Mapping Indianness: Niranjan Mohanty’s Poetry

Abstract

Niranjan Mohanty is a distinct and unique voice in Indian English poetry. His poetry is a milestone in propagation and popularization of indigenous cultural ethos and methods. He fuses together religiosity, modernity, contemporaneity and imagination. He has unflinching faith and devotion in Almighty. In his Prayers to Lord Jagannatha and Krishna he reminds of medieval devotional poetry. He represents God in different and unconventional manner. To him God is friend, foe, companion, animal etc. He is not reluctant in critiquing and exhibiting devotion to God simultaneously he surrenders himself entirely. Mohanty’s poetry is full of mystic journey. His poetic themes include the poet’s love for his dead father, the poet’s grief over the de-generation that sprouts on the name of modernity and development and deep faith in rituals and religion. He glorifies the incarnation of divinity in the human form and records the pangs, suffering, longing, desire and uncertainties in love like mortal beings. The mythical references, images and symbols affirm poet’s craving for God, culture and tradition.