Rajendra Kishore Panda

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rajendra Kishore Panda

• Rajendra Kishore Panda was born in an Odia family.

• His family was displaced in 1956–57 when his village was submerged under the Hirakud Dam Project.

• Panda wrote his first poem during his school years and published several poems in local journals as a student.

• He received early poetry awards, including the Nika Apa Medal, Prajatantra Poetry Award, and Agami Poetry Puraskar. He joined the Indian Administrative Service on 14 July 1967 and served until 30 June 2004.

• His last position in the IAS was Member, Board of Revenue, Orissa.

• He later released other collections, including Anavatar O Anya Anya (1976), Ghunakshara (1977), Satadru Anek (1977), and Nija Pain Nanabaya (1980).

  

• His 1981 collection Choukathhare Chirakala was followed by Shailakalpa (1982), for which he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985.

• Later works included Anya (1988), Bahubreehi (1991), Bodhinabha (1994), and Ishakhela (1999). In 1999, he published a meta-novel titled Chidabhas (Mindscape).

• Between 2003 and 2004, he published several works, including Drohavakya, Dujanari, Vairagi Bhramar, Satyottara, Bahwarambhe, and Collected Poems (Sada Prusthha).

• Panda edited two web anthologies, Indian English Poetry and Indian Poetry in English Translation, and a web journal titled The Cogitocrat.

• He participated in literary conferences such as Kavi Bharati, organised by Bharat Bhavan in 1987. Sambalpur University conferred on him an honorary D.Litt. degree in 2004 for his contribution to literature.

• His collected works were also published digitally in an e-book format. Panda’s writing explored themes of humanism, displacement, and experimentation within Odia modernist poetry.

• He remained active in literature after his retirement from the IAS in 2004.

• He was cremated in Odisha, and his death was widely reported in literary circles across India.