Kalindi Charan Panigrahi

Who was Kalindi Charan Panigrahi?

Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, was a noted Oriya poet, novelist, story writer, dramatist, and essayist. He was one of the members of the Oriya literary group Sabuja Goshthi. Influenced by the romantic thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore, during the thirties when the progressive Marxist movements was in full flow in Oriya Literature, Kalindi Charana Panigrahi, the older brother of Bhagabati Charana Panigrahi,the founder of Marxist trend in Odisha, formed a group in 1920 called “Sabuja Samiti”, along with two of his writer friends Annada Shankar Ray and Baikuntha Patnaik. Perhaps it was the very short existed period in Oriya Literature, and later submerged with either Gandhian thoughts or Marxian thoughts. Later Kalindi Charana Panigrahi wrote his famous novel Matira Manisha, being influenced by Gandhism. He was for a period, the editor of English Journals, Bhanja Pradipa and Mayurbhanja Chronicle.

His eldest daughter Nandini Satpathy was born in 1931, who later went on to become the Chief Minister of Odisha.

His younger brother Bhagabati Charana Panigrahi was the founder of Communist Party in Odisha. Bhagabati's great contribution for the Independence of India is underplayed in the history, because he was illegally imprisoned, and slow-poisoned by the British. His great grandson Suparno Satpathy is a noted writer, awarded social activist, and a young political leader.