Narasingha Prasad Guru

Narasingha Prasad Guru is a writer who has spent half a century enriching and promoting Koshali, the language of western Odisha, also known as Sambalpuri, spoken by about 1.5 crore people. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Odisha ^[1].

Teacher and writer

Guru was born on 15 October 1934 ^[2]. He worked as a teacher and retired as headmaster of a government high school ^[2]. His writing on Koshali grammar, vocabulary and literature has given new life to a language long neglected ^[2].

A dictionary of Koshali

His output runs to 36 books, on subjects from language and literature to music, art and society, along with some 80 articles and roughly 500 Koshali song lyrics ^[2]. His major work is the Koshali-Odia Abhidhan, a 700-page dictionary of 17,000 words ^[2]. His Koshali songs have been broadcast for decades by All India Radio, Sambalpur, and became widely popular ^[2].

He has been honoured by more than 25 organisations, including with the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010 and a Sambalpur University award in 2007 ^[2]. In his late eighties, he was still writing for the recognition of Koshali ^[2].