The 95-year-old poet was admitted to the hospital on August 4 due old age-related ailments and was later shifted to the ICU as his condition deteriorated.

There was some improvement in his health condition since then but he passed away around 9 pm, SCBMCH emergency officer Bhubanananda Maharna informed.

The bilingual poet from Odisha is known for his collections like Waiting and A Rain of Rites which explore his memories, doubts and life experiences. He is the first Indian writer in English to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981 for his poem Relationship. In May 2019, he also became the first Indian English poet to become a Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi.

He was conferred with a Padma Shri in 2009 but returned the award in 2015 as a mark of protest against the “growing intolerance” in the country.

Mahapatra was born on October 22, 1928, into a prominent family in Cuttack. He received his early education from Stewart School here and completed MSc in Physics from Patna, Bihar. His career began as a lecturer in physics in 1949 and served at various government colleges in Odisha, including erstwhile Gangadhar Meher College, Sambalpur, BJB College, Bhubaneswar, Fakir Mohan College, Balasore, and Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. He retired from service as a Reader in Physics in 1986. He started his writing career in the late sixties.