FROM STONE TO SELF: ONTOLOGICAL SILENCE, METAPHYSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF BECOMING IN DR. PHANI MOHANTY'S AHALYĀ- A RE-READING THROUGH INDIAN AND CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
International Journal of Versatile Research and Analysis July 1, 2026 Santosh Kumar Nayak
An analysis of Phani Mohanty's Odia poem Ahalyā argues that it is fundamentally an ontological poem investigating the evolution of Being through silence, memory, waiting, suffering, nature, and spiritual awakening. The author contends that the stone in the myth represents the primordial condition of Being before self-consciousness, not merely punishment. Silence is presented as a metaphysical language, and waiting as the existential structure of human life. Redemption signifies ontological awakening, not miraculous deliverance. The poem is positioned within world philosophical poetry and debates in comparative literature, phenomenology, myth criticism, and Indian philosophy.