning. No matter how much he studied, he kept getting more and more knowledge. Besides acquiring knowledge in his mother tongue, he also learned Persian language. As a child, he also worked as a laborer at the port in Balasore, where he also learned Bengali and Sanskrit.
After graduating from high school, he continued his studies at the Barabati School in Balasore. There he studied history, geography and mathematics. He attracted the attention of teachers due to his expertise. However, due to financial difficulties, he had to give up his studies without paying the monthly expenses of the school of 25 paise, and he had to get a job as a teacher in that Barabati school with a salary of 2.50 rupees per month. There he started teaching history, geography and mathematics. He was able to deepen his knowledge about all these things. He worked as a clerk in the Balasore Collectorate for some time. Later, he taught at the Balasore Mission School until 1871.
Fakir Mohan learned English by his own efforts. He took the help of English dictionary while reading some English books like Arabian Nights, Robinson Crusoe, English Twenties. Although Fakirmohan started learning English at the age of 23, his natural ability has attracted the attention of foreigners as well.
Later Life
As soon as he became a teacher, he became proficient in languages such as Odiya, English, Sanskrit and Bengali and took part in various discussions and established his special place in the intellectual palace of Balasore.
Fakir Mohan, who started his teaching career from Barabati School, later became the headmaster of the Christian Mission School. At that time Odia students read all their texts in Bengali, so he composed textbooks on various subjects in Odia. As a proud Odian, he translated all the textbooks into Odia and raised the prestige of Odisha and the Odia language. He worked in the Christian Mission School till 1871.
In this thread he is introduced to the then collector of Balasore, John Beams. Beams Sahib who was a scholar himself, could recognize Fakirmohan’s inner scholarship. During this period Beams Sahib was composing a book on the comparative grammar of various Indian languages. He learned Odia from Fakir Mohan. Impressed by Fakirmohan’s scholarship, Beams Saheb was interested in accepting him as Dewan of Nilgiris. Fakir Mohan also accepted this proposal. His monthly salary was 1000 rupees. After that he held the charge of Dewan in different places of Odisha. He served in Nilgiris from 1871 to 1875, Dampada from 1876-77, Dhenkanal from 1877-83, Daspalla from 1884-86, Pallahada from 1886-87, Kenajhar from 1887-92 and again in Dampada from 1884-86.
He lived in Cuttack from 1896 to 1905 and participated in various literary institutions. He then settled in Balasore until his death.
Personal life
Fakir Mohan got married in 1856. His first wife’s name was Leela Devi. After the death of his first wife, he remarried in 1871. His first son died prematurely in 1877 at the age of six. In 1881, a second son was born to his second wife. His second wife also died of syphilis in 1894. In the later period, he also had a change of heart with his son. Thus his family life was quite difficult and accidental.
Novels
He created literature in various branches of literature such as translation literature (from Sanskrit), poetry, etc., though he is mainly known as the creator of Odiyan novel literature. His four novels written between 1897 and 1915 – ‘Chha’ Maana Aatha Guntha‘, ‘Mamun’, ‘Prayashchita’ and ‘Lachhama’ are clear mirrors of the social conditions of Odisha during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The story of the exploitation of the poor farmers by the landlords is described in the novel Chha’ Maana Aatha Guntha. He was also the author of the first autobiography of Odia. It was called ‘Atma Jivan Charit‘.
Short Stories
Fakir Mohan Senapati is the founder of Odia literature. Fakir Mohan wrote stories and novels during the last 21 years of his life. In 1860, Fakirmohan’s short story ‘Lachhamaniya‘ was published in Bodhini Magazine, edited by him and published in Balasore. Unfortunately, except for a brief description of it in his autobiography, there is no other information about the current of this story, otherwise he would have been considered as the author of this literary department in the whole of India. In 1898, his ‘Revati’ was published in Utkal Sahitya magazine and is recognized as the first Urdu story. In the story ‘Revati’, a little girl’s passion for reading and the traditional superstitious rural society that surrounds her are depicted. His studies were later blamed for the epidemic that spread through the village. Short Stories by Fakir Mohan:
- ରେବତୀ (୧୮୯୮)
- ବାଲେଶ୍ୱର ପଙ୍ଗାଲୁଣ (୧୯୦୭)
- ବାଲେଶ୍ୱର ରାହାଜାନୀ (୧୯୦୭)
- ମୌନାମୌନୀ (୧୯୦୭)
- ପୁନର୍ମୂଷିକଭବ (୧୯୦୯)
- ଡାକମୁନିସୀ (୧୯୧୨)
- କାଳିକାପ୍ରସାଦ ଗୋରାପ (୧୯୧୩)
- କମଳାପ୍ରସାଦ ଗୋରାପ (୧୯୧୩)[୪]
- ଧୂଳିଆ ବାବା (୧୯୧୩)
- ପେଟେଣ୍ଟ ମେଡିସିନ (୧୯୧୩)
- ସୁନାବୋହୂ (୧୯୧୩)
- ବିରେଇ ବିଶାଳ (୧୯୧୩)
- ରାଣ୍ଡିପୁଅ ଅନନ୍ତା (୧୯୧୩)
- ବଗଲାବଗୁଲୀ (୧୯୧୪)
- ସଭ୍ୟ ଜମିଦାର (୧୯୧୪)
- ଅଜାନାତି କଥା (୧୯୧୫)
- ମାଧମହାନ୍ତିଙ୍କ କନ୍ୟାସୁନା (୧୯୧୫)
- ଅଧର୍ମ ବିତ୍ତ (୧୯୧୫)
- ପାଠୋଈ ବୋହୂ (୧୯୧୫)
- ଗାରୁଡିମନ୍ତ୍ର (୧୯୧୬)
Poems
Fakir Mohan’s first collection of poems ‘Utkal Bhramana’ was published in 1892. Among his other poems are ‘Pushpamala’, ‘Upahar’, ‘Pooja Phul’, ‘Prathana’, ‘Abasar Basare’ and ‘Dhuli’. Apart from his own works, he also translated the Sanskrit ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ into Odia. Both of these are not literal translations but metaphors. While his first wife was in bed, he wanted to listen to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in Odia. However, he has been given the title of Byasakabi for his great efforts as his composition has enriched the dual orthodox literature. She was also named “Saraswati” by the then king of Bamanda.
Journals and Associations
In 1868, by his own efforts, he established a printing press named ‘Utkal Press’ in Balasore, which was the second printing press in Odisha. From here he edited and published various magazines and newspapers in Odia. Among them, “Bhodhadayini”, “Navasambad” and “Sambad Bahika” are the main ones. In his early days he was a publisher, writer, editor, printer, distributor and owner. Later he took Radhanath Ray and Madhusudan Rao as his associates and they wrote stories for Boddayini.
In 1867, he formed an association named “Utkal Bhasha Unnati Bidhani Sabha” for the improvement and propagation of the Odia language. He was the president of the annual meeting of ‘Utkal Sahitya Samaj’ in 1912 and 1917. In 1915, Fakir Mohan went on a visit to the Satyavadi school and was very happy to see the work of Utkalmani Gopbandhu Das.
Translated from Wikipedia
