BHUBANESWAR: Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday released 55 important classical scholarly works, including a series of important Odia language publications, in New Delhi, aimed at strengthening India’s linguistic heritage and placing classical languages at the centre of education and research.

Among the releases were 10 major research works by the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Odia (CESCO), which further reinforce the antiquity and classical heritage of Odia.

The key Odia publications include ‘Odia Lokabhasa o Sahitya Bhasha: Swarupa O Sampark’ by Jyotiprava Mahanti, ‘Odishi Sangeetara Shastriya Swarupa’ by Himadri Tanaya Mishra along with ‘Prachina Odisha Sabda Sambar Charyapada’, ‘Rudrasudhanidhi’ and ‘Shilalekha’, documenting Odia’s rich lexical heritage.

English and Hindi translations of ‘Madalapanji’ by JK Nayak and Surendra Panigrahi English translation of ‘Rudrasudhanidhi’ by Gangadhar Panda and Pramodini Panda, ‘Shilpa Shabdabali’ of Debi Prasanna Nanda and ‘Charyapada’ by Santosh Kumar Mohapatra were also released.