sarat chandra chattopadhyay biography

 Sarat Chandra Legendary Writer in The World 

sarat chandra chattopadhyay biography in english

The family in which Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay grew up had as its goal to become a lawyer. Therefore, after passing the entrance exam, he started studying FA. He met Rajendranath Majumdar. This Raju is the Indranath of the novel ‘Srikant’.

Sarat was attracted to Raju, who was happily playing the flute while sitting on the edge of a deserted bank. Flying kites, smoking tobacco, singing and playing music, suddenly disappearing with Raju and returning again, going on night expeditions together to steal fish from fishing boats, and rehearsing for the Jatra theatre – their friendship continued. 

Sarat's mother Bhuvanmohini passed away in 1895. Sharat's distraught father Motilal left his in-laws' house and settled in the village of Khanjarpur. There, Sarat again formed a 'literary circle' with his peers.  Writing continued. One day, the story 'Abhimaan' was read there. He began to be known as a writer among his friends. The ghost of literature sat on his neck in such a way that his results in the FA exam were not good. Despite looking at the faces of his family, Sharat, like always, dropped out of college and took refuge in the literary world. 

A literary meeting called 'Kudi Sahityahik' started. A handwritten magazine 'Chaya' began to be published. However, a family could not survive on literature. It did not work out. He managed to get a job at his Rajbaneli estate with the landlord Shivshankar Sauk. However, he could not survive. He had a falling out with his father. The son left home.

He arrived in Muzaffarpur while wandering around.  Pramathanath Bhattacharya, one of the leaders of the newspaper ‘Bharatbarsha’, wrote: “One evening, their group met at the club—at that time, a young monk wearing saffron robes came and asked for the tools to write politely in clear Hindi.” The rustic disguise was discovered. The identity was established as Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

At this time, one story after another was recovered from the missing Sarat’s notebook—‘Bojha’, ‘Anupama’s Love’, ‘Bamunthakur’, ‘Korel Gram’, ‘Chandranath’, ‘Bardidi’. Sarat started writing a novel called ‘Brahmadeyya’ while sitting in Muzaffarpur. Here he met a landowner named Mahadev Sau. He was the Kumarasaheb of ‘Srikantha’. Finally, in 1903, Sarat returned to Khanjarpur after hearing the news of his father’s death.

 Then a job was badly needed. Sarat appeared before his uncle Upendranath Gangopadhyay in Kolkata. Upendranath's brother Lalmohan's court papers and documents were translated. But will the pen stop? 

On the other hand, Sarat objected to working for a salary of only thirty taka. He wanted to 'borrow' some money from Upendranath. He said, "I don't want to stay here, Upin. Maybe luck will turn to Rangoon." Rangoon was not exactly a stranger to him. His aunt lived there. In 1903, at the age of 27, Sarat went to Burma by ship. 

Sarat Chandra's aunts were very wealthy. He started living as their son. So life became comfortable. Within a few days, he also learned the Burmese language. When his aunt's husband, lawyer Aghorbabu, suddenly passed away, they left Rangoon and went to Kolkata. Sarat set off again!  However, he managed to get a job through hardship during this journey.

In fact, until his stay in Burma, Sarat had to wander from one place to another in uncertainty, suffering from some misfortune. Rangoon gave him some stability. During his stay in exile, his detachment also weakened a little. He wanted to become a family man. He also got married.

Sarat wrote about an incident of a day. 

‘.‘One day, when the call for literary service unexpectedly came, he had finished the demands of youth and stepped into the realm of adulthood.

His body was tired, his enthusiasm was limited—the age of learning had passed. I lived in exile, isolated from all, a stranger to everyone, but I responded to the call, and I did not even remember the fear.’

Almost 18 years later, in 1913, this is how Sarat Chandra saw his comeback in the field of Bengali literature.  All these writings began to be published in the newly published small magazine ‘Jamuna’.

The story began several years ago, in 1314 B.E. Sarala Devi was then the editor of ‘Bharati’ and Saurindramohan Mukherjee ran the paper under her name from Kolkata. Saurindramohan knew that Sarat Chandra had left his writings with Surendranath Gangopadhyay before going to Rangoon. From there, he brought the short novel ‘Bardidi’ and published it in three installments in ‘Bharati’. 

He did not take the author’s permission, because if he tried to take it, he would not have received it! There was a lot of fuss about the writing. Unbeknownst to Sarat Chandra, the circle of discerning readers and critics developed an interest in him. However, oblivion is inevitable with time. Therefore, Sarat Chandra disappeared under the laws of time. How he returned after this is known only from his own narration.

 Not only did he return, but he gained popularity among the readers with incredible speed. Within a few years, he quit his job and became a well-established writer. When 'Charitrahin' was released in book form, it cost three and a half taka. Four hundred and fifty copies were sold on the first day. No one else had this record in Bengali literature. It was later broken by Sharatchandra's 'Pather Daiwai'. 

Even though he went to Rangoon as an unknown resident, the writer Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay made his debut there. Famous works like 'Ramer Sumati', 'Pathnirddesh', 'Bindur Chele', 'Narir Munna', 'Charitrahin' were born there. 

Today, September 15, is the birthday of the legendary writer Sharatchandra

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