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Debendra K. DashDipti R. Pattanaik 43translation of the said text with a reworked Chata Ichhabati byBanamali Das while the sixth and seventh cantos are the translationof Purva Panchasika. The eighth, ninth and tenth cantos are thetranslations of Bilhana’s text. Minor adjustments have been made inthe translation to adapt them to the original storyline. This is notonly novel as a translational practice, but also attracts attention forbeing the first translation in Oriya of a purely secular text, unlikeGeeta Gobinda which was more open to religious interpretation.Though Jagannath Das’s Bhagabata was extremely popular amongthe public and set the trend for future translations in Oriya, thescholarly segment of the society frowned upon some of itstranslational strategies. In the 18 th century, he produced his owntranslation, generally referred to as Khadanga Bhagabata, whichwas more faithful to the Sanskrit original. In order to counter theenormous prestige of Das’s Bhagabata, and gain legitimacy for hisown, he demonstrated his ability as a Sanskrit scholar early in hisenterprise. In the subsequent chapters too, he incorporated Sanskritepigrams summarizing the theme, which underlined his scholarship.Nevertheless, sometimes this scholarship became a hindrance to theeasy flow and naturalness of expression despite his adoption ofDas’s innovative metrical form and the standardized Oriya language.His ideological compulsions and social location might have beenresponsible for such a scholarly attitude that came in the way ofpopular appeal. For example, he belonged to the Gaudia Vaishnavsect, which disapproved of Das’s Bhagabata. Moreover, his status asa poet attached to the royal court made it contingent upon him towear the scholarly garb. Valmiki’s popular tale of Rama spawnedvarious kinds of literary expressions in India, including translationsinto various regional languages, subversive texts in Sanskrit andtheir translations and so on. One major Oriya text on Rama in theornate poetry tradition was Baidehisha Bilasha by Upendra Bhanja.In order to match the skills employed in the said text, BanamaliPatnaik translated Bhaojaraja Suri and Laxmana Suri’s text