Tarashankar Bandopadhay Biography

 Tarashankar Bandopadhyay was born at Labpur, Birbhum district, West Bengal to Haridas Bandyopadhyay and Prabhabati Debi. He cleared the Matriculation examination in 1916 and took admission in the intermediate class at the prestigious St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. While studying there, he joined the non-cooperation movement. He was jailed for a year in 1930, and after his release in 1931, he devoted himself to literature and social work. He worked diligently among the people of his village during natural calamities and epidemics. His love for the poor and the helpless is reflected in his short stories and novels. He defied social norms of those times and mixed freely with the so-called lower classes of dom, bagdi, sadgop, and bauri. He married Uma Shashi Debi and they had two sons Sanat and Sarit and two daughters who were named Ganga and Bani.
Like a whiff of fresh air, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay broke the poetic tradition in novels and wrote prose touching upon the lives of ordinary people and the relationships that they have. This shattered the indifference that surrounded the conservative society which believed in hypocrisy and covering up reality. The realism in Literature was substituted by indulging in romance and unbiased writing became the norm of the time only during the third decade of the twentieth century. Tarashankar Bandopadhyay's works are like whiffs of fresh air as they do not reject the reality but look at the world with a new angle. From the rich and powerful Zamindars to the lowest of them all, i.e. the pauper, Tarashanker Bandopadhyay's protagonists are as varied as his characterisations. Some of his works like 'Radha' were scandalous mainly because of that age and time during which it was written. His thoughts were progressive and he believed that the physical relationship between a man and a woman can dominate, to an extent, the existing law and order that a society follows. He produced an enormous amount of work which is popular even today and much loved by his ardent fans and followers. This talented soul ventured into all the walks of Bengali life and reflected the vast panorama of life in the backdrop of the socio-political milieu of that age. His works are remembered by his devoted readers because if his ability to portray a non-judgemental reflection of life, in general, with care and leaving the reader's to form their own impressions.
In 1957, he led the Indian delegation of writers at the Asian Writers' Conference in Tashkent. For his novel Arogya Niketan, he received the Rabindra Puraskar in 1955 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1956. In 1966, he received the Jnanpith Award for his novel Ganadebata. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1962 and the Padma Bhushan in 1969. He also received the Sharat Smriti Puraskar and the Jagattarini Gold Medal from the Calcutta University. In 1970, he was elected the president of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. He was a member of the West Bengal Vidhan Parishad between 1952–60 and the Rajya Sabha between 1960-66.
Bandyopadhyay was married to Umashashi Devi in 1916. Their eldest son Sanatkumar Bandyopadhyay was born in 1918; the youngest son Saritkumar Bandyopadhyay was born in 1922; the eldest daughter Ganga was born in 1924; second daughter Bulu was born in 1926 but died in 1932; the youngest daughter Bani was born in 1932.
Tarashanker Bandopadhyay Diad on 14th September, 1981 at Ghatsila, West Bengal.