Usha Avilash, a 16"-17" century poetic composition, carries the signature of Sisha Shankar Das. This kavya is a 12 canto poem on the myth of Krishna Leela. The poem relates to the love story of Usha, the daughter of Banasura and Anirudha, the grandson of Krishna. Orissa State Museum has the proud position of a large number of palm leaf Usha Abhilash Manuscripts. Of these 14 manuscripts have been profusely illustrated in colour and in black and white painting. The present book has been edited from the original palm leaf manuscript with commentary of Kaviratna Mishra and the English rendering of the poems was a long felt desideratum. It is heartening that the Orissa State Museum has published this book in a record short time. I appreciate Prof. Sudarshana Acharya, Dr. Gouranga Charan Das and Dr. Bhagyalipi Malla who have taken immense pain to publish the book in such a beautiful manner. I hope it will be of great help to the scholars and researcher all over the world.
The State Museum of Orissa enjoys a unique place in the country as the storehouse of rare manuscripts, especially the palm leaf ones-the museum's most prized section. Attempts have been made to make available the value and relevance of these manuscripts to the discerning and discriminating public. One such programme is publishing a series of rare manuscripts with critical notes and commentary by experts. Usha Avilasa is one such publication.
Usha Avilasa was published long before, ie, 1929, edited by Artaballava Mohanty. The present edition, while drawing upon Mohanty's text as the primary source, has the distinction of addressing some discrepancies found in other editions. It also acknowledges Kabiratna Mishra as the first and only elucidator of the text of Usha Avilasa in prose. The present volume, besides elucidating the text, also offers a critique on the pictures on the palm leaf thereby fulfilling a holistic commentary on Usha Avilasa. This unique publication is an invaluable asset of the State Museum and effort has been made to represent it in a beautiful manner to the reader.
Though there was plan for such a publication, the idea of implementing it within such a short-time gave rise to some apprehensions. However, with he active support of Dr. C.B. Patel, Supdt, O.S.M, this onerous task has been accomplished within a short time. I am grateful to him for his cooperation.
I express our deep sense of gratitude to eminent professors and Critics, Dr. Sudarsana Acharya and Dr. Gouranga Charan Dash for editing the text sand professor Lingaraj Mishra, a Fulbright alumnus and Rabindranath Nayak an Eminent teacher of English for translating the commentary for the benefit of the English-speaking public.
I also gratefully acknowledge the support of my sectional staff Sri Panchanan Mishra and Sri Laxmidhara Sahoo while producing this text.
My thanks are due to M/s Print-Tech Offset Pvt. Lid, Ba, for printing the book in a record short time. Lastly I hope the book will be useful to the scholars, general reader, researchers and connoisseurs of Art.
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