Social Introspection of Myth, Reality and Self in Jayanta Mahapatra's Epic Poem "Relationship"

Abstract

This paper explores the subjective memory of Jayant Mahapatra through his epic poem Relationship, in which his consciousness is subsumed into the question of how to express his love and gratitude for the motherland, the place of his nativity. His originality and authenticity of a major poetic voice have been precisely for the reason that despite the English language being his early creative writing medium, his sensibilities as a poet operate within the boundaries of his typically Oriya culture. He establishes a relationship between his lonely and rootless life and 'this temple in ruins, in a blaze of sun'. The poet seems engulfed in the tedious dualism and oscillating for rootedness between the faith of Christian and Hindu religions. He questions the validity of his relationship with his friends also who are in a state of pitiful or contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance completing the journey of life, 'unsullied by guilt, and untouched by belief'. Mahapatra's response to the landscape, his sense of myth and history, tradition, and the culture of his birthplace gives him distinct identification. The history of Orissa is his subject and the culture of it is the space of his poetry. He considered poetry as a "craft" and used symbols, images, myths, metaphors, and similes to bring out rich and effective poetic vision. Jayant Mahapatra's Relationship presents the varied facets of human life poetically. However, this paper argues through the lens of social introspection of myth, reality, and self in Jayant Mahapartra's epic poem Relationship.