International Conference on “Pravasi Odia Sahitya” inaugurated at CUO

The three-day International Conference on “Pravasi Odia Literature” was inaugurated today on 23rd March 2023 at the Sunabeda campus of the Central University of Odisha organized by the Department of Odia Language and Literature.

 It will be held from today till March 25, 2023.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Chakradhar Tripathi formally inaugurated the conference at the University and delivered the inaugural address. In his speech, he spoke about the importance of the Odia language, the importance of Odias, the brilliance of Odia culture, and the fragrance of Odisha’s soil.  He said, ‘ the bigger a man dreams, the bigger he has to organize to make the dream come true.’ Therefore, we have to dream big for the progress of Odisha, Odia literature and Odia culture and we have to work so hard.”

The Department of Odia Language and Literature of the University is the centre of Odisha. Therefore, he hoped that the Odia Department would give a new direction to Odisha for the progress of Odisha.” In the end, he read out the message of Her Excellency The President of India, Draupadi Murmu,.  

Renowned Poet Harprasad Das was the keynote speaker of the inaugural function and delivered a comprehensive lecture on Pravasi Odia and Pravasi Odia Literature.

He said, “the unhappy unrest of the diasporas leads to creative literature being written. Sadly, there is nothing in Pravasi Odia literature”. He spoke of the unhappiness or unrest of the Pravasi. That is the sorrow of disbelief, the grief of iniquity, the sorrow of non-conventionality, the sorrow of non-conformity, the sorrow of alienation, the sorrow of incompatibility, the misery of incompatibility, the misery of non-communism, the misery of the dependence, and so on. He opined that the diasporas create creative creations from all these miseries.  

Padma Shri Damayanti Beshra, the guest of honor at the festival, stressed the field of comparative studies in diaspora Odia literature at the conference. Elaborating on Odia literature and tribal culture, he said that tribal culture and traditions are the same all over India. Prof. N. C. Panda, Dean, the School of Language of the University spoke on Pravasi literature and language as the guest of honour.