Early life and education
Jayanta Mahapatra was born on 22 October 1928 into a prominent Odia Christian family. He attended Stewart School in Cuttack, Odisha. He completed his M. Sc. in Physics from Patna University, Bihar. He began his teaching career as a lecturer in physics in 1949 and taught at various government colleges in Odisha including Gangadhar Meher University, B.J.B College, Fakir Mohan University and Ravenshaw University. In 1986 he retired from his government job as Reader in Physics at Ravenshaw University (then Ravenshaw College).
Mahapatra began his writing career in the late sixties. His short stories and poems were initially rejected by several publishers, until his poems were published in international literary journals. He was invited to participate in the International Writing Program at Iowa, which brought him international exposure.
Writing
Mahapatra was part of a trio of poets who laid the foundations of Indian English Poetry, which included A. K. Ramanujan and R. Parthasarathy. He differed from the others in not being a product of Bombay school of poets. Over time, he managed to carve a quiet, tranquil poetic voice of his own, different from those of his contemporaries.
"Hunger"
This one of Mahapatra's best-known, most-quoted early poems, widely anthologised in Indian poetry collections. It explores the informal child sex trade. In the poet's own words, "In 'Hunger' I was writing from experience.” The poem is an expression of the poet's loneliness as a youth, as Mahapatra had a disturbed childhood.
Structure and criticism
The poem is notable for its direct approach to the taboo topic of a father prostituting his daughter. In the second line, the fisherman asks casually "will you have her?" A wide range of poetic devices are employed to bring out the entrapment of the mind in the flesh.
This poem was originally a part of the poet's collection, A Rain of Rites.
Other writings
Mahapatra authored 27 books of poems, of which seven are in Odia and the rest in English. His poetry volumes include Relationship, Bare Face, and Shadow Space. Besides poetry, he has experimented widely with myriad forms of prose. His published books of prose include Green Gardener, an anthology of short stories, and Door of Paper: Essay and Memoirs. Mahapatra was also a distinguished editor and was involved in the production of the literary magazine Chandrabhaga. His poems have appeared in prestigious poetry anthologies like The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India, published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada.
Mahapatra also translated from Odia into English, and some of his translations were published in the bi-monthly literary magazine Indian Literature. Some anthologies of his translations have also been published.
