Kuntala Kumari Sabat (8 February 1901 – 23 August 1938) was an Odia poet during colonial India.
Kuntala Kumari Sabat was born on 8 February 1901, at Jagadalpur in Bastar region. Her parents were Daniel and Monica. Shortly after her birth, her parents went to Burma with family. So Kuntala Kumari passed her early childhood at Burma with her parents. Then she returned to Khurda with her mother Monica after her father got remarried at Burma. So Kuntala Kumari stayed at Khurda with her mother for a short period. She completed her early school education at Ravenshaw Girl’s School and higher study at Medical School, Cuttack. Kuntala Kumari composed poems during her school days. She came out successfully from the medical school and became popular as a doctor with her sincerity and simplicity. Although a physician by profession, she knew the colonial treatment of the anatomy of an enslaved nation better than her own degree.
Kailash Rao was her literary teacher who guided her literary activities. Kuntala Kumari enrolled herself as a member of ‘Nava Vidhan’, the ‘Brahmo Society’. She got wide applause when poems, ‘Anjali’ came out. She won approbation from almost all the literary figures of Orissa. A leading cultural association of women conferred on her the title ‘Utkal Bharati’. Gopal Chandra Praharaj and Pallikabi Nanda Kishore Bal loved her and adopted her as their daughter. Kuntala Kumari joined a maternity welfare centre, which was newly opened at Cuttack in 1925. Later she left for Delhi on 1st July 1928. The same year she got married to Krishna Prasad. New phase of life began, yet she did not leave her writings. She had written in English, Kuntala Kumari Sabat : A True Patriotic Litterateur and Reflection of Her Literary Works on Gandhian Movement Dr. Janmejay Choudhury Bengali and Hindi and contributed to a number of nonOriya journals and edited a number of Hindi journals at Delhi. During her stay at Delhi, she presided over the ‘All India Arya Mahila Sammilani’ at Bareli. During this time also she was invited by the Allahabad University and Benaras Hindu University to deliver lectures. She was the president of the students federation at Aligarh. She was made the chair-person of a reputed social organisation founded by Harbilash Sarada for the introduction of widow marriage and abolition of child marriage. While at Delhi she took steps to encourage, publish and project Oriya literature. At Delhi, Kuntala Kumari was also associated with eminent writers like Maitheli Saran Gupta, Yeasshpal Jee Jain, S.H. Batsayan and a host of Hindi writers. ‘Hindi Pracharini Sabha’ conferred on her the title of ‘Bharat Kavinetri.’
As a disciple of Gandhi she claimed independence as the birth right of Indian people. She took up the task of awakening the women. She encouraged them to join the National Movement under Gandhian leadership. She writes –
‘Senapati Aaji Deichhanti Daka Utha bharatara Biraputrajaka, Apurba Asahayoga Ranagune Arte Antakasi para Janejane, Bharatara Jete Viragunamani Chaliasu Senapati Dakasuni.’
During the noncooperation movement she gave a clarion call to the people of Orissa to fight for freedom. She was the voice of modern Orissa. In a real sense she was a visionary and a rebel. She expressed her concern for the suffering mankind and wanted to free mankind from exploitation