Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (15 September 1876 – 16 January 1938) is one of the most popular Bengali novelists and short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

writers of early 20th century.

Background and writing

Sarat Chandra was born into poverty in Debanandapur, Hooghly, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. His family was occasionally supported by other family members and Sarat Chandra's lack of financial stability would influence his writing in years to come. He started his education at "Pyarai Pandits" pathshala and then he took admission at Hooghly Branch High School. Although he began as a fine arts student, Chattopadhyay left his studies due to his persistent state of poverty. He received his early education while residing at his paternal uncle's house in Bhagalpur. He spent 20 years of his life in Bhagalpur and a significant portion of his novels were either written in Bhagalpur or based on his experience in Bhagalpur.

His work represented rural Bengali society and he often wrote against social superstitions and oppression. For a short period he was a sannyasi, a Hindu ascetic who abandons the material and social worlds. His first published story was "Mandir". He was particularly sensitive to the cause of women.

After the death of his parents Sarat Chandra left his college education midway and went to Burma in 1903. There he found employment with a Government Office as clerk. He did not remain at his job in Burma for long and decided to return to his homeland but before his departure he submitted a short story for a prize competition under his uncle's name, Surendranath Ganguli. It won first prize in 1904.

Sarat Chandra's biography is available in Hindi, written by a well known author, Vishnu Prabhakar

Vishnu Prabhakar

Vishnu Prabhakar was a Hindi writer. He had several short stories, novels, plays and travelogues to his credit...

. Prabhakar traveled for fourteen years continuously to collect material for this book.

Though he was always known to be an intrepid champion of the marginalised when it comes to novels, personally he was always a shy and private person. There was an occasion when his name was already announced and he was supposed to meet his readers but he left and the curtain was raised on an empty stage.

He died 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...

of liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...

in 1938.

Bartaman Hindu-Mussalman Samasya

Bartaman Hindu-Mussalman Samasya (literally, Contemporary Hindu-Muslim Problem) is an essay by Sharat Chandra first presented at the Bengal Provincial Conference of 1926. In this short essay, Sharat Chandra argued about the root cause of the inability of Hindu-Muslim unity, and said that it is because of inherent outlook of Muslims. He expressed his observation that the general Muslim behaviour was characterised by "brutality, barbarism and fanaticism", and that Islam lacked any culture altogether. Considering the unity of Hindu-Muslim to be impractical and unnatural, he argued that instead of pursuing that mirage of Hindu-Muslim unity what was required was unity within the Hindu community. He supported the internal consolidation of the Hindu community. Commenting about this, the eminent historian K. N. Panikkar

K. N. Panikkar

K. N. Panikkar is an Indian historian, associated with the "Marxist school" of historiography.Panikkar was Professor of Modern Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University . Prior to joining JNU, he taught at University of Delhi. In 2001, he was appointed as the...

writes that this manner of thinking contributed to the "construction of a new communal consciousness".

Works

Borodidi, (The Elder Sister) 1907
Bindur Chhele, (Bindu's Son) 1913
Parinita
Parineeta
Parineeta is a 1914 Bengali language novella written by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and is set in Calcutta, India during the early part of the 20th century. It is a novel of social protest which explores issues of that time period related to class and religion.-Title:The word Parineeta is...

/Parineeta
Parineeta
Parineeta is a 1914 Bengali language novella written by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and is set in Calcutta, India during the early part of the 20th century. It is a novel of social protest which explores issues of that time period related to class and religion.-Title:The word Parineeta is...

, 1914
Biraj Bou, (Mrs. Biraj) 1914
Ramer Shumoti, (Ram Returning to Sanity) 1914
Palli Shomaj, 1916
Arakhsanya, 1916
Debdas
Devdas
Devdas is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.-Plot summary:Devdas is a young man from...

/Devdas
Devdas
Devdas is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.-Plot summary:Devdas is a young man from...

, 1917 (written in 1901)
Choritrohin
Choritrohin
Choritrohin is a novel by Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.-Plot summary:The novel is set in Bengali society of the early 1900s. The story has four main women characters–two major, Savitri and Kiranmayi, and two minor, Surbala and Sarojini. The former two are accused of being charitraheen...

, (Characterless) 1917
Srikanto, (4 parts, 1917, 1918, 1927, 1933)
Datta, 1917–19
Grihodaho, 1919
Dena Paona, (Debts and Demands) 1923
Pather Dabi, (Demand for a Pathway) 1926
Ses Prasna, (The Final Question) 1931
Bipradas, 1935
Nishkriti
Mejho Didi
Chandranath
Bilashi
Mandir
Pandit Mashay
Dhare Alo
Naba Bidhan
Shesher Parichoy
Boikunter Will
Shubhoda
Swami (The Husband)
Ekadoshi Bairagi
Mahesh (The Drought)
Anuradha
Anupamar Prem
Andhare Aalo
Dorpochurno (Broken Pride)
Harilakshmi
Kashinath
Abhagir Swargo
Aalo O Chhaya
Srikanta
Sharda (published posthumously)

Films

His works have been made into some fifty films in many Indian languages, particularly his novel Devdas
Devdas
Devdas is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.-Plot summary:Devdas is a young man from...

made into eight versions

Devdas (disambiguation)

Devdas is a Bengali novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay first published in 1917 and adapted as a film many times.Devdas may also refer to:* Devdas , first film version of the novel...

, from Bengali, Hindi to Telugu, Parineeta
Parineeta
Parineeta is a 1914 Bengali language novella written by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and is set in Calcutta, India during the early part of the 20th century. It is a novel of social protest which explores issues of that time period related to class and religion.-Title:The word Parineeta is...

also been made twice, Majhli Didi
Majhli Didi
Majhli Didi is a 1967 Bollywood film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, based on Bengali language story, Mejdidi by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, and starring Dharmendra and Meena Kumari....

(1967) by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Hrishikesh Mukherjee ) was a famous Indian film director known for a number of films, including Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Anand, Abhimaan, Guddi, Gol Maal, Aashirwad, Bawarchi, and Namak Haraam.Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades,...

and Swami
Swami (1977 film)
Swami is a 1977 Hindi film directed by Basu Chatterjee and produced by Jaya Chakravarty .The film stars Shabana Azmi, Vikram, Girish Karnad, Utpal Dutt. Hema Malini and Dharmendra make a guest appearance together in the film...

(1977) for which he was awarded Filmfare Award for Best Story. Another famous film Chhoti Bahu
Chhoti Bahu
Chhoti Bahu is a 1971 Hindi film. Produced by Seeru Daryani and Darius Gotla, the film is directed by K. B. Tilak. The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, Nirupa Roy and I. S. Johar. The music is by Kalyanji Anandji...

(1971) is based on his novel Bindur Chhele.

There was another movie based on his novel called Nishkriti, Apne Paraye (1980) by Basu Chatterjee

Basu Chatterjee

Basu Chatterjee is an Indian film director. His films are very similar to those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Like Mukherjee, he built his plots on middle-class lives.He was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India....

, starring Amol Palekar. The Telugu film Thodi Kodallu
Thodi Kodallu
Thodi Kodallu is a 1957 Telugu film directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao of Annapoorna Pictures. The story is adopted from the novel Nishkruti of Saratchandra Chatterjee for the Telugu audience...

(1957) is also based on this novel. Gulzar's 1975 film, Khushboo
Khushboo (1975 film)
Kushboo is a 1975 film based on the novel "Panditmashai" by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and produced by Prasan Kapoor and directed by Gulzar. The film stars Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Asrani, Farida Jalal, Sarika and Sharmila Tagore. The film's music is by R. D. Burman.-Cast:* Jeetendra - Dr...

is majorly inspired by his work entitled Pandit Mashay. The 1961 Telugu film Vagdanam
Vagdanam
Vagdanam is a 1961 Telugu Drama film written, produced and directed by famous writer Acharya Atreya. The story is loosely based on the Novel Datta by Bengali writer Saratchandra Chatterjee....

by Acharya Atreya is loosely based on his novel Datta. Also the 2011 film Aalo Chhaya is based on his short story, Aalo O Chhaya.

Select Awards and Degrees

Kuntolin puraskar (For Mandir)
D-Lit (Given by University of Dhaka
University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka is the oldest university in Bangladesh. It is a multi-disciplinary research university and is among the top universities in the region. Established on July 21, 1921, as per the Government of India Act, 1920, it was modelled on the Universities in England and soon gained...

, now in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

)

Textbooks

Golpo Songroho (Collected Stories), the national text book of B.A. (pass and subsidiary) course of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, published by University of Dhaka
University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka is the oldest university in Bangladesh. It is a multi-disciplinary research university and is among the top universities in the region. Established on July 21, 1921, as per the Government of India Act, 1920, it was modelled on the Universities in England and soon gained...

in 1979 (reprint in 1986).
Bangla Sahitya (Bengali Literature), the national text book of intermediate (college) level of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

published in 1996 by all educational boards.

External links

An Evaluation of Saratchandra:

http://www.suci.in/works3/sarat/sarat.htm

Biographies:

Articles:

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.