The poet poverty-stricken Komna is proud of

The Pioneer,Dec 7,2007

Aswini Panigrahi Nuapada

Komna, a remote village in Nuapada district of western Orissa, is often in news for wrong reasons: child labour and deadly epidemics. But another fact for which this village should justifiably be proud of is that it has given the State a great Oriya poet, late Gadadhar Mishra Sharma.
Born on November 7, 1906 in a conservative Brahmin family, the 54-year-old had to receive his primary education in a Hindi medium school as his birthplace at that time was part of Madhya Pradesh. He learnt Oriya language on his own efforts and started writing his feelings and experiences in poetic form, following the path of Oriya poets Radhanath Roy and Gangadhar Meher. He wrote many poems in Oriya language like Bibidhabarna, Rasamanjula, Kusumamala and Sarada Gamana, which established his poetic credentials. He composed eleven volumes of Khanda Kabya, which are compilations of many well-known poems like Mahandi, Jautuka, Premayana, Sura Sauvadra, Ramakatharu and Ramarajya and many other lesser known ones.
Mishra Sharma's writings brought about a great revolutionary change in the minds of Oriyas residing in western Orissa, and gradually he became popular among the Oriyas residing in different parts of the State. His poem Sarada Gamana was included in a book called Kabita Prabsesha, which was included as a part of the curriculum by the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa, for matriculation students.
Mahanadi is one of the great literary contributions of Mishra Sharma. In this poem, he has described the beauty of nature, the birds and the animals visiting the bank of the Mahandi and other rivers. The skillful use of Sanskrit words, Oriya words and dialects of western Orissa in his writings need to be studied carefully by the linguists and researchers of Oriya language to fully understand the impact of his contribution to the Oriya literary traditions.