Cuttack: Noted litterateur Binapani Mohanty was cremated with full state honours at Sati Chaura crematorium Monday.
Several dignitaries attended the cremation, including Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh, and Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Commissioner Ananya Das. Later, the writer was honoured with a ceremonial guard of honour.
Worth mentioning, the eminent writer had breathed her last at her residence in Cuttack Sunday night. She was 85.
Mohanty was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2020 for her contribution to Odia literature. She was also honoured with the prestigious ‘Atibadi Jagannath Das Puraskar’ in 2019, ‘Sarala Puraskar’ in 2010, ‘Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 1969, ‘Jhankar Puraskar’ in 1974 and several other awards in Odisha and other states.
Among her body of works, ‘Kasturi Mruga O Sabuja Aranya’, ‘Bastra Harana’, ‘Arohana’, ‘Interview’, ‘Sayanhara Swar’, ‘Kunti Kuntala’ and ‘Shakuntala’ were immensely popular among readers. At the beginning, she started her literary career writing poems but soon switched to short story writing which fetched her immense popularity.
Many short stories of the writer have been translated into different languages such as English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Urdu, Telegu and Russian. A film was made on her story ‘Andhakarara Chhai’ and has been highly appreciated by the audience.