Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty

Prof. Mohanty studied MA English at the University of Hyderabad as part of the second batch (1977–79) and later returned as Professor and Head of the Department of English. Over a career of more than three decades, he went on to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Odisha, Sri Aurobindo Chair Professor at Panjab University, Governing Board Member of the Auroville Foundation, and National Fellow at IIAS Shimla.

He was a scholar of rare range. His 29 books in English and Odia, published by Oxford, Sage, Routledge and Orient Longman among others, broke new ground in travel writing, cosmopolitanism, institutional history, and the cultural history of Odisha. Through his work on early women's writing in Eastern India, he brought forgotten voices such as Sarala Devi and Sailabala Das back into the literary record. A two-time Fulbright scholar and winner of the Katha Award and the Katha–British Council Translation Prize, he was also a respected public intellectual and one of the foremost scholars of Sri Aurobindo.

Generations of students and colleagues will remember him for his scholarship, his generosity, and his commitment to the humanities.