padmamali: first odia novel

Published in 1888, Padmamali, by Umesh Chandra Sarkar, is said to be the first novel in Oriya. The sense in which Padmamali can be claimed to be a novel is complicated, however, by the fact that it intertwines strands from traditional genres with the novel form, mixing the old with the new, marking both continuity and innovation. It is perhaps precisely this generic hybridity which has led to Padmamali being considered the first novel, since while it is both a romance and a chronicle it is also more than either of these.

Demonstrating an awareness of the process of telling a story and of its effect on potential readers, the narrator conflates the elements of romance (＂the evil intention of the wicked man＂) and of chronicle, presenting the story as having been dictated by historical events. Absolving the author of all responsibility, the narrator presents his story as pure historical truth, to which even the most marginal alterations are not permitted. In affirming this, however the narrator also insists on the nature of the text as ’relation’, ’narration’ and ’story’-an insistence that contradicts the absolute faithfulness to history and echoes the Preface of 1888, which presents Padmamali as a product both of the writer’s imagination and of historical fact. As such it justifies the claim made for it as the first novel in Oriya.