Book excerpt: Laxmi is the Goddess of riches and luxuries, and worshipped throughout India, especially in the eastern region, in the Agrahayana month (November – December) coinciding with paddy harvesting. She is renowned for Her love for equality; for the downtrodden, for the outcastes, who worship Her with devotion, and abide by the code of social conduct. Once Jagannatha drives Her out of the Great Temple as She visited a Chandal home. Laxmi retaliates and establishes the might and mien of women. The simple short verse in Odia by 16th century Odia poet, Balarama Dasa, has been beautifully translated in lucid, blank verse. The dramatical representation is inserted anew, though the original is not twisted or tampered with. The author is adept in translation from English to Odia and vice versa. He has rendered “Tales and stories by Maharshi Raman” by Joana Greenblatt in Odia entitled, “Maharshi Raman Kathita Galpamala “, which has been published by us. Its lucid prose is praiseworthy and persuades the reader to know more and more about the great godly person Maharshi Raman. This transcreation with a briefing about the poet Balarama Dasa, his age and friends etc makes the translation readable and beautiful. Though the translator does not claim any originality about the biography of the poet, his times and literary trend, his traits and characteristics as a saint and poet; the descriptions and details on this score is borrowed from established critics and literary historians. The legends and folktales concerning the saint and devotee Balarama Dasa are, obviously, hearsay yet believed by the Odias as true.