Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
(1838-94)

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was born on 26 June 1838 at the village of Kathalpara, near Naihati, North 24 Parganas, West Bangla of Jadab Chandra Chatterjee and Durga Debi. Son of a deputy collector, he grew up to join civil service as the deputy magistrate and deputy collector of the district of Jessore as soon as he completed his law degree from Presidency college Calcutta in 1857.

He was a member of an illustrious family, his brother being Sanjib Chatterjee the famous nature writer and the author of "Palamou". Bengalis, for the 1st time got the taste of a real novel in the pre-Tagore era through Chatterjee. In 1864 his first novel in English, Rajmohon's Wife started appearing on weekly basis in the Education Gazette. But somehow it was found missing the charm of the language. His Bangla novel, which he had already started writing in 1863, was soon published. "Durgesh Nandini" as it was called created a sensation in the Bengali literary arena. "Kapal Kundala" followed this in 1866, which was inspired by his encounter with a 'kapalik' or a sadhu who believes in the worship of 'Shakti' while he was in Negua.

In 1869, his 3rd novel 'Mrinalini' was published and the readers for the first time found the flavour of patriotism in his literary works. In 1872 he took over as the editor of the prestigious magazine Bangadarshan. In 1873 two new novels "Bishbriksha" and "Indira" were published which dealt with social problems. His next novel was "Jugalangurio" published in 1874. In 1880 while acting as the temporary PA of the commissioner of Burdwan, "Chandrashekher" and "Radharani" were published. "Rajani" followed these in 1877 and "Kirishnakanter Will" in 1878. In 1882 his eleventh novel "Rajsingha" based on the royal families of Marwar came in the market. His most famous novel "Anandamath" was also published this year. "Anandamath" is termed, as his most political novel which was a source of inspiration to the patriots fighting for the freedom of their motherland (the revolutioneries of Anushilan Sangha's including Sri Aurobindo).

The chant "Bande Mataram" which later was adopted by the patriots as their slogan in the fight for freedom was coined in this novel. In late 1882 when he was transferred to Judgepur Orissa he started writing his thirteenth novel "Debi Chaudhurani". It was published in 1884. The last novel he wrote was "Sitaram", published in 1887. Not only did he write novels, he was also one of the most effective columnists. His collection of essays like " Lok Rahashya " and " Kamalakanter Daptar" criticized the meaningless Bengali customs in a manner that forced an immediate change.

The British Government honored him with the title "Ray Bahadur" in 1892. He became a CIE in 1894. The great novelist passed away on 8th April 1894.