Bengali literature
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The first evidence of Bengali literature is known as Charyapada or Charyageeti, buddhist hymns from the 8th century. Charyapada is in the oldest known written form of Bengali. The famous Bengali linguist Harprashad Shastri discovered the palm leaf Charyapada manuscript in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907.
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[edit] Starting of modern era
In the middle of 19th century, Bengali literature gained momentum. During this period, the Bengali Pandits of Fort William College did the tedious work of translating the text books in Bengali to help teach the British some indian languages including Bengali. This work played a role in the background in the evolution of Bengali prose.
[edit] Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy arrived in Calcutta in 1814 and engaged in literary pursuits. Translating from Sanskrit to Bengali, writing essays on religious topics and publishing magazines were some the areas he focussed on. He established a cultural group in the name of 'Atyio Sova' (Club of Kins) in 1815.
[edit] Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyaya (popularly known as "Vidyasagar" which means 'ocean of knowledge') was mainly known as a social reformer and an educator. But his contribution to the Bengali literature was also crucially important . Most modern scholars agree that, it was he who played the most significant role in the inception of effective Bengali prose writing, partly laying the foundation of modern Bengali literature.
Vidysagar realized the need of educating women in the society. With his tireless effort to uplift the status of women in the society, he was able to establish some Girl's schools in different parts of Bengal. But there was no good Bengali text book for basic Bengali education. He wrote Bengali books with basic language construct and fundamentals, like, "Barnaparichay", "Bodhoday", "Kathamala" etc. and then easy grammar books like "Upakramonika" and "Byakaron Kaumudi". He also introduced some basic books for Mathematical logic. Rabindranath Tagore called him as the father of modern Bengali language. Vidyasagar translated some masterpieces of Sanskrit and English literature into Bengali: "betaal panchabingshati"(Sanskrit Kathasarit sagar, "shakuntala", "bhranti bilaas" , "sitaar banabaas" and edited books like "raghubangsha", "kumarsambhab" etc.
[edit] Parichand Mitra
Parichand Mitra (penname Tekchand Thakur),is widely considered to be the first Bengali novelist for his novel "Alaler Ghore Dulal". This novel was published in 1858. In this novel he used the colloquial language, something that was almost unthinkable for the literati of his time.
[edit] Impact of Nil Bidroho and Dinabandhu Mitra
In 1857, the famous 'Sipahi Biplob' (Sepoy Mutiny) took place. With the wind of it, 'Nil Bidroho'(Blue Revolt)scattered all over then Bengal region. This Nil Bidroho lasted for more than a year (In 1859-1860). The literature world was shaken with this revolt. In the light of this revolt, a great drama was published from Dhaka in the name of 'Nil Dorpon' (The Blue Mirror). Dinabandhu Mitra was the writer of this play.
[edit] Michael Madhusudan Dutt
In this time, Michael Madhusudan Dutt emerged as the first epic-poet of modern bangla literature. Dutt, a Christian by conversion, is best known for his Ramayana-based masterpiece, "The Slaying of Meghnadh," (in Bengali "Meghnadh Bodh Kabbo" (মেঘনাদ বধ কাব্য)), which essentially follows in the poetic tradition of Milton's Paradise Lost. Those who have read it consider this work a world-class epic poem of the modern era. Michael Madhusudan Dutta is also credited with the introduction of sonnets to Bangla literature. He ruled the bangla literature wold for more than a decade (1858-1863).
[edit] Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay starts his journey through bangla literature with his first publishd novel 'Durgeshnondini' (Daughter of the Fort Lord) in 1865. he is considered as one of the leading Bengali novelists and is popularly known as the author of India's first national song, "Bande Mātarom" (pronounced in Hindi "Vande Mātāram").
[edit] Others
Bangla literature also become rich with its variations. It started to spread its different branches also. in poetry Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Biharilal Chokroborty, Kaykobad, in novel Romeshchandra Dutt, Mir Mosharraf Hossain, in plays Girish Chandra Gosh, in essays Akshay Kumar Boral, Ramendro Sundar Tribedy and many others contributed to enrich bangla literature in this time.
A lot of literature magazines and newspapers started to come under day light. A number of educational institutes appears all over the region. This helps a lot to nurture the future author and poets of bangla language.
[edit] Influence of Rabindranath Tagore
Possibly the most prolific writer in Bangla is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore dominated both the Bengali and Indian philosophical and literary scene for decades. His 2,000 Rabindrasangeets play a pivotal part in defining Bengali culture, both in West Bengal and Bangladesh. He is the author of the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh, both composed in Bangla. Other notable Bangla works of his are Gitanjali, a book of poems for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and many short stories and a few novels. It is widely accepted that Bangla Literature accomplished its contemporary look by the writings and influence of Rabindranath.
[edit] Kazi Nazrul Islam
In a similar category is Kazi Nazrul Islam, a Muslim who was invited to post-partition Bangladesh as the National Poet and whose work transcends sectarian boundaries. Adored by Bengalis both in Bangladesh and West Bengal, his work includes 3,000 songs, known as both as nazrul geeti and "nazrul sangeet". He is frequently called the rebel poet mainly because of his most famous and electrifying poem "Bidrohi" or "The Rebel", and also because of his strong sympathy and support for revolutionary activities leading to India's independence from British Rule. His songs and poems were frequently used during the Bangladesh Liberation War as well. Though he is acknowledged as the rebel poet, Nazrul very effectively contributed in all branches of literature. He wrote poems that lights the fire against enequality or unjust and the same time he wrote some awesome romantic poems. He wrote a lot of Islami Gazals and in the same time wrote a number of Shyama Sangeet (songs for the Hindu Mother Goddess, Kali). Nazrul was not only a poet, he was writer, musician, journalist and philosopher. He was sent to jail for his literary works against then prevailing British rule.
[edit] Other notable names
[edit] Novelists
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was one of the most popular novelists of early 20th century whose speciality was exploring complex human psychology and drama. Tarashankar Bandopadhay was another famous novelist whose works feature a realistic picture of the many-colored fabric of life in rural Bengal in a pioneering modernish style of prose in fiction. Other famous bengali novelists are Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, Manik Bandopadhyay, Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay(Banophool), Saradindu Bandopadhyay, Bimal Mitra, Bimal Kar, Samaresh Basu etc.
[edit] Short story writers
Bengali literature is also famous for short stories. Some of the famous short story writers are Rabindranath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, Raj Shekhar Basu(Parasuram), Premendra Mitra, Sibram Chakraborty, Saradindu Bandopadhyay, Subodh Ghosh, Narendra Nath Mitra, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Santosh Ghosh, etc.
The famous Bengali film director Satyajit Ray also wrote many short stories. One of his stories was Bankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu's Friend) written in 1962, which was the first science fiction story to portray an alien from outer space as a benign and playful being invested with magical powers and best capable of interacting with children, in contrast to earlier science fiction stories which portrayed aliens as dangerous monsters. He later adapted the story as a script for a film called The Alien in 1967, though the film was later cancelled. However, Ray's story was strikingly similar to Spielberg's film E.T. later released in 1982, which may have been inspired by Ray's script for The Alien.
[edit] Poets
Jibanananda Das was a famous poet who, along with Buddhadev Basu, marks the beginning of the move to transcend the Tagore legacy. The new genere of Bengali poets departed considerably from Tagore's ideological style and adoped realism in their writing more pronouncedly. Titled polli-kobi (Poet of the Village) for works relating to the villages and countryside of Bengal, Jasimuddin is particularly famous for his poems that have become major highlights for pedagogical purposes in both West Bengal and Bangladesh. Shamsur Rahman is widely known for his 'playing with words'. He has built on the ground of the 30's poets, but he has developed the ground, explored into areas they thought too dark for exploration, has added new features to it, landscaped it and in the process left his footprints all over.
[edit] Musicians
Seminal Hindu religious works in Bangla include the many songs of Ramprasad Sen. His works (still sung today) from the 17th century cover an astonishing range of emotional responses to the goddess Kali, detailing complex philosophical statements based on Vedanta teachings and more visceral prouncements of his love of the goddess. They are known as Shyama Sangeet and were the literary inspiration for Kazi Nazrul Islam's later, famed Shyama Sangeet. There are also the laudatory accounts of the lives and teachings of the Vaishnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (the Choitanyo Choritāmrit) and Devi Advaitist Shri Ramakrishna (the Ramakrishna Kathamrita, translated roughly as Gospel of Ramakrishna). There is also a large body of Islamic literature, that can be traced back at least to Noornama by Abdul Hakim. Bishad Sindhu depicting the death of Hussain in Karbala is very popular novel written by Mir Mosharraf Hossain. Later works influenced by Islam include devotional songs written by Nazrul, and popularized by Abbas Uddin, among others.
[edit] Bauls and traditional singers
The mystic Bauls of the Bengal countryside who preached the boundless spiritual truth of Sôhoj Pôth (the Simple, Natural Path) and Moner Mānush (The Man of The Heart) drew on Vedantic philosophy to propound transcendental truths in song format, traveling from village to village proclaiming that there was no such thing as Hindu, Muslim or Christian, only moner mānush.
The literature discussed so far can be more or less regarded as the common heritage of both Bangladesh and West Bengal. Since the partition of Bengal in 1947, the east and west parts of Bengal have also developed their own distinctive literatures. For example, the Naxalite movement has influenced much of West Bengal's literature, whereas the Liberation War has had a similarly profound impact on Bangladeshi literature.
Major literary figures in Bangladesh include Shamsur Rahman, Sufia Kamal, Hasan Azizul Huq, Akhtaruzzaman Ilias and Humayun Azad , to name a few. Some notable writers from West Bengal are Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shankha Ghosh, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Mahasweta Devi and Joy Goswami.
[edit] See also
- History of Bengali literature
- Bengali novels
- Library of Congress - Bengali Section [1]
