Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta, (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was Bengali poet and dramatist. He was the first great poet of modern Bangla literature.[1] He was educated at the Hindu College, Kolkata. In 1843, he became a Christian. He was born in Sagordari, a village in Keshobpur Upozila, Jessore District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). He was a pioneer of Bengali drama. His famous work Meghnad Badh Kavya, is a tragic Novel, centring round the heroic figure of Indrajit, Ravan's son. It has nine cantos and is exceptional in Bengali literature both in terms of style and content. He also wrote poems about the sorrows and pains of love as spoken by women.
Michael Madhusudan Dutt | |
|---|---|
 Michael Madhusudan Dutt | |
| Born | 25 January 1824 Sagordari village, Jessore, British India |
| Died | 29 June 1873 (aged 49) Calcutta, British India |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British Indian |
| Genre | Poet, playwright |
| Subject | Literature |
| Literary movement | Bengal Renaissance |
| Spouse | Rebecca Mactavys Henrietta Sophia White (m. 1856–1873) |
| Children | Napoleon Sharmistha |
| Relatives | Rajnarayan Dutt (father) Jahnabi Devi (mother) |
From an early age, Dutt wanted to be an Englishman in form and manner. In later life, he regretted his attraction to England and the Occident. He wrote lovingly of his homeland in his poems and sonnets from this period.
His early writings were in English, but they were unsuccessful. He turned, reluctantly at first, to Bengali. His main works, written mostly between 1858 and 1862, include prose drama, long narrative poems, and lyrics. His first play, Sarmistha (1858), was well received. His poetical works are Tilottamasambhab (1860), a narrative poem on the story of Sunda and Upasunda; Meghnad Badh (1861), his most important piece, 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.
Dutt is widely said to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali literature. He is the father of the Bengali sonnet. He was the first to make what came to be called amitrakshar chhanda (blank verse). Dutt died in Kolkata, India on 29 June 1873.[2]
Michael Madhusudan Dutt Media
The street where M Dutta used to live in Versailles, France.
12 Rue Des Chantiers, 78000 Versailles, France – the apartment building where M. Dutta dwelled (photo taken in July 2011)
Tomb of Michael Madhusudan Dutta at the Lower Circular Road cemetery.
References
- ↑ Michael Madhusudan Dutta : Profile of an Epic Poet Compiled by Aparna Chatterjee
- ↑ "Michael Madhusudan Dutta" Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Calcuttaweb
Other websites
Media related to Michael Madhusudan Dutt at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to Michael Madhusudan Dutt at Wikiquote