Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.28
In the popular imagination of Odia people Cuttack holds a unique place. For some, it is a millennial city with its rich historical and cultural heritage, while for others, it is a city of modernity with its modern institutions shaping the history of Odisha. Between these two contrasting images of the city lies the poetic city—a city experienced, remembered and imagined by the poets. In the poetic imagination of the city, the quotidian scenes of urban existence turn into images of time, belonging, alienation, loss and desire. From the perspective of a critical insider, Jayanta Mahapatra’s poems both in English and Odia language explore his relationship with Cuttack, often revealing his personal longing for childhood cityscape which has undergone a massive urban transformation. Through an analysis of two Odia poems by Jayanta Mahapatra, this paper examines the poet’s response to the urban transformation of Cuttack. Hence, the study draws on the theories of modernity, modernism and antiurbanism to understand how Mahapatra’s poems construct an antiurban imaginary of Cuttack. In this investigation, this study argues that Cuttack is not merely a material space but also an imagined one which is shaped by personal experience, memory and poetic representation. By using close textual analysis method, the paper posits that Mahapatra’s critique of urban modernity emerges from a nostalgic longing for the lost city space where nostalgia itself becomes a mode of resistance through which he registers his protest against urban transformation. In doing so, Mahapatra not only questions the modern urban development but also urges to reevaluate human response to such urban crisis.
Nayak, Haramohan, and Atanu Bhattacharya. “Modernity and Antiurbanism: Imagining Cuttack in Jayanta Mahapatra’s Select Odia Poems.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 503-24, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.28.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
← Back to Vol. 17, Issue 5 · Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · the-criterion.com