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Khallikote, 1943 — a story told in colour
The daughter of Samanta Chandra Sekhar Das Badajena and Pournamasi Devi, Basanta grew up in a culturally rich home that shaped a lifelong devotion to the arts.
Born in 1943 at Samanta Sahi in the erstwhile princely estate of Khallikote, Ganjam, to Samanta Chandra Sekhar Das Badajena and Pournamasi Devi. She grew up in the pre-Independence years, when Odia girls were rarely encouraged to look beyond the household — and rarer still to imagine a life in art.
A decade after Independence, the Government School of Art and Crafts — Odisha's first fine-art institution — opened at Khallikote. As the practice of veiling still lingered in the village, Basanta entered as a member of its very first batch, defying convention to pursue formal training.
She earned her Diploma in Fine Art (Oil Painting), becoming recognised as the first lady artist of Odisha — a woman entering a field that had known none before her. She often credits mentors such as Sarat Chandra Dev, Jita Charan Mohanty, Ajit Keshari Ray and Rabi Narayan Nayak.
She married Durga Prasad Rout of Badamba, Cuttack, in 1964, and built a family life while never setting aside her brush — balancing the roles of homemaker and working artist in an era that offered women little room for both.
For over three decades she served as an art educator, beginning with her first posting in 1967 at Chikiti Girls' High School and going on to teach at Banapur, Aska, Purusottampur, Khallikote Mardharaj and Parlakhemundi high schools — even running a free art school on Sundays. She retired in 2001 from D.I.E.T., after shaping generations of students and encouraging young women to take up painting as a career.
A versatile hand across oil, watercolour, acrylic wash, textile and panel design, decorative art, sculpture, leather craft, dot-pen work and ceramics. Her camps and exhibitions span decades — from a 1998 solo show at Konark Natya Mandap inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee, to national artist camps hosted by Tata Steel, ONGC and IPCA. She is also a poet — author of the book Bidipta Basanta — blending verse with her visual work.
Alongside her art, she has given years to community and cultural life — serving as an advisor to Purna Kala Khetra Khallikote, and as a member of the Ananya Utkal Organization, the APJ Abdul Kalam charitable trust, Kavita Ghara association and the South Odisha Sahitya Sansad, using her voice to raise awareness of art among Odisha's youth.
Felicitated by prestigious institutions including the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi, with honours such as Asima (Tata Steel) and Kala Gaurav (Ganjam District Press Club). More than an artist, she stands for a generation of women who challenged social barriers through creativity and courage.
A restless, versatile hand — equally at home across pigment, cloth and wax.
Also skilled in tempera, panel and decorative design, modelling, leather work, dot-pen work and ceramics.
Art, she believes, is a quiet force — for healing, for inspiration, and for the unity of people.
Her Philosophy