Pratibha Ray
| Pratibha Ray | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native name | ପ୍ରତିଭା ରାୟ |
| Born |
21 January 1943 Alabol, Balikuda, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha |
| Language | Odia |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Ethnicity | Odia |
| Education | M.A. (Education), PhD (Educational Psychology) |
| Alma mater | Ravenshaw College |
| Notable works | Yajnaseni, Sheelapadma |
| Notable awards |
Jnanpith Award Moortidevi Award |
| Website | |
| pratibharay |
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Pratibha Ray(Odia: )is an Indian academic and writer. She was born on 21 January 1943, at Alabol, a remote village in the Balikuda area of Jagatsinghpur district formerly part of Cuttack district of Odisha state. She was the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991.
She is an eminent fiction-writer in contemporary India. She writes novels and short stories in her mother tongue Odia. Her first novel Barsha Basanta Baishakha (1974) proved itself as a best seller for its readability among female readers throughout Odisha. She attributed the boldness, the revolt and humanism in her literature, to the impact of Vaishnavism, her family religion, which preaches no caste, no class, and also due to the influence of her Gandhian teacher-father, Parashuram Das.
Her search for a "social order based on equality, love, peace and integration", continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. When she wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations, some of her critics branded her as a communist, and some as feminist. But she says "I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being however, woman is equal to man".
She continued her writing career even after her marriage and raising a family of three children, for which she credits her parents and her husband. She completed her Masters in Education, and PhD in Educational Psychology while raising her children. Her post-doctoral research was on 'Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander', one of the most primitive tribes of Odisha, India.
She started her professional career as a school teacher, and later she taught in various Government Colleges in Odisha for thirty years. She has guided doctoral research and has published many research articles. She took voluntary retirement as a Professor of Education from State Government Service and joined as Member, Public Service Commission of Odisha.
She has active interest in social reform and has fought against social injustice on many occasions. One important incident in her life is protesting against colour (Caste/ religion) discrimination by the high priests of Jagannath Temple at Puri. Now she is fighting a defamation case lodged by the priests against her for her newspaper article in which she wrote against the undesirable behaviour of the priests, titled "The Colour of Religion is Black" (Dharmara Ranga Kala). She works in the cyclone-affected areas after the Odisha's Super Cyclone of October,1999 and she is working for rehabilitation of the orphans and widows of Cyclone affected areas.
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