Haldhar Nag, born at non-descript Baidpali village but due to spreading of hazardous diarrhea they moved to his aunt’s (father’s sister) house at Ghess of Bargarh to settle permanently. His childhood was marred due to poverty. He could not attend school and studied up to third standard only. To earn a livelihood he worked in the village hotel, assisted cook at the mess of the high school hostel and used to sell peanut, chocolate and eateries to school kids in a wooden cabin. In the evening he used to associate himself with Dand drama. His inborn quality of extempore was noted by village youths and in around 1990 they published his work in a magazine “Art And Artist”. He was felicitated for his poem in the annual function of “Art And Artist”. There onwards no look back for Haldhar. He was around 40 then. He used to dictate and a village boy used to write his poems in paper. Haldhar wrote both epics and short poem. His epics are collected as “Haldhar Granthavali” and short poems as “Surut”. He mesmerizes his audience with his unique recitation style blended with acting. Adding to it, the powerful gifted poet can recite his entire epic without seeing any note. He attended meetings of small village to university. He visits out of Odisha many a times to recite poem. He has received more than 330 award and felicitations including Odisha Sahitya Academy in 2014 and many institutions have been named after him.
He is a household name in this part but his familiarity never changed his life style; still he clad a dhoti, genji and a kariaa (towel) and though he share dais with ministers, film stars and officers still maintained his long curly hair of a danduaa( dand actor).
At present Kosali language has movements in three parts; drama, poetry, and constitutional recognization. Haldhar represents the poetry movement. Poetry movement has evolved silently from the desk of the poets of this part without coming down to road with placards. He wrote, recited and inspired young poets. At a time a group of 36 poets were known as “Kabi Kutum”, epicentring Haldhar, used to travel the region and recite Kosali poems. And they popularized Kosali nooks and corner in the region. He is truly the “Lok Kavi”, the poet of the mass as the title awarded to him. Now Kosali poetry recitation has become an integral part of cultural and literary meetings in this region. The political parties have noted the emotion of the mass attached with it and the BJD Government has recommended to the Union Home ministry to include Kosali in the Eighth Schedule.
This upsurge of Kosali was noted by coastal Odia lobby and they hatched to bulldoze the move. He was felicitated by Odisha Sahitya Academy and in the felicitation certificate they mentioned “for the contribution to Odia language and literature” whereas Haldhar has never written a single piece in Odia. A protest was staged and OSA corrected the certificate.
Now, after awarding Padmashri to Sri Nag it gives a clear message to Kosali. Perhaps the Union Government has noted the movement and demands of Kosali.
