During the infancy of Odia language and literature, he wrote the invaluable Mahabharata, Bilanka Ramayana and Chandi Purana which laid down a solid foundation of Odia literature and helped form Odisha a separate State on linguistic line in the year 1939. Rightly, e has been christened ''Byasa''and ''Muni'' of Odisha; he was Sudra Muni Sarala Das.
The great poet is remembered on the Magha Saptami marking his death anniversary but the century-old birthplace and erstwhile workplace of poet Das at Kalinga village under Tirtol area in Jagatsinghpur district paints a picture of neglect.
The poet's erstwhile house lies in ruins; the memorial house built in the year 1963 at Kalinga village with a library undergoes mismanagement and is now on the verge of closure. Besides, no statue has been installed to mark the remembrance of Das either at his birthplace or graveyard at Tentulipada village.
The Kalinga village where the great poet was born in the 15th century is deprived of good roads and easy communication. The existing roads have been encroached upon for years.
In the year 1963, a library established in the name of Das at Kalinga village was damaged in the Super Cyclone of 1999. Since then, no attempt was made for its renovation. The JB Pattnaik-Sarala Das memorial hall at Tentulipada too is in a dilapidated condition.
Notably, in the year 1948 former Odisha chief minister Dr HK Mahatab had installed a memorial pillar in the name of the poet in front of Sarala temple after a row over the poet’s portrayal of the statue. Though the statues of Das have been built near Sarala temple in the premises of the Sarala Mohavidyalaya and at the Jagatsinghpur municipality office but no statue of the poet has been built yet at his birthplace, Samadhi Pitha, Sadhana Pitha and Munigosaion Pitha (where the late poet had performed his literary works) or even at any prominent places of Jagatsinghpur district headquarters town, informed scribe cum Odia scholar Pradipta Kishor Choudhury.
"We demand to declare Sarala Das birth and workplace Tentulipada and Kalinga village as a tourism spot, and their renovation, apart from naming the Cuttack- Paradip State highway after Sarala Das," urged secretary Adikabi Sarala Das Sanskrutika Parishad Chita Ranjan Parida.
"The Maa Sarala temple beautification works are underway by the State Government. At this juncture, we demand a similar financial package for the development of late poet Das's relics at his birth and workplaces in Tirtol.Moreover, we urge the Government to observe the death anniversary of Das at the State and district level," opined renowned poet Pitambar Tarai.