Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (

From the fifth grade, Bandyopadhyay studied at Bongaon High School, one of the oldest institutions in British India, and was considered as a talented student. Following a first division placement in the Entrance and Intermediate Arts examinations, Bandyopadhyay completed his undergraduate degree in economics, history, and sanskrit at the Surendranath College (then Ripon College) in Kolkata. He was admitted to the master's degree (MA) and Law classes, but could not afford to enroll for the postgraduate course at the University of Calcutta, and joined as a teacher in a school in Jangipara, Jangipara D N High School, Hooghly.^[3][4]

Career

Bandyopadhyay worked in a variety of jobs to support both himself and his family before becoming a writer. His first job was as a teacher, but he also served as a travelling publicist for Goraksini Sabha, and later as a secretary for Khelatchandra Ghosh, a role that included the management of his Bhagalpur estate. He became involved with Khelatchandra, a prominent name in music and charity, while tutoring his family. He also taught at the Khelatchandra Memorial School.^[3] Eventually, Bandyopadhyay returned to his native place. He started working as a teacher in the Gopalnagar Haripada Institution, which he continued alongside his literary work, until his death. He wrote and published Pather Panchali while staying at Ghatshila, a town in Jharkhand.^{[citation needed]}

Works

Bandyopadhyay's works are largely set in rural Bengal, with characters from that area. Several of his novels are set in

Amit Chaudhuri has translated a few excerpts from the novel for inclusion in the anthology, The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. In his introduction to these excerpts, Chaudhuri wrote, "Unique for its tenderness and poetry ... Pather Panchali rejects both nineteenth-century realism and social realism (the social milieu described in it would have logically lent itself to the latter) for an inquiry into perception and memory."^[7] The complete text of Aparajito has been translated into English by Gopa Majumdar. The novel Aranyak has been translated into English in January 2017 by Suchismita Banerjee Rai, and it has been published by Mitra and Ghosh Publishers based in Kolkata. His novels Ashani Sanket and Ichhamati have been translated into English respectively as Distant Thunder and Ichhamoti by Chhanda Chattopadhyay Bewtra and published by Parabaas.

Martin Seymour-Smith, in his Guide to Modern World Literature (1973), describes Bandyopadhyay (he uses the form Banerji) as "perhaps the best of all modern Indian novelists", going on to write that, "probably nothing in twentieth-century Indian literature, in prose or poetry, comes to the level of Pather Panchali".^[8] He was posthumously awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 1951, a literary award in West Bengal, for his novel Ichhamati.^[3]

Death

Bandopadhyay died on 1 November 1950, in Ghatshila. The cause of death was identified as a heart attack.^[9] His house in Ghatshila, named Gouri Kunj after his wife has been preserved by the Jharkhand State Government.^[10]

Bibliography

Filmography

Filmography based on his Bibliography are

• Pather Panchali
  (1955)
• Aparajito (1956)
• Adarsha Hindu Hotel (1957)
• Apur Sansar
  (1959)
• Baksa Badal (1970)
• Nishi Padma (1970) based on short story Hinger Kochuri.
• Amar Prem (1972) based on short story Hinger Kochuri.^[11]
• Nimantran (1971)
• Ashani Sanket
  (1973)
• Alo (2003)
• The Festival!Talnabami (Film) (2003)
• Bhalobasar Onek Naam (2006)
• Chander Pahar (2013)
• Amazon Obhijaan (2017) based on the characters of Chander pahar.
• Sahaj Paather Gappo (Colours of Innocence) (2017) based on the story Taal Nabami.
• Avijatrik (2021) based on the concluding part of the novel Aparajito

See also

• List of Indian writers

References

External links

• Works by or about Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay at Internet Archive

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