Voices from Odisha: A Symbolic Study of Surendra Mohanty’s The Changeover

Abstract

Images and Symbols are of great significance to any piece of literary work. Through its overtones it implies much more in addition to literal or primary meaning. In the process of describing the abstract through concrete subjects, it provides fresh insights and artistic expressions that supplant bland writing. This article attempts to examine the substantive and stylistic concerns connected to Symbolism as rendered by the Odia writer, Surendra Mohanty in his novel Kalantara (The Changeover, translated by Gurudev Meher). The article shall demonstrate the deeper meanings beneath its literary function. The events that occur in the novel are significant in a manner of foreshadowing the ethereal. Moreover, it prognosticates the sordid lives of the people residing in the Muktapur village with cosmic cataclysm in the milieu.