Manoj Das
Manoj Das (born 1934) is an award-winning Indian author who writes in Odia and English. Kendra Sahitya Akademi has bestowed its highest award (also India's highest literary award) i.e Sahitya Akademi Award Fellowship. Manoj Das was awarded Padma Shri in 2001 (also Padmashree) for his contribution in the field of Literature & Education, the fourth highest Civilian Award in India. In 2000 he was awarded with Saraswati Samman also.
In 1971 his research in the archives of London and Edinburgh brought to light some of the little-known facts of India's freedom struggle in the first decade of the twentieth century led by Sri Aurobindo for which he received the first Sri Aurobindo Puraskar (Kolkata).
His deeper quest led him to mysticism and he has been an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry since 1973 where he currently teaches English Literature and the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo at the Sri Aurobindo International University.
Early life
Manoj Das was born in the small coastal village of Shankari in the Balasore district of Odisha. Since 1963, he has been an ashramite at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry.
He cites Fakir Mohan Senapati, Vyasa, and Valmiki as early influences.
