Michael Madhusudan’s 196th birth anniversary today

The 196th birth anniversary of legendary Bengali poet and father of Bengali sonnet Michael Madhusudan Dutt is being observed today (Saturday) with pomp and grandeur.

A week-long fair titled “Madhu Mela”, began on January 23, which will remain close on January 28, featuring staging of drama, recitation of poems, setting up of small shops and arranging of cultural functions, are among the programmes chalked out to celebrate the birth anniversary of the celebrated
son of this soil.

On the occasion of the birth anniversary, President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave separate messages. Madhusudan Dutt was born to land lord Raj Narayan Dutt and Janhabi Devi at Sagardari under Keshabpur upazila in Jessore on January 25 in 1824.

His most famous literary work is sonnet “Kapatakkha Nad”. Kapatakkha Nad is
a river which flows through Jessore, the poet’s ancestral home.

Madhusudan 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).

Madhusudan Dutt’s first attempt at blank verse was ‘Sharmistha’ in Bengali
literature.

Kaliprasanna Singha, who is famous for his translation of the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali, organised a felicitation ceremony to Madhusudan Dutt to mark the introduction of blank verse in Bengali poetry.

Apart from his outstanding talent in authoring poems, Madhusudan Dutt showed prodigious skills as a playwright as he was the first to write Bengali plays in the English style, segregating the play into acts and scenes.

He was also the pioneer of the first satirical plays in Bengali literature. ‘Buro Shaliker Ghare Ron’ and ‘Ekei Ki Boley Sabhyota’ are among his famous satirical plays.

Madhusudan was a gifted linguist and polyglot as he studied Hebrew, Latin,
Greek, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit.

Jashore/Riton/Mukul