Phakirmohan’s Short Stories: A Study in the context of renaissance

Abstract

Phakirmohan was one of the pioneer authors of early Odia literature. He established the first printing press in Odisha. Though he started writing at a later age, his novels are masterpieces. His story ‘Rebati’ is the first written short story in Odia literature. He has written only twenty stories. His stories are nothing other than the socio-cultural picture of that time. When Phakirmohan started writing stories about the period of renaissance in India and Odisha, his stories were important in this context. In his stories, he has vividly discussed the dowry, children’s education, the feudatory system, earning wealth by dishonesty, different socio-cultural beliefs of that period, the character, and behaviours of newly educated people, etc., and takes the role of the social reformer. In this paper, I attempted to explore his role as a social reformer throughout the renaissance period and how he successfully depicted that in his works.