Around 73 Odia cinema magazines’ covers along with their details are exhibited at the Odisha State Archives
Panchasakha has penned books like Laxmi Purana where Maa Laxmi eats from the house of a low-caste woman, which itself speaks of a great social change
- Basanta Kumar Mallick| Professor
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha State Archives in association with Odia Film Journalists’ Forum and Odia Language Literature & Culture department organised ‘Chhaya Lipi’ exhibition at the State Archives here, Tuesday as part of the State Archives week celebrations.
Around 73 Odia cinema magazines’ covers along with their details have been exhibited here. The inaugural day seminar was based on ‘Panchasakha and social protest’. The key speaker of the day was Professor Basanta Kumar Mallick. In his address, Mallick described the 16th century protest by Panchasakha against the age-old social evils. It may be mentioned here that Panchasakha consisted of poets Balram Das, Atibadi Jagannath Das, Achuytananda Das, Yashovanta Das and Sishu Ananta Das. He also addressed how Panchasakha has penned books like Laxmi Purana where Maa Laxmi eats from the house of a low-caste woman, “which itself speaks of a great social change.” He also said how their write-ups helped Odisha to gain the status of a separate state and Odia as an independent language.
Many Odia film lovers lauded the efforts of Odia Film Journalists’ Forum which has showcased the finest of the cover pages at the archives for public display.
Guest of Honour Manoranjan Panigrahi, Principal Secretary, Odia Language Literature & Culture department, also stressed on the need to strengthen the Archives which speaks highly of a community’s cultural treasure. He also added that Odia movies, music, literature, and other cultural aspects of the community have truly enriched the Archives and in future people will help to strengthen it further. Odia Language Literature and Culture department director Bijay Nayak was also present at the occasion. Superintendent of State Archives, Sk. Soleman Ali, proposed the vote of thanks and the programme was hosted by Mrutunjay Rath. The State Archives week will conclude February 24.