Legendary Poets of Odisha

The culture of Odisha is characterized by its rich heritage of classical arts, temple architecture, traditional music, and devotion. Its tapestry of history is woven by a number of unsung cultural heroes resulting in a diverse and vibrant artistic tradition.

Santha Kabi Bhima Bhoi:-

Santha Kabi Bhima Bhoi is a unique genius and spiritual poet born in the 19th Century (1850). The legend about him is so complex and mysterious that it is still not possible to say anything about him with certainty. As a result, the poet’s date of birth, date of death, birthplace, field of worship, and life – everything is shrouded in mystery. Bhima Bhoi was employed as a cowherd in the house of Chaitanya Pradhan of Kakanpada. One day, while herding the cows, he fell into an abandoned well near Kandhara village. He refused to take help from anybody other than the one who had thrown him into the well. Eventually, Mahima Gosain appeared at the site and served a condition that he would pick him up if he agreed to propagate his thoughts. He also blessed him with the power to write poetry.

Bhima Bhoi was a great tribal saint poet, philosopher, social reformer, and a revolutionary par excellence, the founder of the modern cult named Satya Mahima Dharma. Towards the end of the 19th century, Saint Bhima Bhoi saved the downtrodden people from accepting Christianity. He gave a new dimension to the Hindu religion by creating the Satya Mahima Cult with substantive principles of Sanatan Dharma. It was based on the principles of non-attachment and renunciation. Under his able leadership, the cult spread like wildfire in the whole of Odisha and nearby states like Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and other parts of India.

He is a literary genius who has to his credit thousands of verses both in Odia (Kosali) and Bengali. Some of those are published in book form and some are still unpublished. His important works include Brahma Nirupana Gita, Stuti Chintamani, Astaka Bihari Gita, Chautisa Madhu Chakra, and Bhajanamala. “Granthavali” published in his name, which is rated as a marvelous work of literary excellence of international repute.

His famous verse “Praninka arata, dukha apramita dekhu dekhu keba sahu, mo jibana pachhe narke padithau, jagata udhhara heu” has found a place on the walls of the United Nations and the Indian Parliament.

Bhima Bhoi and Maa Annapurna are worshipped by their devotees as God and Goddess whose Paduka Temple is enshrined in the premises of Khaliapali Samadhi Pitha. He was a young yogi and his yoga was effective par excellence. Bhima Bhoi breathed his last in Khaliapali on Shiva Chaturdasi in 1895, where his Samadhi temple is located.

The Department of Posts is delighted to issue a miniature sheet on legendary poets of Odisha and salute the life and work of Bhima Bhoi and Gangadhar Meher.