Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Sunday released the republished original edition of Odia primer ‘Barnabodha’ written by ‘Bhaktakabi’ Madhusudan Rao.
Odia Bhasa Pratisthana, an autonomous institution functioning under the Odia Language Literature and Culture (OLLC) department of the state government, has republished the ‘Barnabodha’, adding colours only, an official said.
Speaking at a function organised on the occasion of Rao’s birth anniversary, the chief minister said republishing the book is the greatest tribute to Rao.
He said that the state government has decided to print 10,000 copies of the book this year for distribution.
Rao had published the book in 1895 when the Odia community and the language were struggling for survival and identity.
In the primer, Rao has wonderfully demonstrated how to teach letters, characters, consonants, words, word formation and sentence formation to toddlers in a simple manner, Majhi said.
He said the book has become a part of every Odia family. ‘Barnabodha’ became so popular that eight editions of the book were published between 1895 and 1901.
The book is necessary to learn pure Odia. Even after 130 years, there is no alternative to the book, he said.
“Today, the concept of joyful teaching and learning is being implemented in our modern primary education system. It aims to make teaching easy and understandable for children through pictures, toys and examples,” the chief minister said.
In fact, Madhusudan Rao was the father of such education as he made teaching understandable through simple language and small verses, he added.
The CM, along with Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, MLA Babu Singh and two senior officials, also released the digital edition of ‘Barnabodha’ and three other books. Majhi also felicitated the family members of Rao.
Speaking to reporters, OLLC department joint secretary Deba Prasad Dash said that Odia Bhasa Pratisthana had published a new edition of the book a few years ago.
However, Rao’s family members and some other individuals had objected to the changes made in the book, and they had moved to the Orissa High Court, he said.
While hearing the petition, Dash said the high court had stayed on the distribution and publication of the new edition of ‘Odia Barnabodha’.
“Even today, a book titled ‘Chabila Madhu Barnabodha’ is being sold in the market. A lot of changes have been made in the book. So, we have republished the 1901 edition of ‘Barnabodha’ without changing anything. We have just added colour,” the joint secretary added.
“The 1901 edition can be considered as the original edition as this was the last edition published by Rao, who died in 1912. The previous seven editions from 1895 are not available,” he added.
PTI