Hemendra Kumar Roy (September 2, 1888-April 18, 1963) was a Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 writer noted for his contribution to the early development of the genre of children's literature in the language. He is also the translator of the Rubaiyat

Rubaiyat

"Rubāʿī" is Arabic for "quatrain", and is used to describe a Persian quatrain, or its derivative form in English and other languages. The plural form of the word, rubāʿiyāt ,often anglicised rubaiyat , is used to describe a collection of such quatrains.There are a number of possible rhyme schemes...

of Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....

 into Bengali.

Early life

Son of Radhikaprasad Roy, Hemendrakumar Roy was born in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

 in 1888. Roy inherited a part of his artistic talent from his father who was a more than competent player of the esraj (a string instrument) and regularly gave performance at the famed Star Theatre

Star Theatre, Calcutta

The Star Theatre is a theatre in Kolkata, built in 1883. Initially situated in Beadon Street, the theatre later moved to Cornwallis Street - now called Bidhan Sarani. The Star, along with the Minerva Theatre, was one of the first institutions of commercial Bengali theatre...

 in North Kolkata. His first published work was a short-story Amar Kahini that appeared in Basudha in 1903. In 1916, he joined the circle of writers that published in the Bharati journal edited by Sourindramohan Mukherjee and Manilal Ganguly.

Creative years

In 1925, Hemendrakumar Ray became the editor of Nachghar. Apart from this journal, he helped edit other literary magazines including Rongmoshal. During the next few decades, Hemendrakumar Ray wrote over 80 books for children. He was monumental in contributing a body of detective, horror, and science-fiction work that would form a substantial portion of the early literature for children in Bengali. In 1930, he wrote his first detective story which was published in Mouchak. He is best remembered as the creator of Bimal-Kumar, the adventurer duo and Jayanta-Manik the detective duo. It was Bimal-Kumar's adventure story 'Jokher Dhan', for which he is famous in Bengali literature for children. He was a staunch believer in supernaturals (according to Khagendranath Mitra in his Introduction to Hemendra Kumar Roy Rachanabali Vol - 1) and he used supernaturals in several of his adventure and mystery stories. One of the recurring characters in his stories and novels featuring Jayanta-Manik was Inspector Sundarbabu, a chubby and weak hearted police officer with an insatiable appetite who was also a good friend to the detectives. He also wrote numerous essays, short stories, and novels for adults. He was also a painter and the choreographer for Shishirkumar Bhaduri's Seeta. He also wrote a volume of lyrics Jaubaner Gaan (The Song of Youth). Several of these lyrics were put to music and sung by Bengali legends like S D Burman, Kanai Dey (better known as Kana Keshto and uncle of Manna Dey) and Manna Dey himself.One of his short stories Sindur Chupri was translated into German and was included in a collection of short stories. One of his stories "Dersho Khokar Kando" (The Deeds of 150 Boys) was turned into a film while several of his works, namely Abar Jokher Dhon and Ratrir Jatri, have been adapted for television.

Select bibliography

• Bhorer purabi
• Beno Jal
• Malachandan
• Meghdooter Mortye Agomon
• Moynamotir Mayakanan
• Nil sayorer Ochinpure
• Amabashyar raat
• Andhakarer bandhu
• Jader dekhechi
• Ekhon Jaader Dekhchi
• Jokher dhon
• Abar Jokher dhon
• Bangla rongaloy o Shishirkumar
• Omar Khayyamer rubaiyat
• Jayanter Kirti
• Padmarag Buddha
• Sonar Anarash
• Manush Pishach
• Hemendra Kumar Roy Rachanabali Vol 1-27