Michael Madhusudan Dutt
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| Michael Madhusudan Dutt Heritage of jessore |
Born: 25 January 1824
Jessore: British India
Died: 29 June 1873 (aged 49)
Calcutta: British India
Occupation: Writer
Nationality: British Indian
Ethnicity: Bengali
Genres: Poet, playwright
Subjects: Literature
Literary movement: Bengal Renaissance
Spouse(s): Rebecca Mactavys Henrietta Sophia White (m. 1856–1873)
Children: Napoleon Sharmistha
Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta (( Maikel Modhushudôn Dôtto (help·info)); 25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a popular 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist. He was born in Sagordari, on the bank of Kopotaksho River, a village in Keshabpur Upazila, Jessore District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His father was Rajnarayan Dutt, an eminent lawyer, and his mother was Jahnabi Devi. He was a pioneer of Bengali drama. His famous work Meghnad Bodh 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.
From an early age, Dutt aspired to be an Englishman in form and manner. Born to a Hindu landed-gentry family, he converted to Christianity as a young man, to the ire of his family, and adopted the first name Michael. In later life he regretted his attraction to England and the Occident. He wrote ardently of his homeland in his poems and sonnets from this period.
Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what came to be called amitrakshar chhanda (blank verse). Dutt died in Kolkata, India on 29 June 1873.
His childhood education started in a village named Shekpura, at an old mosque, where he went to learn Persian. He was an exceptionally talented student. Since his childhood, Dutt was recognised by his teachers and professors as being a precocious child with a gift of literary expression. He was very imaginative. Early exposure to English education and European literature at home and in Kolkata inspired him to emulate the English in taste, manners and intellect. An early influence was his teacher, Capt. D.L.Richardson at Hindu College. Dutt adopted his support of Thomas Babington Macaulay without realising it.
He dreamt of achieving great fame if he went abroad. His adolescence, coupled with the spirit of intellectual enquiry, convinced him that he was born on the wrong side of the planet, and that conservative Hindu society in early nineteenth-century Bengal (and by extension Indian society) had not yet developed the spirit of rationalistic enquiry and appreciation of greater intellectualism to appreciate him. He believed that the "free thinking" and post-Enlightenment West would be more receptive to his creative genius. He composed his early works—poetry and drama—almost entirely in English. His early works: plays including Sormistha and Ratnavali; translations such as Neel Durpan; and poems, including Captive Ladie, which was written about the mother of his close friend Sri Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, indicate a high level of intellectual sophistication.
Dutt had refused to enter into an arranged marriage which his father had decided for him. He had no respect for that tradition and wanted to break free from the confines of caste-based endogamous marriage. He formed the Brahmo Samaj for reform in conservative Hindu religion which became a becon of reform among Hindus His knowledge of the European tradition convinced him of the superiority of marriages made by mutual consent (or love marriages).
Dutt married twice. While living in Madras, he married Rebecca Mactavys, of English descent. They had four children together. He wrote to Gour in December 1855:
“ Yes, dearest Gour, I have a fine English Wife and four children. "
Dutt returned from Madras to Calcutta in February 1856, after his father's death. There he married Henrietta Sophia White, who was also ethnic English. His second marriage lasted until the end of his life. They had a son Napoleon and daughter Sharmistha.
The tennis player Leander Paes is a direct descendant of his.
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