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Michael Madhusudan Dutta 25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet, writer and
dramatist. He was a pioneer of Bengali drama.[1] His famous work Meghnad Badh Kavya, 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.
Linguistic abilities
Madhusudan was a gifted linguist and polyglot. He studied Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Tamil, Telugu,
and Sanskrit.[4][11]
Barrister-at-Law
On the eve of his departure to England:
Forget me not, O Mother,
Should I fail to return
To thy hallowed bosom.
Make not the lotus of thy memory
Void of its nectar Madhu.
(Translated from the original Bengali by the poet.)
His family joined him in 1863, and thereafter they shifted to the much cheaper Versailles, due to the
miserable state of their finances. Funds were not arriving from India according to his plans. He was
only able to relocate to England in 1865 and study for the bar due to the munificent generosity
of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. For this, Dutt was to regard Vidyasagar as Dayar
Sagar (meaning the ocean of kindness) for as long as he lived. He was admitted to the High Court in
Calcutta on his return in February 1867. His family followed him in 1869.
His stay in England had left him disillusioned with European culture. He wrote to his
friend Bysack from France:
If there be any one among us anxious to leave a name behind him, and not pass away into oblivion
like a brute, let him devote himself to his mother-tongue. That is his legitimate sphere his proper
element.
They had two sons, Frederick Michael Milton (23 July 1861 - 11 June 1875)[3][11][18] and Albert
[8]
Death[edit]
Dutt died in Calcutta General Hospital on 29 June 1873.[8] Three days prior to his death, he recited a
passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth to his dear friend Bysack, to express his deepest conviction
of life:
...out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
দাঁড়াও পথিক-বর, জন্ম যদি তব
Major works[edit]
King Porus
The Captive Ladie (1849)
Ratul Potra
Sermista (1859) (Bengali and English)
Padmavati (1859)
Ekei Ki Boley Sabyota (1860)
Krishna Kumari (1860)
Buro Shaliker Ghare Ron (1860)
Tilottama Sambhava Kavya (1861)
Meghnad Badh Kavya (1861)
Brajagana Kavya (1861)
Veerangana Kavya (1861)
Ratnavali (English translation)
Nil Darpan (English translation)
Choturdoshpodi Kobitaboli
Rizia, the Sultana of Inde
Rosalo Sornolatika
Bongobani
Sonnets and other poems (1866)
Bongo bhumir prati