He comes from a remote village in the small town of Bhadrak, where he attended Bhadrak College. He then attended Jadavpur University, Calcutta, where he completed masters degrees in English, Philosophy and Sanskrit, and then a PhD in Comparative Literature under professors Subodh Chandra Sengupta, Jagannath Chakravorty, and Sisir Kumar Chatterjee. He also attended Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. His doctoral thesis, The Concept of Imitation in Greek and Indian Aesthetics was submitted to Jadavpur University and was published by Rupa & Co., Calcutta in 1977.
Academic work
Sukla is the founding editor of the international half-yearly Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, published since 1978. He collaborated with renowned international scholars of the time like Rene Wellek, Mircea Eliade, M.H. Abrams, Harold Osborne, John Fisher, M.C. Beardsley, John Hospers, and many noted Indian scholars to launch the journal in 1977. He is also the founder of the Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics which publishes the journal and academic books. Sukla has been a Visiting Professor to the Universities of Liverpool, Cambridge, Cardiff, Lampeter, Uppsala, Siena, Helsinki and several Indian Universities.
Publications
Some of his works in English include Art and Representation, Art and Experience and Art and Essence, published by Praeger, Art and Expression published by Verlag GmbH, Fiction and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory published by Bloomsbury Publishing, Estetica Indiana Contemporanea published by Rubbettino, Italy in 1995, Representation in Contemporary Criticism, Deconstruction in Contemporary Criticism, The Concept of Imitation in Greek and Indian Aesthetics and Classical Indian Tradition And The Philosophy Of Art: Essays in Comparative Aesthetics and Literary Theory. He has also published articles in various journals. Some of his notable essays include Problem of Understanding and Enjoyment in Aesthetic Experience, Theory of Impersonal Art, Future of Art: Some Indian Views, Mimesis in Greek and Indian Aesthetics, Representation in Painting and Drama: Arguments from Indian Aesthetics, Aesthetics Beyond/Within Aesthetics: The Scope and Limits of Aesthetics in Indian Antiquity, Art, Nature and the Artifactuality of Art and Nature: A Plea for Environmental Aesthetics in Ancient India, Art, Environment, and the Aesthetics of Art and Environment: A Chapter from Indian Philosophy, Emotion, Aesthetic Experience and the Contextualist Turn, Art, Reality and the Reality of the Arts: Ontology, Representation and The Sister Arts Theory in Indian Aesthetics, Rasa, Sringara and Sringara Rasa: Aesthetics as Mass Culture in Indian Antiquity, Dhvani as a Pivot in Sanskrit Literary Aesthetics, Transculturality of Classical Indian Aesthetics, etc. He has published fiction in Odia, including two short story books, Sulataku Sesa Chitthi and Shatabdira Shabda, two poetry books, Manapatra and Nihshabda Asavari, and four character plays on Kabi Bansiballabha, Pallikabi Nandakishore, and patriots Jayee Rajguru and Chakhi Khuntia. His non-fiction work in Odia includes Paschatya Sahityara Itihaas. He has translated some major Western works into Odia like Aristotle'nka Kabyatattwa ; Greek Nataka ; and Jagannath Chakraborty'nka Kabita. The Kendriya Sahitya Akademi, Delhi has published his monographs on medieval Sanskrit poetician and grammarian Vishvanatha Kaviraja,medieval philosopher of religion Sridhara Svami and post-Chaitanya philosopher of religion Baladeva Vidyabhusana under its Makers of Indian Literature series. He has also translated into Odia select songs of Rabindranath Tagore and Bhupen Hazarika from Bengali and Assamese respectively. His Odia versions have been recorded and released in the form of studio albums namely Tume Sandhayara Meghamala, Hey Jibananatha, and Mu Gote Jajabara.
