Eminent litterateur, legendary poet Padma Shri Jayanta Mahapatra, who passed away on Sunday, was cremated with full state honours at the Khan Nagar burial ground here on Monday.
Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain and Cuttack Municipal Corporation Mayor Subhash Singh among others were present during the last rites of Mahapatra.
The poet died at the age of 95 while undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College Hospital here for pneumonia. He was previously suffering from old age-related complications.
Mahapatra was born on October 22, 1928. He is the first Indian poet to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for English poetry. He authored notable poems such as ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Hunger’, which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature.
Mahapatra was awarded Padma Shri in 2009. He penned 27 books of poems, of which seven are in Odia and the rest in English.