Michael Madhusudan Datta Biography

Michael Madhusudan Datta,  Datta also spelled Dutt    (born Jan. 25, 1824, Sāgardari, Bengal, India —died June 29, 1873, Calcutta, India), poet and dramatist, the first great poet of modern Bengali literature.
Datta was a dynamic, erratic personality and an original genius of a high order. He was educated at the Hindu College, Calcutta, the cultural home of the Western-educated Bengali middle class. In 1843 he became a Christian.
Madhusudan began writing while at Hindu College. He drew everyone's attention at a college function when he recited a self-composed poem. He won several scholarships in college exams as well as a gold medal for an essay on women's education. While a student at Hindu College, Madhusudan's poems in Bengali and English were published in Jnananvesan, Bengal Spectator, Literary Gleamer, Calcutta Library Gazette, Literary Blossom and Comet. Lord Byron was Madhusudan's inspiration.Michael's exceptionally colourful personality and his unconventional, dramatic and in many ways tragic life have added to the magnetism and glamour of his name. Generous in friendship, romantic and passionate by temperament, he was also fond of the good life; he was financially irresponsible, and an incorrigible spendthrift. He experimented not only in the field of writing, but also in his personal life.
On 9 February 1843, Madhusudan ran away from home and converted to Christianity, to escape a marriage his father had arranged and also to satiate his fascination with everything English and Western. He took the name 'Michael' upon his conversion and wrote a hymn to be recited on the day of his Baptism. However, on becoming a Christian, Madhusudan had to leave Hindu College as Christians were not allowed to study there during that time. In 1844, he got admitted to Bishop's College and remained there until 1847. There, he also studied Greek and Latin.Madhusudan's conversion to Christianity estranged him from his family, and his father stopped sending him money. In 1848, Michael left for Madras where he started teaching, first at Madras Male Orphan Asylum School (1848-1852) and then at Madras University High School (1852-1856). Besides teaching, Madhusudan was also involved with a number of newspapers and journals. He edited the Eurasian (later known as the Eastern Guardian), the Madras Circulator and General Chronicle and the Hindu Chronicle. He also worked as Assistant Editor of the Madras Spectator (1848-1856).
His early compositions were in English, but they were unsuccessful and he turned, reluctantly at first, to Bengali. His principal works, written mostly between 1858 and 1862, include prose drama, long narrative poems, and lyrics. His first play, Sarmistha (1858), based on an episode of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata, was well received. His poetical works are Tilottamasambhab (1860), a narrative poem on the story of Sunda and Upasunda; Meghnadbadh (1861), his most important composition, an epic on the Rāmāyaṇa theme; Brajangana (1861), a cycle of lyrics on the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa theme; and Birangana (1862), a set of 21 epistolary poems on the model of Ovid’s Heroides.
While in Madras, Madhusudan married Rebecca Mactavys Thompson and had a family by her. Meanwhile, his mother died and then his father. After his father's death, Madhusudan abandoned Rebecca and his first family due to a failed marriage and returned to Kolkata in February 1856 to live with a Frenchwoman named Henrietta White and had a second family by her. She and Michael did not seem to have been formally married, presumably because Rebecca had never granted him divorce. There is no record either of their marriage or of Michael obtaining a divorce from Rebecca.
In Kolkata, Michael first worked as a clerk at the police court and then as interpreter. He also started contributing to different journals. His friends urged him to write in Bengali.
Madhusudan realised the paucity of good writing in Bengali as well as his own ability to fill this vacuum. While translating ramnarayan tarkaratna's play Ratnavali (1858) into English, he felt the absence of good plays in Bengali. He became associated with the belgachhiya theatre in Kolkata patronised by the Rajas of Paikpara. In 1858 he wrote the western-style play Sharmistha based on the mahabharata story of Devayani and Yayati. This was the first original play in Bengali, making Madhusudan the first Bengali playwright.By dint of his genius, he removed the stagnation in bengali literature both in style and content. He was the first to use blank verse in 1860 in the play padmavati based on a Greek myth. This use of blank verse freed Bengali poetry from the limitations of rhymed verse. This success prompted Madhusudan to write his first Bengali poem, Tilottama-Sambhava in blank verse in that very same year. It is based on the Puranic story of the war waged on the Gods by the demon brothers Sunda and Upasunda. This poem was written entirely in blank verse, and so were the two later poems Meghnad-Badh Kavya (Ballad of Meghnad's Demise in Ramayana) in 1861 and Virangana. The later poems silenced the critics and detractors, and permanently established the vogue of blank verse literature.

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Sukumar Ray Biography

Sukumar Ray was born on 30 October 1887 inKolkata & died on 1923 Kolkata, was a Bengali humorous poet, story writer and playwright. As perhaps the most famous Indian practitioner of literary nonsense, he is often compared to Lewis Carroll. His works such as the collection of poems “Aboltabol”, novella “HaJaBaRaLa”, short story collection “Pagla Dashu” and play “Chalachittachanchari” are considered nonsense masterpieces equal in stature to Alice in Wonderland, and are regarded as some of the greatest treasures of Bangla literature. More than 80 years after his death, Ray remains one of the most popular of children’s writers in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.His father was a talented writer of stories and popular science; painter and illustrator extraordinaire; musician and composer of songs; a pioneering technologist and hobbyist astronomer. Upendrakishore was also a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore, who directly influenced Sukumar. Among other family friends were Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy. Upendrakishore studied the technology of blockmaking, conducted experiments, and set up a business of making quality blocks. The firm M/s U. Ray & Sons, where Sukumar and his younger brother Subinay were involved.
In 1906, Ray graduated with Hons. in Physics and Chemistry from the Presidency College, Kolkata. He was trained in photography and printing technology in England and was a pioneer of photography and lithography in India. While in England, he also delivered lectures about the songs of Rabindranath before he (Tagore) won the Nobel Prize. Meanwhile, Sukumar had also drawn acclaim as an illustrator. As a technologist, he also developed new methods of halftone blockmaking, and technical articles about this were published in journals in England.
Sukumar Ray was the son of famous children’s story writer Upendrakishore Ray (Ray Chowdhury) and the father of legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Sukumar Ray was also known as the convenor of “Monday Club”, a weekly gathering of likeminded people at the Ray residence, where the members were free to express their irreverent opinions about the world at large. A number of delightful poems were penned by Sukumar Ray in relation to the matters concerning Monday Club, primarily soliciting attendance, announcing important meetings etc.
Apart from the cultural and creative activities, Sukumar Ray was also a young man who was a leader of the reformist wing in the Brahmo Samaj. The Barahmo Samaj is the monotheistic unitarian branch of Hinduism launched by Raja Rammohan Roy following the philosophy of the monotheistic Hindu scripture Isha-Upanishad of 7th Century BC. Sukumar Ray wrote a long poem "Atiter Katha", which was a popular presentation of the history of the Brahmo Samaj—it was published as a small booklet to introduce the rationale of the Brahmo Samaj to children. Sukumar also campaigned to bring in Rabindranath Tagore, the most famous Brahmo of his time, as a leader of the Samaj.
Sukumar Ray died on 10th September, 1923 of severe infectious fever, leishmaniasis, for which there was no cure at the time. He left behind his widow and their only child, Satyajit. Satyajit Ray would later become the most well known of Indian filmmakers and shoot a documentary on Sukumar Ray in 1987, 5 years before his own death.

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Sarat Chandra Chattopadhay Biography

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was born on 15th September 1876, in Debanandapur, Hooghly, India. His family was occasionally supported by other family members and Sarat Chandra's lack of financial stability would influence his writing in years to come. He started his education at "Pyari Pandit"s" pathshala and then he took admission at Hooghly Branch High School. Although he began as a fine arts student, Chattopadhyay left his studies due to his persistent state of poverty. He received his early education while residing at his maternal uncle's house in Bhagalpur. He spent 20 years of his life in Bhagalpur and a significant portion of his novels were either written in Bhagalpur or based on his experience in Bhagalpur.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, had a varied career. He started of being an Assistant Settlement officer, in the Baneli Estate. Subsequently, he worked in Calcutta High Court as a Translator and thereafter, as a Clerk in the Accounts Department in Burma Railway. He was also a member of the Bengal Congress and took part in the Non-Cooperation movement. He was later appointed the President of Howrah District Congress.Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is considered to be an author, who understood the Bengal villages the best. His works have a rural essence, as it speaks of the simple day to day life stories of the families, living far away from the cities in the tranquility of nature, growing old among the rivers, trees and farm lands. He wrote of the women very highly and talked about their situation in a patriarchal society frankly and honestly. He voiced his protest against the social discrimination, injustices and superstitions that went on in the name of religion.
His first novel 'Badadidi'(1907), made him instantly popular among the readers. 'Bindur chhele'(1913), 'Parinita'(1914), 'Baikunther will'(1916), 'Devdas'(1917), 'Srikanta'(Part I-IV, 1917-1933), 'Charirtrahin'(1917) are few of his other popular novels. His novel 'Pather Dabi' (1926), was however, banned by the British government for its revolutionary theme. For children he wrote a series of stories and novels, which include the popular 'Ramer Shumati' and the short stories about 'Lalu and his friends'. A large number of successful films have been made and are still made on his stories, namely, 'Devdas', 'Parinita', 'Srikanta' and so on.
He received several awards for his contribution to Bengali Literature. 'Kuntalin puraskar'(1903), 'Jagattarini Svarna Padak'(1923), membership of 'Bangiya Sangeet Parishad'(1934) and an honorary D.litt by the Dhaka University in the year 1936.
Sarat Chandra Chatterji first married Shanti Devi in 1906 and had a son in 1907. However, both his wife and son succumbed to plague and died in 1908. To fill his disastrous and miserable life, he indulged himself into studying sociology, politics, philosophy, health sciences, psychology, and history from books borrowed from Barnerd Free Library. To add to his depression, he was advised to cut short his study hours due to health issues in 1909. As such, Sarat discovered a new interest in painting, his first being Ravan-Mandodori. His second marriage took place in 1910 to an adolescent widow Mokshada, who was later renamed as Hiranmoyee.
Sarat Chandra Chatterji, popularly known as the Immortal Wordsmith throughout Bengal, died on January 16, 1938 in Park Nursing Home, Calcutta. He was suffering from liver cancer. The entire Bengal mourned his death.

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Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Biography

Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhaya, was born in Birsingha village of Midnapore district, West Bengal. His father Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and mother Bhagavati Devi were very religious persons. Their economic condition was not that stable and subsequently the childhood days of Vidyasagar were spent in abject poverty. After the completion of elementary education at the village school, his father took him to Calcutta (Kolkata). It is believed that Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar learned English numbers by following the mile-stones labels on his way to Calcutta at the age of eight years.
Ishwar Chandra was a brilliant student. His quest for knowledge was so intense that he used to study on street light as it was not possible for him to afford a gas lamp at home. He cleared all the examinations with excellence and in quick succession. He was rewarded with a number of scholarships for his academic performance. To support himself and the family Ishwar Chandra also took a part-time job of teaching at Jorashanko.In the year 1839, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar successfully cleared his Law examination. In 1841, at the age of twenty one years, Ishwar Chandra joined the Fort William College as a head of the Sanskrit department.After five years, in 1946, Vidyasagar left Fort William College and join the Sanskrit College as 'Assistant Secretary'. In the first year of service, Ishwar Chandra recommended a number of changes to the existing education system. This report resulted into a serious altercation between Ishwar Chandra and College Secretary Rasomoy Dutta. Following this, Vidyasagar resigned from Sanskrit College and rejoined Fort William College but as a head clerk.
Vidyasagar in Calcutta and many other reformers in Bombay set up schools for girls. Vidhyasagar was associated with other reformers, who founded schools for girls like Ramgopal Ghosh, Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune and others. When the first schools were opened in the mid nineteenth century, many people were afraid of them. They feared that schools would take away girls from home and prevent them from doing their domestic duties. Moreover, girls would have to travel through public places in order to reach school. They thought that girls should stay away from public spaces. Therefore, most educated women were taught at home by their liberal fathers or husbands.In 1841, Vidyasagar took the job of a Sanskrit pandit (professor) at Fort William College in Kolkata (Calcutta). In 1846, he joined the Sanskrit College as Assistant Secretary. A year later, he and a friend of his, Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, set up the Sanskrit Press and Depository, a print shop and a bookstore.While Vidyasagar was working at the Sanskrit College, some serious differences arose between him and Rasamoy Dutta who was then the Secretary of the College, and so he resigned in 1849. One of the issues was that while Rasamoy Dutta wanted the College to remain a Brahmin preserve, Vidyasagar wanted it to be opened to students from all castes.Later, Vidyasagar rejoined the College, and introduced many far-reaching changes to the College's syllabus.
In the face of opposition from the Hindu establishment, Vidyasagar vigorously promoted the idea that regardless of their caste, both men and women should receive the best education. His remarkable clarity of vision is instanced by his brilliant plea for teaching of science, mathematics and the philosophies of John Locke and David Hume, to replace most of ancient Hindu philosophy. His own books, written for primary school children, reveal a strong emphasis on enlightened materialism, with scant mention of God and religious verities – a fact that posits him as a pioneer of the Indian Renaissance.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar initiated the concept of widow remarriage and raised concern for the abolition of child-marriage and polygamy. He also opened the doors of the colleges and other educational institutions to lower caste students, which was earlier reserved only for the Brahmins. For his immense generosity and kind-heartedness, people started addressing him as "Dayar Sagar" (ocean of kindness).
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar would start crying in distress whenever he saw poor and weak people lying on the footpath and street. He used to spend a part of his scholarships and salary for the welfare of those poor people. He would also buy medicine for the sick.
Vidyasagar championed the uplift of the status of women in India, particularly in his native Bengal. Unlike some other reformers who sought to set up alternative societies or systems, he sought, however, to transform orthodox Hindu society "from within".With valuable moral support from people like Akshay Kumar Dutta, Vidyasagar introduced the practice of widow remarriages to mainstream Hindu society. In earlier times, remarriages of widows would oCCur sporadically only among progressive members of the Brahmo Samāj. The prevailing deplorable custom of Kulin Brahmin polygamy allowed elderly men — sometimes on their deathbeds — to marry teenage or even prepubescent girls, supposedly to spare their parents the shame of having an unmarried girl attain puberty in their house. After such marriages, these girls would usually be left behind in their parental homes, where they might be cruelly subjected to orthodox rituals, especially if they were subsequently widowed. These included a semi starvation diet, rigid and dangerous daily rituals of purity and cleanliness, hard domestic labour, and close restriction on their freedom to leave the house or be seen by strangers. Unable to tolerate the ill treatment, many of these girls would run away and turn to prostitution to support themselves. Ironically, the economic prosperity and lavish lifestyles of the city made it possible for many of them to have quite successful careers once they had stepped out of the sanction of society and into the demi-monde. In 1853 it was estimated that Calcutta had a population of 12,718 prostitutes and public women.
Vidyasagar took the initiative in proposing and pushing through the Widow Remarriage Act XV of 1856 in India. He also demonstrated that the system of polygamy without restriction was not sanctioned by the ancient Hindu Shastras.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the great scholar, academician and reformer passed away on 29 July, 1891 at the age of 70 years. After his death Rabindranath Tagore said, "One wonders how God, in the process of producing forty million Bengalis, produced a man!.

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Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhay Biography

Bibhuti bhushan Bandopadhay was born on the 12th September 1894, in Kalyani, Muratipur village in the Nadia of Bengal, British India. He was born at his maternal uncle's house in a Hindu Brahmin family. His father Mahananda Bandopadhyay, was a 'Kathak' - a person who recites stories for a living - and also a Sanskrit scholar. Bibhutibhushan finished his schooling in Bongaon High School, which happened to be one of the oldest institutions in British India. He also taught in the same school at the beginning of his work life. Bibhutibhushan's childhood and early life was shadowed by the clouds of poverty, but he nevertheless fought his way through to complete his undergraduate degree in History from the Surendranath College in Kolkata. However, since he was not financially strong to enrol for the postgraduate course at the University of Calcutta, he had to discontinue his studies. After this, the burden of his family's economic wellness came on to his shoulders.The writer studied at Bongaon High School, one of the oldest institutions in British India and was considered a consistently talented student. Following a first division placement in the Entrance and Intermediate Arts examinations, Bibhutibhushan completed his undergraduate degree in History at the Surendranath College, Kolkata. He was admitted to the master's degree (MA) and Law classes, but could not afford to enroll for the postgraduate course at the University of Calcutta, instead taking a Hughli teaching position.
The career of a writer did not come easy to Bandopadhyay. Due to the economic crisis of his family, he had to take up various odd jobs to make ends meet before taking up writing seriously. He taught at the school from where he completed his schooling, he also took up the job of a secretary and even managed an estate until finally, in 1921 he got an opportunity to publish his first short story "Upekshita" in a leading literary magazine of Bengal named 'Probashi'. But, it was not until 1928 that Bandopadhyay published his first novel, "Pather Panchali", for which he received critical attention and acclaim. It was with this novel that he became a prominent name in Bengali literature.
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's works are largely set in rural Bengal, with characters from that area. Many of his novels are set in the city of Bongaon, including Pather Panchali, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, Ichamati and Bipiner Sansar.
In 1921, Bibhutibhushan's first published short story, "Upekshita," appeared in Probashi, at the time one of Bengal's leading literary magazines. However, it was not until 1928, when his first novel Pather Panchali (also known in English as Song of the Little Road) was published, that Bibhutibhushan received critical attention. Pather Panchali brought Bibhutibhushan to prominence in Bengali literature and the novel and its sequel Aparajito, were subsequently translated into numerous languages[1]. Additionally, these two were made into films by Satyajit Ray and, together with Apur Sansar, formed the highly successful Apu Trilogy[3].
Ray referred scriptwriting students to the author with the following line of praise for the author's skill with written dialogue: "His lines fit the characters so well, they are so revealing that even when the author provides no physical description, every character seems to present itself before us simply through the words it speaks
Bibhuti bhushan took up writing novels and short stories at a time when there was a lot of research going on regarding the social degradation and economic imbalance. However, his writings did not emphasize on these aspects of research, rather they focused on simple life, human figures and the environmental pleasure of rural Bengal and the people of Bengal. He wrote in simple language and in a way that his ideas reached the common man. Realism is another major aspect that his writings portrayed. His writings picturised the subtle relationship shared by human beings and nature and put across a peaceful picture of human beings, animals, birds, rivers and other aspects of nature. 

Bibhuti bhushan Bandopadhyay used to walk miles into the woods every day and carried a book along usually. He loved to put down his thoughts in writing amongst the peaceful environment of wilderness. His famous novel "Pather Panchali" was picked up by film-maker Satyajit Ray and converted into a movie of the same name as a part of the memorable 'Apu Trilogy'. Some of the famous works of Bandopadhyay apart from 'Pather Panchali' are 'Aparajito', 'Aranyak', 'Chander Pahar', 'Heera Manik Jwale', 'Adarsha Hindu Hotel', 'Ichhamati', 'Bipiner Sangsar', 'Anubartan', 'Kosi Pranganeyer Chitthi', 'Dristi Pradeep', 'Debjan', 'Ashani Sanket', 'Kedar Raja', 'Dampati', 'Sundarbane Sat Batsar' (which he couldn't complete), 'Dui Bari', 'Kajol' (Sequel of Aparajito, completed by his son Taradas), 'Mismider Kabach', 'Jatrabadol', 'MeghaMallar', 'Mauriphool' and 'Tal Nabami' etc.
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's first wife, Gouri Devi, died during childbirth one year after their marriage. This tragic occurrence and the loneliness that it brought about and shadowed his life became a prominent theme in his early writings. He remarried at the age of 46 to his second wife, Rama Chattopadhyay, from whom he had his only son, Taradas, in 1947.
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay died on November 1, 1950, with the cause of death identified as a heart attack. Death occurred whilst the author was staying in Ghatshila.

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