Pratibha Ray

Pratibha Ray (born 21 January 1944) is an Indian academic and writer of Odia-language novels and stories. For her contribution to the Indian literature, Ray received the Jnanpith Award in 2011. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2022.

Life and career

She was born on 21 January 1944 in a Vaishnav Karan family at Alabol, a remote village in the Balikuda area of Jagatsinghpur district formerly part of Cuttack district of Odisha state.

She was the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991.

Her first novel Barsha Basanta Baishakha (1974) was a best seller.

Her search for a "social order based on equality, love, peace and integration", continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. When she wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations, some of her critics branded her as a communist, and some as feminist. But she says: "I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being, however, woman is equal to man."

She continued her writing career even after her marriage and raising a family of three children and husband Akshay Ray who is an engineer. Her post-doctoral research was on Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander, tribes of Odisha, India.

She started her professional career as a school teacher, and later she taught in various government colleges in Odisha for thirty years. She has guided doctoral research and has published many research articles. She took voluntary retirement as a Professor of Education from State Government Service and joined as Member, Public Service Commission of Odisha.

She has active interest in social reform and has fought against social injustice on many occasions. One important incident in her life is protesting against colour (caste/religion) discrimination by the high priests of Jagannath Temple at Puri. She is currently fighting a defamation case lodged by the priests against her for her newspaper article in which she wrote against the undesirable behaviour of the priests, titled "The Colour of Religion is Black" (Dharmara Ranga Kala). She works in the cyclone-affected areas after the Odisha's Super Cyclone of October 1999 and she is working for rehabilitation of the orphans and widows of Cyclone affected areas.

Travel

Ray has travelled extensively inside India to participate in various national literary and educational conferences. She visited five republics of the erstwhile USSR in 1986 in a cultural exchange programme sponsored by ISCUS. She represented India as an Indian writer in the India Fair in Australia, "India Today 94". sponsored by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, in 1994. She gave readings and talks on Indian literature and languages in several universities of Australia. She has also visited the US, UK and France on speaking tours, represented India as an Indian writer in the India Festival in Bangladesh in 1996, and attended the 7th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in the University of Tromsø, Norway, in June 1999 as an Indian delegate. She visited Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark on a speaking tour in 1999. Visited Zurich, Switzerland, in 2000 to present a paper in the Third European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education.

Memberships

She is a member of a number of learned societies. She is connected with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Central Board of Film Certification, Indian Red Cross Society, India International Centre, National Book Trust of India, Central Academy of Letters etc. She has travelled extensively in India and abroad to participate in various literary and educational conferences. She has won a number of national and state awards for her creative writing.

Selected works

Novels

Barsa Basanta Baishakha, 1974

Aranya, 1977

Nishiddha Prithivi, 1978

Parichaya, 1979

Aparichita, 1979. (A film was made & won Best Film-Story award from Odisha State Govt., Department of Culture)

Punyatoya the story of village girl Meghi, 1979. (Tr. To Hindi)

Meghamedura, 1980

Ashabari, 1980

Ayamarambha, 1981

Nilatrishna, 1981. (Tr. to Hindi)

Samudrara Swara, 1982. (Tr. to Hindi)

Shilapadma, 1983. (Odisha Sahitya Academy Award, 1985; Tr. to Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and English)

Yajnaseni, 1984 (Moorti Devi Award, 1991 and Sarala Award, 1990. Tr. to English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hungarian)

Dehatita, 1986

Uttaramarg, 1988. (Tr. to Hindi & Punjabi)

Adibhumi (Tr. to Hindi & English)

Mahamoha, 1998 (To be published in Hindi, Bengali & Malayalam)

Magnamati, 2004

Maharani Putra, 2008

Travelogue

Maitripadapara Shakha Prashakha (USSR), 1990

Dura Dwividha (UK, France), 1999

Aparadhira Sweda (Australia), 2000

Short Stories

Samanya Kathana – 1978

Gangashiuli – 1979

Asamapta – 1980

Aikatana – 1981

Anabana – 1983

Hatabaksa – 1983

Ghasa O Akasa

Chandrabhaga O Chandrakala – 1984

Shrestha Galpa – 1984

Abyakta (made into a Telefilm) – 1986

Itibut – 1987

Haripatra – 1989

Prthak Isvara – 1991

Bhagavanara Desa – 1991

Manushya Swara – 1992

Sva-nirvachita SreshthaGalpa – 1994

Sashthasati – 1996

Moksha (made into a Feature Film, that received the Best Regional Film award) – 1996

Ullaghna (Sahitya Akademi Award, 2000) – 1998

Nivedanam Idam – 2000

Gandhinka – 2002

Jhotipaka Kantha – 2006

Adaptations

Yajnaseni (play) – Suman Pokhrel has rendered Ray's novel Yajnaseni as a solo play in Nepali.

Awards and recognition

1985 – Odisha Sahitya Academi Award' for the novel Sheelapadma

1990 – 'Sarala Award' for the novel Yajnaseni

1991 – 'Moortidevi Award' for the Novel Yajnaseni

2000 – 'Sahitya Akademi Award' for the Short-Story Collection Ullaghna

2006 – Amrita Keerti Puraskar

2007 – 'Padma Shri Award' in Literature and Education by the Government of India.

2011 – 'Jnanpith Award'

2013 – Odisha Living Legend Award (Literature)

2022 - Padma Bhushan from Government of India for literature and education

2022 - Viswambhara Dr C Narayana Reddy National Literary Award