Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (also Chattopadhayay) CIE (26 or 27 June 1838[4] – 8 April 1894[5]) was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist[6] and journalist.[7][8] He was the author of the 1882 Bengali language novel Anandamath, which is one of the landmarks of modern Bengali and Indian literature. He was the composer of Vande Mataram, written in highly sanskritized Bengali, personifyingBengal as a mother goddess and inspiring activists during the Indian Independence Movement. Chattopadhayay wrote fourteen novels and many serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treatises in Bengali. He is known as Sahitya Samrat (Emperor of Literature) in Bengali.[9][10][11][12][13]
Chattopadhayay is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as the broader Indian subcontinent.[7] 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.[7]
Chattopadhayay was born in the village of Kanthalpara in the town of North 24 Parganas, Naihati, in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family, the youngest of three brothers, to Yadav Chandra Chattopadhayay and Durgadebi.His ancestors hailed from Deshmukho village in Hooghly District.[14] His father, a government official, went on to become the Deputy Collector of Midnapur.One of his brothers, Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay was also a novelist and is known for his book "Palamau".Bankim Chandra and his elder brother both went to Hooghly Collegiate School (then Governmental Zilla School), where he wrote his first poem.He was educated at the Hooghly Mohsin College and later at Presidency College, Kolkata, graduating with a degree in arts in 1859. He later attended the University of Calcutta and was one of two candidates who passed the final exam to become the school's first graduates.[15] He later obtained a degree in law in 1869. Following his father's footsteps, Bankimchandra joined the Subordinate Executive Service. In 1858, he was appointed a Deputy Magistrate (the same type of position held by his father) of Jessore. After merging of the services in 1863, he went on to become Deputy Magistrate & Deputy Collector, retiring from government service in 1891. His years at work were replete with incidents that brought him into conflict with the colonial government.He was, however, made a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (CMEOIE) in 1894.[16] He also received the title of Rai Bahadur in 1891.
Chattopadhyay's earliest publications were in Ishwar Chandra Gupta's weekly newspaper Sangbad Prabhakar.[17] He began his literary career as a writer of verse before turning to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize. He did not win and the novelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print was the English novel Rajmohan's Wife.[18]Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in 1865.[19] His essay ‘Shakuntala, Miranda ebong Desdemona’ (1873) is considered as the first attempt of comparative analysis of different literatures in Bengali and is studied closely in school of comparative literature of Jadavpur University. [20]
One of the many novels of Chattopadhyay 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 a British force. The book calls for the rise of Indian nationalism. 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 by Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many Indian nationalists, and is now the National Song of India. The plot of the novel is loosely set on the Sannyasi Rebellion. He imagined untrained Sannyasi soldiers fighting and defeating the British East India Company; ultimately, however, he accepted that the British Empire could not be defeated.[21] The novel first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan, the literary magazine that Chattopadhyay founded in 1872. Vande Mataram became prominent during the Swadeshi movement, which was sparked by Lord Curzon's attempt to partition Bengal into a Hindu majority West and Muslim majority East. Drawing from the Shakti tradition of Bengali Hindus, Chattopadhyay personified India as a Mother Goddess known as Bharat Mata, which gave the song a Hindu undertone.[22]
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee on a 1969 stamp of India
Bankim was particularly impressed by the historical Gaudiya Vaishnava cultural efflorescence of the 14th and 15th centuries in Bengal. Chattopadhyay's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita was published eight years after his death and contained his comments up to the 19th Verse of Chapter 4.[23] In a long essay on Sankhya philosophy, he argues that the central philosophical foundation of the overwhelming part of religious beliefs in India, including even Buddhism, lies in the philosophy of Sankhya. He was a critique of the philosophy in the sense of its emphasis on personal vairagya (renunciation) rather than political and social power.[24]
Meeting with Ramakrishna
Bankim was highly educated and influenced by Oriental thoughts and ideas. Ramakrishna in contrast, did not have knowledge of English. Yet they had a nice relation between them. Once Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, playing on the meaning of Bankim (Bent A Little), asked him what it was that had bent him. Bankim Chandra jokingly replied that it was the kick from the Englishman's shoe for he was a well-known critic of the British government.
"Bankim Chandra had equal strength in both his hands, he was a true sabyasachi (ambidextrous). With one hand, he created literary works of excellence; and with the other, he guided young and aspiring authors. With one hand, he ignited the light of literary enlightenment; and with the other, he blew away the smoke and ash of ignorance and ill conceived notions”
^Library, S.T.N.Y.P.; Skillion, A. (2001). The New York Public Library Literature Companion. Free Press. p. 160. ISBN978-1-4391-3721-5.
^Encyclopaedia Britannica, I.; Encyclopaedia Britannica, I. (2008). Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 380. ISBN978-1-59339-492-9.
^"Remembering Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, writer of the national song Vande Mataram".
^. north24parganas.gov.in. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
^Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. 1995. p. 231. ISBN978-0-87779-042-6.
^Bhabatosh Chatterjee (1994). Bankimchandra Chatterjee: Essays In Perspective. Public Resource.
^ abcStaff writer. "Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist", The Daily Star, 30 June 2011
^Khan, Fatima (8 April 2019). "Bankim Chandra — the man who wrote Vande Mataram, capturing colonial India's imagination". ThePrint. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
^Chakraborty, Dr. Dulal (2007). History of Bengali Literature (in Bengali). Bani Bitan.
^"Remembering Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the face of Bengal renaissance, on his birth anniversary". The Indian Express. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
^"'Harbinger of Indian renaissance': Indians remember 'Sahitya Samrat' Bankim Chandra Chatterjee on his 183rd birth anniversary". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
^Chattopadhyay, Sachis Chandra (1952). Bankim's Biography (in Bengali). Calcutta. p. 9.
^Bhattacharya, Amitrasudana (1991). Bankima-chandra-jibani (in Bengali). Calcutta: Anand Publishers. p. 25.
^Chattopadhyay, Sachishchandra, Bankim-Jibani, 1952, Pustak Bipani, p 9
^"Shri Bankim Chandra Chattopadhayay". West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education.
^. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
^Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (Chatterjee), from BengalOnline.
^Mukherjee, Meenakshi (1 January 2002). Early Novels in India. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN9788126013425.
^"Literary lion - Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: The Statesman Notebook". The Statesman. 8 July 2019. from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
^"Jadavpur University B.A Syllabus - Comparative Literature" (PDF). Jadavpur University.
^"किसकी वंदना है वंदे मातरम – Navbharat Times". Navbharat Times. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
^Mazumdar, Aurobindo (2007). Vande Mataram and Islam. Mittal Publications. ISBN9788183241595.
^Minor, Robert (1986) Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. State University of NY press. ISBN0-88706-298-9
^Partha Chatterjee, “Chapter 3 The Moment of Departure: Culture and Power in the Thought of Bankimchandra” in National Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? (Delhi:Oxford University Press, 1986), 54-84.
^Lemon, Mark; Mayhew, Henry; Taylor, Tom; Brooks, Shirley; Burnand, Sir Francis Cowley; Seaman, Sir Owen (1885). "London Charivari". Punch Publications Limited.
Further reading
Ujjal Kumar Majumdar: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: His Contribution to Indian Life and Culture. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 2000. ISBN81-7236-098-3.
Walter Ruben: Indische Romane. Eine ideologische Untersuchung. Vol. 1: Einige Romane Bankim Chattopadhyays iund Ranbindranath Tagore. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1964. (German)
Bhabatosh Chatterjee, Editor: Bankimchandra Chatterjee: Essays in Perspective (Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi) 1994.
External links
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Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
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bankim, chandra, chatterjee, also, chattopadhayay, june, 1838, april, 1894, indian, novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, author, 1882, bengali, language, novel, anandamath, which, landmarks, modern, bengali, indian, literature, composer, vande, mataram, writt. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee also Chattopadhayay CIE 26 or 27 June 1838 4 8 April 1894 5 was an Indian novelist poet Essayist 6 and journalist 7 8 He was the author of the 1882 Bengali language novel Anandamath which is one of the landmarks of modern Bengali and Indian literature He was the composer of Vande Mataram written in highly sanskritized Bengali personifying Bengal as a mother goddess and inspiring activists during the Indian Independence Movement Chattopadhayay wrote fourteen novels and many serious serio comic satirical scientific and critical treatises in Bengali He is known as Sahitya Samrat Emperor of Literature in Bengali 9 10 11 12 13 Bankim Chandra ChatterjeeNative nameবঙ ক মচন দ র চট ট প ধ য য Born26 June 1838 1 2 3 Naihati Bengal Presidency British India present day West Bengal India Died8 April 1894 1894 04 08 aged 55 Calcutta Bengal Presidency British India now Kolkata West Bengal India Pen nameKamalakantaOccupationWriter poet novelist essayist journalist government officialLanguageBengali EnglishAlma materUniversity of CalcuttaLiterary movementBengal RenaissanceNotable worksDurgeshnandiniKapalkundalaDevi ChaudhuraniAnandamathBishabrikshaSignatureWebsiteBankim Rachanabali administrated by eduliture Contents 1 Biography 2 Literary career 3 Meeting with Ramakrishna 4 Legacy 5 Bibliography 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksBiography EditChattopadhayay is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as the broader Indian subcontinent 7 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 7 Chattopadhayay was born in the village of Kanthalpara in the town of North 24 Parganas Naihati in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family the youngest of three brothers to Yadav Chandra Chattopadhayay and Durgadebi His ancestors hailed from Deshmukho village in Hooghly District 14 His father a government official went on to become the Deputy Collector of Midnapur One of his brothers Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay was also a novelist and is known for his book Palamau Bankim Chandra and his elder brother both went to Hooghly Collegiate School then Governmental Zilla School where he wrote his first poem He was educated at the Hooghly Mohsin College and later at Presidency College Kolkata graduating with a degree in arts in 1859 He later attended the University of Calcutta and was one of two candidates who passed the final exam to become the school s first graduates 15 He later obtained a degree in law in 1869 Following his father s footsteps Bankimchandra joined the Subordinate Executive Service In 1858 he was appointed a Deputy Magistrate the same type of position held by his father of Jessore After merging of the services in 1863 he went on to become Deputy Magistrate amp Deputy Collector retiring from government service in 1891 His years at work were replete with incidents that brought him into conflict with the colonial government He was however made a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire CMEOIE in 1894 16 He also received the title of Rai Bahadur in 1891 Literary career EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Chattopadhyay s earliest publications were in Ishwar Chandra Gupta s weekly newspaper Sangbad Prabhakar 17 He began his literary career as a writer of verse before turning to fiction His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize He did not win and the novelette was never published His first fiction to appear in print was the English novel Rajmohan s Wife 18 Durgeshnandini his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali was published in 1865 19 His essay Shakuntala Miranda ebong Desdemona 1873 is considered as the first attempt of comparative analysis of different literatures in Bengali and is studied closely in school of comparative literature of Jadavpur University 20 Second edition of Anandamath 1883 One of the many novels of Chattopadhyay 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 a British force The book calls for the rise of Indian nationalism 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 by Rabindranath Tagore was taken up by many Indian nationalists and is now the National Song of India The plot of the novel is loosely set on the Sannyasi Rebellion He imagined untrained Sannyasi soldiers fighting and defeating the British East India Company ultimately however he accepted that the British Empire could not be defeated 21 The novel first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan the literary magazine that Chattopadhyay founded in 1872 Vande Mataram became prominent during the Swadeshi movement which was sparked by Lord Curzon s attempt to partition Bengal into a Hindu majority West and Muslim majority East Drawing from the Shakti tradition of Bengali Hindus Chattopadhyay personified India as a Mother Goddess known as Bharat Mata which gave the song a Hindu undertone 22 Bankim Chandra Chatterjee on a 1969 stamp of India Bankim was particularly impressed by the historical Gaudiya Vaishnava cultural efflorescence of the 14th and 15th centuries in Bengal Chattopadhyay s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita was published eight years after his death and contained his comments up to the 19th Verse of Chapter 4 23 In a long essay on Sankhya philosophy he argues that the central philosophical foundation of the overwhelming part of religious beliefs in India including even Buddhism lies in the philosophy of Sankhya He was a critique of the philosophy in the sense of its emphasis on personal vairagya renunciation rather than political and social power 24 Meeting with Ramakrishna EditBankim was highly educated and influenced by Oriental thoughts and ideas Ramakrishna in contrast did not have knowledge of English Yet they had a nice relation between them Once Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa playing on the meaning of Bankim Bent A Little asked him what it was that had bent him Bankim Chandra jokingly replied that it was the kick from the Englishman s shoe for he was a well known critic of the British government Legacy EditTagore penned in the memory of his mentor Bankim Chandra had equal strength in both his hands he was a true sabyasachi ambidextrous With one hand he created literary works of excellence and with the other he guided young and aspiring authors With one hand he ignited the light of literary enlightenment and with the other he blew away the smoke and ash of ignorance and ill conceived notions Sri Aurobindo wrote in his memory The earlier Bankim was only a poet and stylist the later Bankim was a seer and nation builder After the Vishabriksha The Poison Tree was published in 1873 the magazine Punch wrote You ought to read the Poison Tree of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 25 dd His novel Anushilan Tattva inspired Pramathanath Mitra to start Anushilan Samiti Bankim Puraskar Bankim Memorial Award is the highest award given by the Government of West Bengal for contribution to Bengali fiction Bibliography EditFictionDurgeshnandini March 1865 Kapalkundala 1866 Mrinalini 1869 Vishabriksha The Poison Tree 1873 Indira 1873 revised 1893 Jugalanguriya 1874 Radharani 1876 enlarged 1893 Chandrasekhar 1875 Kamalakanter Daptar From the Desk of Kamlakanta 1875 Rajani 1877 Krishnakanter Uil Krishnakanta s Will 1878 Rajsimha 1882 Anandamath 1882 Orient Paperbacks ISBN 978 81 222013 0 7 Devi Chaudhurani 1884 Kamalakanta 1885 Sitaram March 1887 Muchiram Gurer Jivancharita The Life of Muchiram Gur Religious CommentariesKrishna 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 CollectionsLalita O Manas 1858 EssaysLok Rahasya Essays on Society 1874 enlarged 1888 Bijnan Rahasya Essays on Science 1875 Bichitra Prabandha Assorted Essays Vol 1 1876 and Vol 2 1892 Samya Equality 1879 Chattopadhyay s debut novel was an English one Rajmohan s Wife 1864 and he also started writing his religious and philosophical essays in English See also EditList of Indian writers Sadhu BhashaReferences Edit Library S T N Y P Skillion A 2001 The New York Public Library Literature Companion Free Press p 160 ISBN 978 1 4391 3721 5 Encyclopaedia Britannica I Encyclopaedia Britannica I 2008 Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Britannica p 380 ISBN 978 1 59339 492 9 Remembering Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay writer of the national song Vande Mataram History amp Heritage north24parganas gov in Archived from the original on 1 November 2017 Retrieved 27 June 2018 Merriam Webster s Encyclopedia of Literature Merriam Webster 1995 p 231 ISBN 978 0 87779 042 6 Bhabatosh Chatterjee 1994 Bankimchandra Chatterjee Essays In Perspective Public Resource a b c Staff writer Bankim Chandra The First Prominent Bengali Novelist The Daily Star 30 June 2011 Khan Fatima 8 April 2019 Bankim Chandra the man who wrote Vande Mataram capturing colonial India s imagination ThePrint Retrieved 1 September 2021 Chakraborty Dr Dulal 2007 History of Bengali Literature in Bengali Bani Bitan Remembering Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay the face of Bengal renaissance on his birth anniversary The Indian Express 27 June 2017 Retrieved 1 September 2021 Harbinger of Indian renaissance Indians remember Sahitya Samrat Bankim Chandra Chatterjee on his 183rd birth anniversary Free Press Journal Retrieved 1 September 2021 Chattopadhyay Sachis Chandra 1952 Bankim s Biography in Bengali Calcutta p 9 Bhattacharya Amitrasudana 1991 Bankima chandra jibani in Bengali Calcutta Anand Publishers p 25 Chattopadhyay Sachishchandra Bankim Jibani 1952 Pustak Bipani p 9 Shri Bankim Chandra Chattopadhayay West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay Penguin Books India Archived from the original on 28 November 2011 Retrieved 26 January 2012 Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Chatterjee from BengalOnline Mukherjee Meenakshi 1 January 2002 Early Novels in India Sahitya Akademi ISBN 9788126013425 Literary lion Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay The Statesman Notebook The Statesman 8 July 2019 Archived from the original on 22 July 2019 Retrieved 29 January 2021 Jadavpur University B A Syllabus Comparative Literature PDF Jadavpur University क सक व दन ह व द म तरम Navbharat Times Navbharat Times 28 January 2012 Retrieved 11 February 2018 Mazumdar Aurobindo 2007 Vande Mataram and Islam Mittal Publications ISBN 9788183241595 Minor Robert 1986 Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita State University of NY press ISBN 0 88706 298 9 Partha Chatterjee Chapter 3 The Moment of Departure Culture and Power in the Thought of Bankimchandra in National Thought and the Colonial World A Derivative Discourse Delhi Oxford University Press 1986 54 84 Lemon Mark Mayhew Henry Taylor Tom Brooks Shirley Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Seaman Sir Owen 1885 London Charivari Punch Publications Limited Further reading EditUjjal Kumar Majumdar Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay His Contribution to Indian Life and Culture Calcutta The Asiatic Society 2000 ISBN 81 7236 098 3 Walter Ruben Indische Romane Eine ideologische Untersuchung Vol 1 Einige Romane Bankim Chattopadhyays iund Ranbindranath Tagore Berlin Akademie Verlag 1964 German Bhabatosh Chatterjee Editor Bankimchandra Chatterjee Essays in Perspective Sahitya Akademi New Delhi 1994 External links Edit Wikisource has original text related to this article Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Media related to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee at Wikiquote Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Chatterji Bankim Chandra Works by Bankim Chandra Chatterji at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Bankim Chandra Chatterjee at Internet Archive Works by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee at LibriVox public domain audiobooks https en banglapedia org index php Chattopadhyay Bankimchandra Portals Biography India Literature Poetry Education Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bankim Chandra Chatterjee amp oldid 1129637891, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
