Odisha Sahitya Akademi awardee Chintamani Jena no more

Keonjhar: Noted litterateur, playwright and Odisha Sahitya Akademi awardee, Chintamani Jena passed away at his ancestral house in Barpada in Keonjhar district today.

He was 82. As news of his death spread, a pall of gloom descended in the literary circle here and elsewhere across the state.

Jena was awarded by the Odisha Sahitya Akademi for his collection of one-act plays ‘Dharmnadhikari O Ananya Ekankika’ for the year 2012.

He was a story writer, novelist and playwright. Popular Odia film ‘Sindura Bindu’ by noted film director Sisir Misra was an adaptation of his novel ‘Sarpanch Pua’.

‘Sandhya Tara’, ‘Satabdira Artanada’, ‘Timira Tirthare Eka Rati’, ‘Kautilya’, ‘Anya Eka Bikalpa’ etc are other popular plays written by him.

Jena has scripted about 120 plays in Hindi, Bengali and Odia in his lifetime.