He was born Rabindranath Singh on 27 January 1931 at Sinharapur village of undivided Cuttack district (now
Jagatsinghpur). His parents were freedom fighters and he was involved in politics from an early age. He had little formal education but he was well versed in
Odia, English and
Bengali. In 1948 he joined Congress Socialist Party. Subsequently, in 1953 he joined Communist Party Of India. In 1955 he participated in Goa freedom movement. He was jailed during 1975 emergency. == Literary activities ==