ଲୟ ବିଲୟ

by Gopinath Mohanty

Tarun Roy, a clerk in a British trading company in pre-independence Calcutta, comes with his wife and daughter to Puri for a weekend holiday, hoping to escape briefly the tensions of lower middle class existence. He dutifully visits the Jagannath temple and the sea-shore, like any ordinary tourist, but finds his life transformed through a variety of mystical experiences, and returns to the city with a new understanding of life.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Gopinath Mohanty, winner of the Jnanpith award, and the first winner of the National Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 - for his novel, Amrutara Santana - was a prolific Odia writer of the mid-twentieth century.

Reviews

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful Odia novel, delicately woven with reflections on the materialistic lifestyle that defines our modern world. It narrates the journey of a man from the bustling city of Kolkata to the sacred land of Puri. When he beholds the Lord’s round, all embracing eyes Chakadola for the first time, he is overcome by an indescribable magnetic pull. The hunger of the body fades away, giving rise to a deeper spiritual longing and an abiding sense of inner peace. The novel gently reminds us that the call of Jagannath is timeless, capable of touching even the most modern, restless soul. I was especially moved by the author’s vivid and heartfelt portrayal of Puri and the Jagannatha Temple, which lingers in the reader’s heart long after the last page.