Kuntala Kumari Sabat

Kuntala Kumari Sabat (1901-1938) was the first woman novelist in Odia. She was also a poet, essayist, a social reformer, a nationalist, orator, feminist and a doctor. In these three novels she deals with the position of women in a patriarchal society, their hopes and aspirations, the conflict between female desire and patriarchy and they contemporary problems of those times such as child marriage, widowhood, polygamy, dowry, bride-price and other social evils. She also explores the female identity in these novels.

The Dark Bride (1925) is a poignant story of a child-widow, her suffering and empowerment. The Philosopher’s Stone (1925) is a heart-rending tale of the evils of child marriage. Raghu, the Orphan (1928), her major novel, interweaves all these with the struggle freedom.