Manoranjan Das (23 July 1923 – 17 February 2013) [2] was an influential Indian dramatist, and pioneer of modernism in Odia Literature.

[3][4] Amongst his most known work are, Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse) and Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award (1971).

In a career spanning over four decades, his plays include Janmamati (Land of Birth) written in 1943 and his latest Nandika Kesari which appeared in 1985.

During his literary career, he has written 14 other plays, including Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award given Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in 1971,[7] and the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2004.

[8] His other plays are Jauban (Youth), August Na (The Ninth August 1947), Baxi Jagabandhu (The Sacrifice of Jagabandhu), Agami (The Oncoming), Abarodha (The Seize), Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse), and Sabdalipi (The Word-script).