A short note about the painting 'Pratikhyamaanaa' by Upendra Kisore Das

Ramakanta Samantaray and Sailen Routray

This is a tri-colour reproduction of the painting 'Pratikhyamaanaa' by Upendra Kisore Das (1901-1972). This water colour painting models itself after the artistic inspirations of Odishan temple architecture and the frescoes of Ajanta. 

This was part of a larger Odishan artistic milieu of the times which was influenced by the nationalistic revivalism of the Bengal School. It was printed in the year 1923 in the second issue of the Odia magazine 'Baruni'. 

This magazine was started by the artist himself. After publishing five issues, the magazine was folded up. With respect to designing, layout and content of magazines, it broke new ground in Odia publishing. Upendra Kisore himself did most of the design work and illustrations. He was a self-taught artist.

He belonged to the landed aristocracy of colonial Orissa. He was the biological son of Rai Bahadur Raj Kisore das who lent his name as the editor of 'Baruni'. Later he was adopted by Gopal Ballav Das, the younger brother of Odia nationalist leader Madhusudan Das. 

Upendra Kisore was the founder of 'Prachi Bidya Samiti', an organisation that made efforts in publishing ancient Odia texts. He was also a popular writer of his times and is now principally known as the author of the Odia novel 'Malajanha'. 

Later it was made into an eponymous Odia feature film directed by Nitai Palit and released in 1965. The film received a certificate of merit for the best Odia film in the National Film Awards for the same year.