Jul 17, 2021
Sahitya Akademi Award winner Gopinath Mohanty is one of Odisha's
most prominent writers. This week, we present one of his most
famous short stories, The Somersault, in English. Jaga Palei
becomes the pride of Odisha by defeating Ramlawan Pande of Bihar in
the All-India Wrestling Competition, however success hasn't come
easy for him. Will he continue to be the pride of the people of
Odisha or will the next fight bright him back to where it all
started. Somersault, in short is chronology of outcomes in a
person’s life, which also includes how he is perceived at different
junctures!
Gopinath Mohanty (1914–1991), winner of the
Jnanpith award, and the first winner of the
National Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 - for his
novel, Amrutara Santana - was a prolific Odia writer of the mid-twentieth century. Satya
Prakash Mohanty, Professor of English, Cornell University says: "In my opinion,
Gopinath Mohanty is the most important Indian novelist in the
second half of the twentieth century."