Authors of the Nineteenth Century

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List of Bengali-language authors
(chronological)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a Chronologi cal li st of Bengali language authors (regardless of
nationality or religion), by date of birth. Alphabetical order is used only when
chronological order cannot be ascertained.
The list also marks the winners of major international and national awards:
Nobel Prize winners are marked with
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners are marked with:
Bharat Ratna winners are marked with:
Padma Vibhushan winners are marked with:
Padma Bhushan winners are marked with:
Independence Day Award winners are marked with: and
Ekushey Padak winners are marked with:
Banga-Vibhushan winners are marked with: .
For an alphabetic listing of Bengali language authors please refer
to alphabetic list of Bengali language authors.
Ancient Age
Aryadev (9th century)
Bhusukupa (9th century)
Dhendhanpa (9th century)
Dombipa (9th century)
Kahnapa (9th century)
Kukkuripa (9th century)
Luipa (9th century)
Minapa (9th century)
Sarhapa (9th century)
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Shabarpa (9th century)

Middle Age
Boru Chandidas (????)
Vidyapati (13521448)
Ramai Pandit (13th/14th century)
Krittibas Ojha (1443-15??)
Krishnadasa Kaviraja (1496 - 15??)
Dwija Madhab (16th century)
Rupram Chakrabarty (17th century)
Syed Sultan (15501648)
Alaol (16061680)
Abdul Hakim (17th century)
Daulat Quazi (17th century)

18th century
Bharatchandra Ray (17121760)
Ramprasad Sen (17201781)
Ramram Basu (17511813)
Lalon Shah (17741890)

19th century
Ishwar Chandra Gupta (18121859)
Peary Chand Mitra (18141882)
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (18201891)
Lal Behari Dey (18241892)
Michael Madhusudan Dutt (18241873)
Rajnarayan Basu (18261892)
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Dinabandhu Mitra (18301873)
Girish Chandra Sen (1835/1836-1910)
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (18381894)
Kaliprasanna Singha (18401870)
Girish Chandra Ghosh (18441912)
Mir Mosharraf Hossain (18471912)
Nabinchandra Sen (18471909)
Sivanath Sastri (18471919)
Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay (18471919)
Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848 1909)
J yotirindranath Tagore (18491925)
Hason Raja (18541922)
Kaykobad (18571951)
J agdish Chandra Bose (18581937)
Sheikh Abdur Rahim (18591931)
Akkhoykumar Boral (18601919)
Rabindranath Tagore (18611941)
Dwijendralal Ray (18631913)
Upendrakishore Ray (18631915)
Swami Vivekananda (18631902)
Ashutosh Mukherjee (18641924)
Kamini Roy (18641933)
Ramendra Sundar Tribedi (18641919)
Dinesh Chandra Sen (18661939)
Gaganendranath Tagore (18671938)
Pramatha Chowdhury (18681946)
Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad (18691953)
Abanindranath Tagore (18711951)
Ekramuddin Ahmad (18721940)
Provatkumar Mukhopadhyay (18731932)
Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay (18761938)
Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder (18771957)
J atindramohan Bagchi (18781948)
Ismail Hossain Shiraji (18801931)
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Rajshekhar Bose (18801960)
Syed Emdad Ali (18801956)
Qazi Imdadul Haq (18821926)
Satyendranath Dutta (18821922)
Sheikh Fazlul Karim (18821936)
Hemendrakumar Roy (18831963)
Kumud Ranjan Mullick (18831970)
Gobindachandra Das (18851918)
Muhammad Shahidullah (18851969)
Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (18851930)
J agadish Gupta (18861957)
Sukumar Ray (18871923)
Eyakub Ali Chowdhury (18881940)
Mohitolal Majumdar (18881952)
Kalidas Roy (18891975)
Mohammad Lutfur Rahman (18891936)
Suniti Kumar Chatterji (18901970)
S. Wajid Ali (18901951)
Sachin Sengupta (18911961)
Sahadat Hussain (18931953)
Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay (18941950)
Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay (18941987)
Golam Mostofa (18971964)
Nirad C. Chaudhuri (18971999)
Qazi Motahar Hossain (18971981)
Abul Mansur Ahmed (18981979)
Mahbubul Alam (18981981)
Mohammad Barkatullah (18981974)
Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya (18981971)
J ibanananda Das (18991954)
Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay (18991979)
Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (18991970)
Kazi Nazrul Islam (18991976)

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Early 20th century
Aroj Ali Matubbar (19001985)
Sukumar Sen (19001992)
Amiya Chakravarty (19011986)
Sudhindranath Dutta (19011960)
Charuchandra Chakrabarti (1902-1981)
Abul Fazal (19031983)
Benojir Ahmed (19031983)
Achintyakumar Sengupta (19031976)
J asimuddin (19031976)
Motaher Hussain Chowdhury (19031956)
Premendra Mitra (19041988)
Syed Mujtaba Ali (19041974)
Annadashankar Roy (19052002)
Abdul Kadir (19061984)
Humayun Kabir (19061969)
Bande Ali Mia (19071979)
Satyen Sen (19071981)
Nurul Momen 'Natyaguru' (1908-1990)
Buddhadeb Bosu (19081974)
Dewan Mohammad Azraf (19081999)
Manik Bandopadhyay (19081956)
Leela Majumdar (19082007)
Ashapoorna Devi (19091995)
Bishnu Dey (19091982)
Arun Mitra (19092000)
Subodh Ghosh (19091980)
Abujafar Shamsuddin (19111989)
Begum Sufia Kamal (19111999)
Syed Waliullah (19121971)
Dinesh Das (19131985)
Protiva Bose (19152006)
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Narendranath Mitra (19161975)
Samar Sen (19161987)
Ahsan Habib (19171985)
Akbar Hussain (19171980)
Bijan Bhatacharya (19171978)
Shawkat Osman (19171998)
Amiya Bhhan Majumdr (19182001)
Farrukh Ahmed (19181974)
Narayan Gangopadhyay (19181970)
Sarder J ayenuddin (19181986)
Abu Rushd (1919-2010)
Sikandar Abu Zafar (19191975)
Subhas Mukhopadhyay (19192003)
Nilima Ibrahim (19212002)
Ahmed Sharif (19211999)
Satyajit Ray (19211992)
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (19211990)
Bimal Kar (1921-2003)
Shaktipada Rajguru (1922- )
Narayan Sanyal (19242005)
Badal Sarkar (1925-2011)
Munier Chowdhury (19251971)
Rashid Karim (1925-2011)
Ritwik Ghatak (19251976)
Shahed Ali (1925-2001)
Abu Ishaque (19262003)
Mahasweta Devi (1926- )
Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury (19261971)
Narayan Debnath (1926- )
Shamsuddin Abul Kalam (19261997)
Sukanta Bhattacharya (19261947)
Lokenath Bhattacharya (19272001)
Mahbub Ul Alam Choudhury (1927- )
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Shahidullah Kaiser (19271971)
Anwar Pasha (19281971)
Abdur Rouf Choudhury (19291996)
J ahanara Imam (19291994)
M. R. Akhtar Mukul (19292004)
Shamsur Rahman (19292006)
Utpal Dutt (19291993)
Abdullah-Al-Muti (19301998)
Syed Mustafa Siraj (1930-2012 )
Moti Nandi (1931-2010)
Alauddin Al-Azad (1932- )
Muhammad Mohar Ali (19322007) (King Faisal International Prize for
Islamic Studies in 2000)
Shankha Ghosh (1932- )
Amartya Sen (1933- )
Anil Kumar Dutta (19332006)
Sandipan Chattopadhyay (19332005)
Manju Sarkar (1933- )
Purnendu Patri (1933-1997)
Abdul Gaffar Choudhury (1934- )
Atin Bandyopadhyay (1934- )
Binoy Majumdar (19342006)
Mohit Chattopadhyay (1934- )
Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012 )
Shakti Chattopadhyay (1934- )
Rabeya Khatun (1935- )
Shahid Akhand (1935- )
Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (1935- )
Syed Shamsul Haque (1935- )
Bipul Kumar Gangopadhyay (1935-)
Abubakar Siddique (1936- )
Al Mahmud (1936- )
Amiya Kumar Bagchi (1936- )
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Bashir Al Helal (1936- )
Buddhadeb Guha (1936- )
Dilara Hashim (1936- )
J atin Sarker (1936- )
Razia Khan (1936- )
Tarapada Roy (1936- )
Sanjeev Chattopadhyay (1936- )
Kabi Dilwar (1937- )
Tahrunessa Abdullah (1937- )
Mokbula Manzoor (1938- )
Nabaneeta Dev Sen (1938- )
Abdullah Abu Sayeed (1939- )
Bani Basu (1939- )
Dibyendu Palit (1939- )
Hasan Azizul Huq (1939- )
Hasnat Abdul Hye (1939- )
Iffat Ara (1939- )
Rizia Rahman (1939- )
Bipradash Barua (1940- )
Muhammad Yunus (1940- )
Rahat Khan (1940- )
Abdul Mannan Syed (1943- )
Ahmed Sofa (19432006)
Akhtaruzzaman Elias (19431997)
Asad Chowdhury (1943- )
Farida Hossain (1945- )
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (1944- )
Samaresh Majumdar (1944 - )
Vattacharja Chandan (1944- )
Nirmalendu Goon (1945- )
Prabir Ghosh (1945- )
Matiur Rahman (1946- )
Haripada Datta (1947- )
Humayun Azad (19472004)
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Panna Kaiser (1947- )
Selina Hossain (1947- )
Sheikh Hasina (1947- )
Abu Saleh (1948- )
Humayun Ahmed (1948-2012 )
Abul Bashar (1949- )
Mohammad Nurul Huda (1949- )

Late 20th century
Ekram Ali (1950- )
Samir Roychoudhury (1933-)
Malay Roy Choudhury (1939-)
Suchitra Bhattacharya (1950- )
Muhammed Zafar Iqbal (1952- )
Dipak Barua (1952- )
Manju Sarkar (1953- )
Shahidul J ahir (19532008)
J oy Goswami (1954- )
Imdadul Haq Milon (1955- )
Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah (19561992)
Anil Ghorai (1957- )
Robbani Chowdhuri (1958- )
Moinul Ahsan Saber (1958- )
Subodh Sarkar (1958- )
Faizul Latif Chowdhury (1959- )
Zillur Rahman J ohn (1959- )
Mallika Sengupta (1960-2011)
Taslima Nasrin (1962- )
Humayun Kabir Dhali (1964- )
Aryanil Mukhopadhyay (1964- )
Anisul Hoque (1965- )
Nasreen J ahan (1966- )
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Sezan Mahmud (1967- )
Baby Halder (b. 1973)
Srijato (1977- )
Subhro Bandopadhyay (1978- )

References
Biletey Bishshotoker Bangla Kobi, Robbani Chowdhury, Agamee Prokasion,
Dhaka, 2000 History of Bengali Literature, Rabbani Choudhury, Utso, Dhaka,
2010

LINKS

Lists of writers by language

Bengali-language writers








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Ishwar Chandra Gupta


Ishwar Chandra Gupt a (Bengali: * G8; March 1812 23 J anuary
1859) was an Indian Bengali poet and writer. Gupta was born in the village
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Kanchanpalli or Kanchrapara, 24 Parganas district (currently in North 24
Parganas district, West Bengal, India).

Peary Chand Mitra


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Peary Chand Mitra (Bengali: ) (24 J uly 1814 23 November
1883) was an Indian writer, journalist and a member ofDerozios Young
Bengal group, who played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance with the
introduction of simple Bengali prose. HisAlaler Gharer Dulal pioneered the
novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken up by Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee and others.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar


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Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE (Bengali: * Ishshor
Chndro Biddashagor 26 September 1820 29 J uly 1891), bornIshwar
Chandra Bandopadhyay (Bengali: * *, Ishshor Chndro
Bndopaddhae), was an Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of
the Bengal Renaissance.
[1][2]
Vidyasagar was a philosopher,
academic, educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur,
reformer, and philanthropist. His efforts to simplify and
modernize Bengali prose were significant. He also rationalized and simplified
the Bengali alphabet and type, which had remained unchanged since Charles
Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first (wooden) Bengali type in
1780.
[3]
He received the title "Vidyasagar" ("Ocean of learning" or "Ocean of
knowledge") from the Calcutta Sanskrit College (where he graduated), due to
his excellent performance in Sanskrit studies and philosophy. In
Sanskrit,Vidya means knowledge or learning and Sagar means ocean or sea.
This title was mainly given for his vast knowledge in all subjects which was
compared to the vastness of the ocean.
Early life
Ishwar Chandra was born to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi
at Birsingha village, in the Ghatal subdivision of Paschim Midnapore District,
on 26 September 1820. at the age of 6 he went to calcutta.In Calcutta, Ishwar
started living in Bhagabat Charan's house in Burrabazar, where Thakurdas
had already been staying for some years. Ishwar felt at ease amidst
Bhagabat's large family and settled down comfortably in no time. Bhagabat's
youngest daughter Raimoni's motherly and affectionate feelings towards
Ishwar touched him deeply and had a strong influence on his later
revolutionary work towards the upliftment of women's status in India.
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
J orashanko.
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.
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After five years, in 1846, 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. In 1849, he again joined
Sanskrit College, as a professor of literature. In 1851, Iswar Chandra became
the principal of Sanskrit College. In 1855, he was made special inspector of
schools with additional charges. But following the matter of Rasomoy Dutta,
Vidyasagar resigned from Sanskrit College and rejoined Fort William
College,as a head clerk.
Teaching career
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, J ohn 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.


Vidyasagar House, in Kolkata.
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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
J ohn 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.
A compassionate reformist
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar felt very sorry and compassionate whenever he
saw poor and weak people were in distress. Though he was very outspoken
and blunt in his mannerisms, he had a heart of Gold. He was also known for
his charity and philanthropy as "Daya-r Sagar" or "Karunar Sagar" ocean of
kindness, for his immense generosity. He always reflected and responded to
distress calls of the poor, sufferings of the sick and injustice to humanity.
While being a student at Sanskrit College, he would spend part of his
scholarship proceeds and cook paayesh (rice pudding) to feed the poor and
buy medicines for the sick.
Later on, when he started earning, he paid fixed sums of monthly allowances
to each member of his joint family, to family servants, to needy neighbours, to
villagers who needed help and to his village surgery and school. This he
continued without break even when he was unemployed and had to borrow
substantially from time to time.
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Vidyasagar did not believe that money was enough to ease the sufferings of
humanity. He opened the doors of the Sanskrit College to lower caste
students (previously it was exclusive to the Brahmins), nursed sick cholera
patients, went to crematoriums to bury unclaimed dead bodies, dined with the
untouchables and walked miles as a messenger-man to take urgent
messages to people who would benefit from them.
When the eminent Indian Poet of the 19th century, Michael Madhusudan
Dutta, fell hopelessly into debts due to his reckless lifestyle during his stay in
Versailles, France, he appealed for help to Vidyasagar, who laboured to
ensure that sums owed to Michael from his property at home were remitted to
him and sent him a large sum of money to France.
Widow remarriage
Vidyasagar championed the uplift of the status of women in India, particularly
in his native place Bengal. Unlike some other reformers who sought to set up
alternative societies or systems, he sought, however, to transform orthodox
Hindu society "from within".
[6]
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 Samaj. 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.
[7]

Vidyasagar took the initiative in proposing and pushing through the Widow
Remarriage Act XV of 1856 (26 J uly) in India. He also demonstrated that the
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system of polygamy without restriction was not sanctioned by the ancient
Hindu Shastras.
Bengali alphabet and language reconstruction
Vidyasagar reconstructed the Bengali alphabet and reformed Bengali
typography into an alphabet (actually abugida) of twelve vowels and forty
consonants. Vidyasagar contributed significantly to Bengali and Sanskrit
literature.Vidyasagar's "Barna Porichoy" is still considered a classic.
Books authored by Vidyasagar
Betaal Panchabinsati (1847)
Bangala-r Itihaas (1848)
J eebancharit (1850)
Bodhadoy (1851)
Upakramanika (1851)
Shakuntala (1855)
Bidhaba Bibaha Bishayak Prostab (1855)

Lal Behari Dey
The Reverend Lal Behari Dey (Bengali: - also transliterated as
Lal Behari Day) (18 December 1824 28 October 1892) was
a Bengali Indian journalist, who convertedto Christianity, and became a
Christian missionary himself.
Biography
Lal Behari Dey was born on 18 December 1824 to a poor banker caste family
at Sonapalasi near Bardhaman. After primary education in the village school
he came to Calcutta with his father and was admitted to Reverend Alexander
Duffs General Assembly' Institution (now [The Scottish Church Collegiate
School], as one of the first five boys admitted by Duff/Scottish Church
College), where he studied from 1834 to 1844. Under the tutelage of
Alexander Duff he formally embraced Christianity on J uly 2, 1843. In 1842, a
year before his baptism he had published a tract, The falsity of the Hindu
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Religion, which had won a prize for the best essay from a local Christian
society.
From 1855 to 1867 Dey was a missionary and minister of the Free Church of
Scotland.
From 1867 to 1889 he worked as professor of English in Government-
administered colleges at Berhampore and Hooghly. After having served in
several churches in the prime of his career, he joined the Berhampore
Collegiate School as Principal in 1867. Later he became Professor of English
and Mental and Moral Philosophy in Hooghly Mohsin College of the
University of Calcutta and stayed with it from 1872 to 1888. Being a devout
Christian but pro-British Raj, he protested against any discrimination
practised by the ruling class against the natives.
Known for his profound knowledge of the English language and literature, he
wrote two books in English, Govinda Samanta (1874, later renamed Bengal
Peasant Life) and Folk Tales of Bengal (1883) both of which were widely
acclaimed. Like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Peary Chand
Mitra and Dinabandhu Mitra, Lal Behari also felt very passionately for the
poor and oppressed peasantry of Bengal. In 1874 his Govinda Samanta won
the prize of Rs 500 offered by Baboo J oy Kissen Mookerjea of Uttarpara, one
of the most enlightened zamindars in Bengal, for the best novel, written either
in Bengali or in English, illustrating the Social and Domestic Life of the Rural
Population and Working Classes of Bengal. Charles Darwin wrote a letter on
April 18, 1881 to the publishers saying,
I see that the Reverend Lal Behari Day is Editor of the Bengal
Magazine and I shall be glad if you would tell him with my
compliments how much pleasure and instruction I derived from
reading a few years ago, this novel, Govinda Samanta.
Though Lal Beharis writings were mostly in English, he edited a Bengali
monthly magazine, Arunaday (1857) and penned a Bengali
narrative, Chandramukhee. He was also the editor of three English
magazines, Indian Reformer (1861), Friday Review (1866) and Bengal
Magazine (1872). Apart from writing in these magazines, Lal Behari also
contributed articles to Calcutta Review and Hindu Patriot. He was a
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member of many associations like the Bethune Society and the Bengal
Social Science Association.
He was made a Fellow of the University of Calcutta from 1877.
He died on 28 October 1892, at Calcutta.















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Michael Madhusudan Dutt

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Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutt a (Bengali:
( Maikel Modhushudn Dtto (helpinfo)); 25 J anuary 1824 29
J une 1873) was a popular 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist.
[1]
He was
born in Sagordari (Bengali: ), on the bank of Kopotaksho
(Bengali: V) River, a village in Keshabpur Upazila, J essore
District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His father was Rajnarayan Dutt,
an eminent lawyer, and his mother was J ahnabi Devi. He was a pioneer of
Bengali drama.
[2]
His famous work Meghnad Bodh Kavya (Bengali:
), is a tragic epic. It consists of nine cantos and is exceptional in Bengali
literature both in terms of style and content. He also wrote poems about the
sorrows and afflictions of love as spoken by women.
From an early age, Dutt aspired to be an Englishman in form and manner.
Born to a Hindu landed-gentry family, he converted toChristianity as a young
man, to the ire of his family, and adopted the first name Michael. In later life
he regretted his attraction toEngland and the Occident. He wrote ardently of
his homeland in his poems and sonnets from this period.
Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali
literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what came to be
called amitrakshar chhanda (blank verse). Dutt died in Kolkata, India on 29
J une 1873.

Major works
Tilottama, 1860
Meghnad Bodh Kavya (Ballad of Meghnadh's demise), 1861
Birangana
Choturdoshpodi kobitaboli
Brajangngana
Sharmishtha
Ekei Ki Bole Sovyota (Is this is called a civilisation)
Buro Shaliker Ghare Rown
Ratnavali
Rizia, the sultana of Inde.
The Captive Lady
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Visions of the Past
Rosalo Sornolatika
Bongobani
Sonnets and other poems

Rajnarayan Basu
Rajnarayan Basu (Bengali: ) (1826 1899) was a writer and
intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24
Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, both premier
institutions in Kolkata, Bengal at the time. Amonotheist at heart, Rajnarayan
Basu converted to Brahmoism at the age of twenty.
[1]
After retiring, he was
given the honorary title ofRishi or sage. As a writer, he was one of the best
known prose writers in Bengali in the nineteenth century, writing often for
theTattwabodhini Patrika, a premier Brahmo journal.
[2]
Due to his defence of
Brahmoism, he was given the title "Grandfather of Indian Nationalism"
Dinabandhu Mitra
Di nabandhu Mitra (Bengali: 7 ) (18291873) the Bengali dramatist,
was born in 1829 at village Chouberia in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24
Parganas and was the son of Kalachand Mitra. His given name was
Gandharva Narayan, but he changed it to Dinabandhu Mitra.
Early life
Dinabandhu Mitra's education started at a village pathshala. His father
arranged a job for him on a zamindar's estate (1840). But the small boy fled
to Kolkata, where he started working in the house of his uncle, Nilmani Mitra.
Around 1846, he was admitted to the free school run by J ames Long.
Dinabandhu was a bright student and won a number of scholarships. In 1850,
he enrolled at Hindu College and was awarded scholarships for academic
excellence. However, he did not appear in his last examination, and, instead,
started working as a postmaster at Patna (1855). He served in various posts
in the Postal Department in Nadia, Dhaka and Orissa. In 1870, he was made
supernumerary post- master in Calcutta. In 1872, he joined the Indian
Railway as an inspector.
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Literary career
Dinabandhu started writing literary pieces while still at college. His poetic
style was inspired by the well-known poet Ishwar Chandra Gupta. His poems
were able to attract the attention of intellectuals at kolkata, but his
favourite genre was the drama. His work in the postal department had taken
him to various parts of the country giving him opportunities to study human
life closely and thereby adding to his ability to unfold the drama of life with a
degree of realism unknown at that time. Among his books of poems are
Suradhuni Kavya (first part appeared in 1871, second part appeared in 1876),
Dvadash Kavita (1872). His plays include Nildarpan (1860), Nabin Tapasvini
(1863), Biye Pagla Budo (1866), Sadhabar Ekadashi (1866), Lilavati (1867),
J amai Barik (1873)and Kamale Kamini (1873). He also wrote a novel titled
Poda Mahehshvar. Another one of his noted contributions was the hilarious -
"J amalay-e J iyonto Manush" (An Alive man in the abode of Yama), the basic
story line will later be adopted into an iconic film starring Bhanu
Bandopadhyay. It has to be noted that Mitra was also a pioneer in the sense
that his plays focused on humans rather than gods & goddesses. Also in
J amalay-e he involves popular Hindu gods to generate humour, which would
later be done by Rajshekhar Basu too.









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Girish Chandra Sen



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Girish Chandra Sen (Bengali: * ) (18351910), a Brahmo
Samaj missionary, was the first person to translate the Quraninto Bengali
language in 1886. It was his finest contribution to Bengali literature.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay


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Rishi Banki m Chandra Chattopadhyay (Bengali: Y*
5 Bngkim Chndro Chopaddhae)
[1]
(27 J une 1838
[2]
8 April
1894)
[3]
was a Bengali writer, poet and journalist.
[4]
He was the composer
of Indias national song Vande Mataram, originally
a Bengaliand Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and
inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra
wrote 13 novels and several serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and
critical treaties in Bengali. His works were widely translated into other
regional languages of India as well as in English.
Bankim Chandra was born to an orthodox Brahmin family
at Kanthalpara, North 24 Parganas. He was educated at Hoogly College
andPresidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first graduates of
the University of Calcutta. From 1858, until his retirement in 1891, he served
as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector in the Government of British
India.
[5]

Bankim Chandra is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of
Bengal as well as India.
[4]
Some of his writings, including novels, essays and
commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian
writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.
[4]

When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906,
he named it Vande Mataram, after Bankim Chandra's song. Lala Lajpat
Rai also published a journal of the same name.
Literary career
Bankim Chandra, following the model of Ishwarchandra Gupta, began his
literary career as a writer of verse. His majestic talents showed him other
directions, and turned to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali
submitted for a declared prize. He did not win the prize, and
the novelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print
was Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English and was probably a translation
of the novelette submitted for the prize.
[citation needed]
Durgeshnondini, his first
Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in 1865.
Kapalkundala (1866) is Chattopadhyay's first major publication. The heroine
of this novel, named after the mendicant woman in
Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava, is modelled partly
after Kalidasa's Shakuntala and partly after Shakespeare's Miranda.
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However, the partial similarities are only inferential analysis by critics, and
Chattopadhyay's heroine may be completely his original. He had chosen
Dariapur inContai Subdivision as the background of this famous novel.
His next romance, Mrinalini (1869), marks his first attempt to set his story
against a larger historical context. This book marks the shift from
Chattopadhyay's early career, in which he was strictly a writer of romances, to
a later period in which he aimed to stimulate the intellect of the Bengali
speaking people and bring about a cultural renaissance of Bengali literature.
He started publishing a monthly literary magazine Bangadarshan in April
1892, the first edition of which was filled almost entirely with his own work.
The magazine carried serialised novels, stories, humorous sketches,
historical and miscellaneous essays, informative articles, religious discourses,
literary criticisms and reviews. Vishabriksha (The Poison Tree, 1873) is the
first novel of Bankim Chandra that appeared serially in Bangodarshan.
Bangodarshan went out of circulation after 4 years. It was later revived by his
brother, Sanjeeb Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Bankim Chandra's next major novel was Chandrasekhar (1877), which
contains two largely unrelated parallel plots. Although the scene is once
shifted back to eighteenth century, the novel is not historical. His next novel
was Rajani (1877), which features an autobiographical plot, with a blind girl in
the title role. Autobiographical plots had been used in Wilkie Collins' "A
Woman in White", and a precedent for blind girl in a central role existed
in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Nydia in "The Last Days of Pompeii", though the
similarities of Rajaniwith these publications end there. In Krishnakanter
Will (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878) Chattopadhyay produced a complex plot.It
was a brilliant depiction of the contemporary India, lifestyle and corruption,In
that complexity, critics saw resemblance to Western novels. The plot is
somewhat akin to that of Poison Tree.
One of the many novels of Bankim Chandra that are entitled to be termed as
historical fiction is Rajsimha (1881, rewritten and enlarged
1893). Anandamath (The Abbey of Bliss, 1882) is a political novel which
depicts a Sannyasi (Hindu ascetic) army fighting the soldiers of the
Muslim Nawab of Murshidabad. The book calls for the rise of Hindu
nationalism to uproot the foreign Turko-Afghan Muslim rule of Bengal and put
forth as a temporary alternative the East India Company till Hindus were fit
for Self Rule. The novel was also the source of the song Vande Mataram (I
worship my Motherland for she truly is my mother) which, set to music
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by Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many Indian nationalists, and is
now the National Song of India. The novel is loosely based on the time of
the Sannyasi Rebellion, In the actual rebellion, Hindus sannyasis and
Muslim fakirs both rebelled against the British East India Company. The novel
first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan, the literary magazine that
Bankim founded in 1872.
[8]

Bankim Chandra's next novel, Devi Chaudhurani, was published in 1884. His
final novel, Sitaram (1886), tells the story of a local Hindu lord, torn between
his wife and the woman he desires but unable to attain, makes a series of
blunders and takes arrogant, self-destructive decisions. Finally, he must
confront his self and motivate the few loyal soldiers that stand between his
estate and the Muslim Nabab's army about to take over.
Bankim Chandra's humorous sketches are his best known works other than
his novels. Kamalakanter Daptar (From the Desk of Kamalakanta, 1875;
enlarged as Kamalakanta, 1885) contains half humorous and half serious
sketches. Kamalakanta is an opium-addict, similar to De
Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, but Bankim Chandra goes
much beyond with his deft handling of sarcastic, political messages that
Kamalakanta delivers.
Bankim Chandra's commentary on the Gita was published eight years after
his death and contained his comments up to the 19th Verse of Chapter 4.
Through this work, he attempted to reassure Hindus who were increasingly
being exposed to Western ideas. His belief was, that there was "No serious
hope of progress in India except in Hinduism-reformed,regenerated and
purified". He wrote an extensive commentary on two verses in particular-2.12
and 2.13-which deal with the immortality of the soul and its reincarnation
[9]

Critics, like Pramathnath Bishi, consider Bankim Chandra as the best novelist
in Bangla literature. Their belief is that few writers in world literature have
excelled in both philosophy and art as Bankim has done. They have felt that
in a colonised nation Bankim could not overlook politics. He was one of the
first intellectuals who wrote in a British colony, accepting and rejecting the
status at the same time. Bishi also rejects the division of Bankim in `Bankim
the artist' and `Bankim the moralist' - for Bankim must be read as a whole.
The artist in Bankim cannot be understood unless you understand him as a
moralist and vice versa.

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Bibliography
Fict ion
Durgeshnandini (March 1865)
Kapalkundala (1866)
Mrinalini (1869)
Vishabriksha (The Poison Tree, 1873)
Indira (1873, revised 1893)
Jugalanguriya (1874)
Radharani (1876, enlarged 1893)
Chandrasekhar (1877)
Kamalakanter Daptar (From the Desk of Kamlakanta, 1875)
Rajani(1877)
Krishnakanter Uil (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878)
Rajsimha (1882)
Anandamath (1882)
Devi Chaudhurani (1884)
Kamalakanta (1885)
Sitaram (March 1887)
Muchiram Gurer Jivancharita (The Life of Muchiram Gur)
Religious Commentaries
Krishna Charitra (Life of Krishna, 1886)
Dharmatattva (Principles of Religion, 1888)
Devatattva (Principles of Divinity, Published Posthumously)
Srimadvagavat Gita, a Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (1902 -
Published Posthumously)
Poetry Collecti ons
Lalita O Manas (1858)
Essays
Lok Rahasya (Essays on Society, 1874, enlarged 1888)
Bijnan Rahasya (Essays on Science, 1875)
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Bichitra Prabandha (Assorted Essays), Vol 1 (1876) and Vol 2 (1892)
Samya (Equality, 1879)

This bibliography does not include any of his English works.
Indeed his first novel was an English one and he also started
writing his religious and philosophical essays in English.

Kaliprasanna Singha
Kaliprasanna Singha (Bengali: 3P ) (23 February 1841{?}- 24 J uly
1870) is remembered for his two immortal contributions to Bengali literature
viz. translation of Mahabharata, the largest epic, and his book Hutom
Pyanchar Naksha. He is also remembered as a philanthropist who helped
several people and movements in distress.
Publications
He also edited/published several magazines like Vidyotsahini Patrika,
Paridarshak, Sarvatattwa Prakashika, Bibidhartha Samgraha etc. Paridarshak
was a Benagli daily newspaper started by J aganmohan Tarkalankar and
Madangopal Goswami. For improvement of the newspaper, Kaliprasanna
took over editorship of the newspaper. The quality of the newspaper was
ahead of its times and Kristo Das Pal wrote, "He also started a first class
vernacular daily newspaper, the like of which we have not yet seen."
Bibidhartho Samgraha was first edited by Babu Rajendralal Mitra, the well
known native gentleman. After him that magazine had been revived under the
auspices of Kaliprasanna Singha. In 1862 the most acclaimed "Hutom
Panchar Noksha" had been published. In this book he criticised the activities
of the then middle class societies in a humorous manner under the
pseudonym "Hutom Pyancha".
He provided financial assistance to magazines like Tattabodhini Patrika,
Somprakash, Mookerjee's Magazine, Bengalee, Doorbin and Hindu Patriot.

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