View source for Basanta Kumari Patnaik

{{Infobox writer
| name             = Basanta Kumari Patnaik
| image            = 
| image_size       = 
| image_upright    =  
| caption          =  
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=y|1923|12|15}}
| birth_place      = [[Bhanjanagar]], [[Ganjam district]], [[Odisha]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=y|2013|3|29|1923|12|15}}
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet and essayist
| language         = [[Odia language|Odia]]
| residence        = 
| nationality      = [[India]]n
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| home_town        = 
| period           = 
| genre            = <!-- or: | genres = -->
| subject          = <!-- or: | subjects = -->
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = {{plainlist|
* ''Amada Bata''
* ''Chorabali''
* ''Alibha Chita''
}}
| spouse           = <!-- or: | spouses = -->
| children         = 
| relatives        = Rajkishore Patnaik (brother)<br/>Hemanta Kumari Nanda (sister)
| awards           = [[Atibadi Jagannath Das award]]
| signature        = Basanta Kumari Patnaik Signature.jpg
| years_active     = 
}}

'''Basanta Kumari Patnaik''' (15 December 1923 – 29 March 2013) was an [[Odia language|Odia]] language novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet and essayist; considered to be one of the pioneers in [[Odia literature]]. She became famous for her three novels: ''Amada Bata'' ({{abbr|lit.|literally}} The Untroddden Path), ''Chorabali'' and ''Alibha Chita'', among which ''Amada Bata'' has been adapted into an Odia film by [[Amada Bata|same name]].

==Biography==
Basanta Kumari was born on 15 December 1923 in [[Bhanjanagar]], a town in [[Ganjam district]] of state of [[Odisha]]. She spent most of her life in [[Cuttack]] city.<ref name="Mahapatra2013">{{cite journal|last=Mahapatra|first=Animesh|title=Chronicle of a Death Untold: Basanta Kumari Patnaik|journal=Indian Literature|date=May–June 2013|volume=57|issue=3|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|pages=12–16|jstor=43856319}}{{closed access}}</ref> She completed her [[Master of Arts|MA]] in economics from [[Ravenshaw College]], [[Cuttack]].<ref name="HenitiukKar2016">{{cite book|editor1-last=Henitiuk|editor1-first=Valerie|editor2-last=Kar|editor2-first=Supriya|title=Spark of Light: Short Stories by Women Writers of Odisha|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.doa.189|year=2016|publisher=Athabasca University Press|isbn=978-1-77199-167-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/dli.doa.189/page/n8 235]}}</ref>

Along with her brother, Rajkishore Patnaik,<ref name="Mishra1981">{{cite book|author=Ganeswar Mishra|title=Voices against the stone: a brief survey of Oriya fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GkuAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Agradut|page=32}}</ref> she founded a publishing company known as Shanti Nibas Bani Mandira, which was active from 1959 to 1962.<ref name="HenitiukKar2016"/>

She died on 29 March 2013.<ref name="Mahapatra2013"/>

==Works==
Basanta Kumari is considered to be one of the pioneers in Odia literature.<ref name="Singh2001">{{cite book|author=Nagendra Kr Singh|title=Encyclopaedia of women biography: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZMrAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=A.P.H. Pub. Corp.|isbn=978-81-7648-264-6|page=44}}</ref>

In 1950, Basanta Kumari published her first novel, ''Amada Bata'' ({{abbr|lit.|literally}} The Untroddden Path), which was well received by readers. It was followed by ''Chorabali'' (1973), ''Alibha Chita'' and other four novels. ''Sabhyatara Saja'' (1950; The Veneer of Civilization) and ''Patala Dheu'' (1952) and ''Jivanchinha'' (1959) are her short story collections. She published two poetry collections: ''Chintanala'' (1956) and ''Taranga''; and two plays: ''Jaura Bhatta'' (1952) and ''Mruga Trushna'' (1956). Her novel ''Amada Bata'', considered to be her [[masterpiece|magnum opus]], was adapted into an Odia film by the same name.<ref name="DattaLal2007">{{cite book|author1=Amaresh Datta|author2=Mohan Lal|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Vol 4. Navaratri-Sarvasena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOsbAAAAIAAJ|year=2007|edition=4th|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|location=New Delhi|page=3165|isbn=9780836422832}}</ref><ref name="Mohanty2004">{{cite book|last=Mohanty|first=Sachidanandan|title=Early Women's Writings in Orissa, 1898-1950: A Lost Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCGAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA221|year=2004|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0195-6|page=221}}</ref><ref name="Mishra1981"/> It tells a story of the middle-class family of Cuttack and its attempts to get their daughter married.<ref name="George1992">{{cite book|author=K. M. George|title=Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&pg=PA317|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-7201-324-0|page=317}}</ref> ''Amada Bata'' is noted for its realistic portrayal of women's characters.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Das|first=Kunja Behari|title=Oriya: Only Poetry's Dignified Position|journal=Indian Literature|date=October–December 1967|volume=10|issue=4|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|page=58|jstor=23329094}}{{closed access}}</ref>

Her writings reflects the domestic and social life of 20th-century Odisha.<ref name="HenitiukKar2016"/> She co-translated, with her sister Hemanta Kumari Nanda, a philosophical work of [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]].<ref name="Mahapatra2013"/>

==Recognition==
The Odia Sahitya Akademi awarded her [[Atibadi Jagannath Das award]].<ref name="Mahapatra2013"/> She is the first and only Odia woman writer to have received Atibadi Jagannath Das award.<ref name="HenitiukKar2016"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|nm3521000}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patnaik, Basanta Kumari}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Odisha]]
[[Category:Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]