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Ramakanta Rath | |
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| Born | (1934-12-13)13 December 1934 |
| Died | 16 March 2025(2025-03-16) (aged 90) Bhubaneswar,Odisha, India |
| Occupation | Poet |
Ramakanta Rath (13 December 1934 – 16 March 2025) was an Indian poet who was regarded as one of the most renownedmodernist poets inOdia literature. Heavily influenced by the poets such asT. S. Eliot andEzra Pound, Rath experimented greatly with form and style. The quest for the mystical, the riddles of life and death, the inner solitude of individual selves, and subservience to material needs and carnal desires are among this philosopher-poet's favoritethemes. His poetry betrays a sense of pessimism along with counter-aesthetics, and he steadfastly refuses to put on the garb of a preacher of goodness and absolute beauty. His poetry is full of melancholy and laments the inevitability of death and the resultant feeling of futility. The poetic expressions found in his creations carry a distinct sign of symbolic annotations to spiritual andmetaphysical contents of life. Often transcending beyond ordinary human capabilities, the poet reaches the higher territories of sharp intellectualism. The contents have varied from a modernist interpretation of ancientSanskrit literature protagonistRadha in the poem "Sri Radha" to the ever-present and enthralling death-consciousness espoused in "Saptama Ritu" (The Seventh Season).
Rath was born inCuttack,Odisha,British India. He obtained his MA in English Literature fromRavenshaw College in Odisha. He joined theIndian Administrative Service in 1957, but continued his writing career. He retired as Chief Secretary Odisha after holding several important posts in the Central Government such as Secretary to the Government of India. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977,Saraswathi Samman in 1992, Bishuva Samman in 1990 and India's 3rd highest civilian honour, thePadma Bhushan in 2006.[1] He was the Vice President of the Sahitya Academy of India from 1993 to 1998 and the President of the Sahitya Akademi of India from 1998 to 2003,New Delhi.
In February 2009, he was awarded aSahitya Akademi Fellowship by theCentral Sahitya Akademi, the fifthOdia writer to be so honoured.
A number of his poems have been translated intoEnglish and otherIndian languages.
After prolonged illness, Rath died on 16 March 2025 at his residence in Bhubaneswar. He was 90.[2]
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