Pandit Nilakantha Das (1884-1967) was one of the most illustrious sons of Odisha, who appeared both in its political and literary arena at the most crucial period of its history, when Odisha had no political identity in the map of India, and Odia as a language was about to be extinct. He worked relentlessly for Odisha’s recognition both politically and linguistically, and helped bring to fruition the dreams of Utkala Gaurab Madhusudan Das, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das and all other Odia loving people.
As a colleague of Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, among others, Nilakantha played a key role in the Indian Independence movement. He was a polymath who was an eminent teacher, exceptional leader, erudite scholar, renowned writer, great orator, and a powerful legislator. Pandit Nilakantha was renowned as the headmaster of Satyabadi Bana Bidyalaya, the brainchild of Utkalamani Gopabandhu. He was a prime architect in creating the independent Odisha Province in 1936, who worked untiringly as the right-hand man of Madhusudan Das to achieve this goal. Because of his legislative efforts in Delhi Central Assembly, Odisha became the first Province in India to be formed on a linguistic basis.
His in-depth research on the evolution of Odia language revealed a number of facts that helped establish Odia as the sixth Indian classical language. Odia is also the first language from the Indo-Aryan group of languages to get the classical tag.Because of his unfathomable knowledge in many important fields, Nilakantha Das is also revered as Utkala Guru.
Magazine Info
| Magazine name | Trikaladarsi Nilakantha/ତ୍ରୀକାଳଦର୍ଶୀ ନୀଳକଣ୍ଠ |
| Editor | Minakshi Das |
| No Of pages | 2007 |
| Publisher | Satyanarayan Book Store |
| Publication | 2007 |
| Printed At | Kalia Printers |
| Distributor | Satyanarayan Book Store |