THE MAGICAL REALISM OF DEVDAS CHHOTRAY CUTTACK – WHERE THE GODS RESIDE By Lippi Parida
God created the poet. The poet created poetry. And the universe echoes with the voice of poetry. Odisha’s great cultural icon Devdas Chhotray has remained one of the most luminous presences in Odisha’s intellectual firmament for more than five decades.
The former Secretary Government of India and founding Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University in Cuttack, recipient of the 46th Sarala Puraskar 2025 for his short story collection Matinee Show, wishes to be defined not as a poet, not as a civil servant, but by the time and space of Cuttack. A resident of Cuttack is marked by three features, according to him.They have no ambition beyond the railway station, and so they are happy. They have a language of their own -a smattering of Urdu, Persian, Marathi and English inculcated through a thousand years of history. And they love the night -stay awake at night, sleep outside and gather near paan shops.
Born in Cuttack to the great Odia playwright Gopal Chhotray, the city that has long been the crucible of Odia art and thought, Devdas Chhotray was destined to breathe the air of creativity. His collaboration with the legendary Akshay Mohanty, the composer-singer who revolutionised Odia music, remains one of the most fruitful and creative partnerships in the state’s cultural history.
While the Bengali Devdas stood for heartbreak, the art of Devdas Chhotray rejects despair. His lines draw strength from textures of memory, charm of chance encounters and the subtle drama of human relationships. Under his pen, words turn lyrical. He is a poet of warmth and a chronicler of light. His themes are universal – love, longing, loss and renewal. Let us listen to him speak about his love of seeing life at close quarters and look through his eyes at the magical city of Cuttack!
Q: Shri Harekrushna Mahtab, the first Chief Minister of Odisha, compared Cuttack to Benaras. What do you have to say about the millennial city?
DC: I first saw Shri Mahtab as a junior school boy at Ravenshaw Collegiate. It was late afternoon. The sun was mild. He rushed into our school hall with his entourage. He had come back to Odisha after a long stint as the Governor of Bombay. He was then known by the sobriquet of Utkal Kesari. He had a fondness for literature and journalism. Even when he was out of power, he continued as a revered politician and a notable leader of Odisha.
Yes, he did once say in his newspaper column that Cuttack and Benaras are very old cities, and they should be governed by respecting their old practices.
There was a particular occasion when a particular SP of Cuttack declared that the city should be closed by 11 o’clock in the night. There was a furore in the bazaar, where the small shops that drag their business till very late hours were agitated. I myself was inconvenienced because my regular paan shop at Bakshi Bazaar had to stop too. We used to lounge around the shop sometimes till midnight. After Dr Mahtab’s allusion that Cuttack and Benaras are ancient cities and their practice of remaining lively late into the night should not be interfered with, this rule was reversed.
Q: Ernest Hemingway found creative sanctuary in his home in Cuba. Is it the same for you? Does Cuttack inspire your creativity?
DC: It is my father’s house. Not far from the sparkling river Kathjodi. It is a love nest, and my parents still live in there even after their death.
Q: Protima Bedi, the famous Odissi dancer, said Cuttack was a dirty city with big drains and fat lizards on the walls when she visited Cuttack in 1976 to learn Odissi. And yet the drains of Cuttack have inspired you to write poetry?
DC: Protima Bedi did have some dark moments at Cuttack. Even a fair-skinned beauty may lament the existence of a black mole at an odd place in her body. A true lover may find that very spot attractive to kiss.
Q: You were the first Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University — the great temple of learning in Odisha. Do you think Cuttack can become a great hub of learning?
DC: Cuttack was the only place of learning in modern Odisha. Even though many worthy and substantial citizens have moved to Bhubaneswar, the new capital, Cuttack still remains a vital place for art and craft for the state.
It has already become an educational hub with the creation of Ravenshaw University’s second campus, the National Law University and Ravi Shankar’s institution — the Sri Sri University. What they need now is collaboration with reputed foreign universities for high-end research. The big industrial houses may promote such efforts as a breakthrough for industrial and human benefit. It will require some audacity since the state is calm and quiet, and it is worth developing the educational hub at Cuttack and visibly achieving international connectivity. These universities, both old and new, may impart necessary knowledge and also create wealth for society, which is as important as the education itself.
Q: You are considered the alter ego of Akshay Mohanty, the most important cultural icon of post-independence Odisha. According to him -Humans do not have grief or sorrow. We just make it and sell it.” Do you think this is true?
DC: Akshay Mohanty was unique and irreversible. He said that primarily as a market strategy and to strengthen the maxim that the show must go on.
Q: You say in one of your poems, “I shall come back again to Cuttack, a lakh times.” Tell us what would bring you back to Cuttack?
DC: Poem apart, I am not willing in the first place to leave at all.
Q: Do the gods really reside in Cuttack?
DC: Yes, they do. Do you think magic realism only happens in Marquez’s Macondo? It also happens here.