Picturization of Social Realities of Contemporary India by Jayanta Mahapatra through his Poetic Imageries

Jayanta Mahapatra is one of the greatest poets in India who demarcated poetry as the expression of real-life experiences and his contributions to Modern Indian Literature are innumerable. His poetry has a therapeutic touch that cures the emotional wounds of people who go through the magical lines of dazzling imageries. Mahapatra has written most of his poems based on the geographical landscape of his homeland Odisha. Odisha is not only a place for Mahapatra’s childhood memories but the land that brings out all the emotions and feelings of his inner soul. His poems are the depictions of contemporary social realities which pass various moods to the readers by maintaining a balance between society and life. He handles the issues of cultural elements in the contemporary India, particularly the culture of Odisha and its traditions. This paper explores the artistic works of imageries in the poems of Jayanta Mahapatra that depict the socio-cultural sensibilities and ethos of contemporary India and its mythical landscape. It also sheds light to the lyrical approaches that the poet has used to deal with the realistic social issues such as poverty, barbarian rituals and mythical concepts and also the issues related to complex human affairs. He represents himself as an ordinary man of Odisha who wants to express various emotions and his throbbing childhood memories. This article tries to bring out the human sensation that has been delineated in the poems of Jayanta Mahapatra using his pleasing poetic artistry.