Pramatha Chaudhuri
Encyclopedia
Pramathanath Chaudhuri (7 August 1868 – 2 September 1946), known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, alias Birbal, is an exceptionally illuminating persona in modern Bengali literature
. It is astounding how he kept hold of his uniqueness in all-pervasive era of Rabindranath Tagore
. As the editor of Sabuj Patra ("Green Leaves",1914) and the mentor of the group that gathered around this journal, Chaudhuri left a lasting legacy to the literature of Bengal
.
Profoundly patriotic and a stated cosmopolitan, aficionado of Sanskrit
, Pramatha Chaudhuri had immense faith in the native genius of the Bengali
. “Today if the traditional high Bengali with its stilted Sanskritic elements makes place, more and more, for a form of spoken Bengali, if ‘current’ Bengali is considered an effective medium of literature of Bengal (including the part that is now Bangladesh
)- much of the credit must go to Pramatha Chaudhuri and his magazine Sabuj Patra,” says Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay. Rabindranath Tagore evoked, “He (Chaudhuri) gave this magazine (Sabuj Patra) its distinctive character and paved the way for my literary activities to brunch out in new directions.”
Pramatha Chaudhuri was not only a pioneer; he was also a creative author of exceptional abilities in writing essays and fiction in specific. According to Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, “He is undoubtedly one of the most influential makers of the Bengali language and literature in the twentieth century.”
(now in Bangladesh
), Chaudhuri spent his first five years in Haripur and the following ten at Krishnagar
in Nadia
(now in West Bengal
). His father’s tours of duty took him to many places in Bihar
and Bengal Presidency
. Chaudhuri recalls of his father, an aristocrat and a high ranking official of the British Government, “My father, a student of Hindu College (now Presidency College, Kolkata
), was an uncompromising atheist. For that matter, the entire Chaudhuri family were anti-god.” Two prominent characteristics of his family set their firm impress on Chaudhuri in his boyhood – their zeal and sense of humour and an open philosophy of life. He grew up “in a paradise of paradoxical forces – the rural and urban, hunting and music, feudalism and free thought.”
“I started singing when I was very young,” stated Chaudhuri in his Atma Katha, “With my naturally sonorous voice I could correctly reproduce the tunes that fell upon my ears.” Chaudhuri’s love of music derived from his mother and in the cultural atmosphere of Krishnagar it developed into a passion for him.
In this period, Chaudhuri read in as many as six schools, ranging from Pathshala (traditional Hindu village primary schools in Bengal), through a Christian missionary institution, to the local collegiate school. In 1881, when he was in the Entrance class, malaria broke out in an epidemic from at Krishnagar. Chaudhuri, a victim of that epidemic, remained unconscious for eight days and later was removed to Arrah, his father’s semi-urban official station in Bihar. For the next three months, he put aside his texts and read the novels of Bulwer Lytton, George Eliot
and Palgrave's Golden Treasury
. In 1882, Chaudhuri returned to Kolkata and passed the Entrance examination from Hare School
with first division marks.
for the First Arts course. But he had to shift to Krishnagar again as an outbreak of dengue fever in Kolkata and joined sophomore year Arts class at Krishnagar College. Unfortunately he had to suspend his studies again and moved to his father in Dinajpur
owning to persistent fever. Back in Krishnagar in 1886, he met Rabindranath Tagore
, a friend of Ashutosh Chaudhuri, his elder brother, just returned from England
. Later Ashutosh inspired his younger brother to learn French
and Chaudhuri became an ardent student of French Literature
and also obtained an absorbing interest in Pre-Raphaelite poets. Returning to Kolkata in 1887, he passes the Arts examination from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
with second division marks.
Tagore, who made a selection of his own poems for Kadi O Komal with Ashutosh Chaudhuri’s collaboration, was a frequent visitor in the Chaudhuri residence in Mott Lane, Kolkata. Ashutosh married to Pratibha Devi, a niece of Tagore and Pramatha to Indira Devi, the daughter of Satyendranath Tagore
, Rabindranath’s elder brother. Chaudhuri later recalled, “The aesthetic envioronment of the Tagore house wetted my appetite for music. To cap it all, there was Rabindranath’s personal affection for us.” Noteworthy, Chaudhuri’s wife who was later known as Indira Devi Chaudhurani, was a renowned connoisseur of Rabindra Sangeet
.
Chaudhuri’s attraction towards poetry began when he started attending the discussions between his brother and Tagore. In Atma Katha, He later asserted, “Poetry became meaningful to me. Our pursuit of it was promoted by Rabindranath’s presence in person. That created an amazing atmosphere in our family.
Chaudhuri returned to Presidency College in 1988 and the following year received the Bachelor’s degree with first class Honours in Philosophy
. Then he toured far and wide, visiting many places, including Asansol
and Darjeeling in Bengal, Sitarampur
in Bihar, Raipur in Madhya Pradesh
and during this period he learned Sanskrit
and Italian
. While in Rajshahi
(now in Bangladesh) at Lokendranath Palit’s residence, Chaudhuri, along with Tagore and Palit, spent hours discussing the course of literature which was later chronicled in his Panchabhut. He got his M.A. in English
from Presidency College, standing first in the first class.
. Meanwhile, between, 1890 and 1893, two of this original essays and two stories, Phuldani (The Flower Vass) and Torquato Tasso, were published. Khayal Khata (A Scrap Book) was the first piece that appeared under the pen name Birbal in a Bengali journal Bharati in 1902. He wrote Ek Tukro Smritikatha (A Handful of Reminiscence), in 1908.
With a colloquial style in Bengali Prose and the dominating element of reason and rationality, Chaudhuri as the editor of Sabuj Patra made his first appearance. Around the magazine developed an assembly of authors, a fraternity that regularly gathered in Chaudhuri’s Bright Street house.
As a Barrister-a-Law, he practiced in Kolkata High Court, but did not take this occupation seriously. For some time he was a lecturer at the Law College, University of Calcutta
and also edited a law journal for a period. The closing years of his life he spent at Santiniketan
.
and run by the Tagore household and the Sahitya, an orthodox Hindu journal edited by Suresh Chandra Samajpati. Chaudhuri’s Bengali translation of Etruscan Vase by French author Prosper Mérimée
of whom Tagore incidentally tried to dissuade him from translating, with an essay named Adim Manavi (First Woman) appeared in Sahitya in 1891. Chaudhuri’s representation of Carmen
, from French, never published. He wrote Torquato Tasso Ebang Tanhar Sidhha Betaler Kathopokathan, a translated piece from Italian, for Sadhana in 1893.
Jayadeva (Bharati, 1890) was Chaudhuri’s first original prose to be published. Though he followed a conventional style of writing here, he did not accept Jayadeva
, the composer of Gita Govinda
, as neither a first-rank poet nor he would recognize him as a pious person and convincingly established its depiction of sensuous delights. Bharati published it, though Tagore differed from Chaudhuri’s revolutionary point of view.
As it is said, his first work as Birbal was Kheyal Khata, published in Bharati, 1902. Of it he asserted , “The subject may not be serious but it must have truth in it. Still better if embellishment can be added. Worn-out thoughts and ideas are as unacceptable as worn-out coins. My preferences lean to the lighter side of life. Tit-bits, apparently insignificant, are my favorite cup of tea. Literature, I strongly feel, has to be tuned anew to save it from static melodrama. Our country badly needs today a good bath in the sunshine of gaiety and humour – if not for our happiness, for our mental health.”
Banga Bhasha banam Babu Bangla orfe Sadhu Bhasha (Bengali Language vis a vis Traditional Bengali) and Sadhu Bhasha banam Chalit Bhasha (Book Language versus Colloquial Language) were two articles published in Bharati in 1912. According to Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, “He injected vitality into Bengali prose – a force imbedded in this very nature of spoken language. This resulted from his realization that a language is far removed from the way people speak it, loses the throb of life.” In four essays written in this period, Chaudhuri made his views about the proper diction of prose clear –
In Bangla Sahityer Nabajug (A New Era in Bengali Literature), published in 1913 in Bharati, Chaudhuri analyzed the character of Bengali literature of the time and indicates the affinity of the new literature to the mass.
’s Veena
."
In a letter dated 6 November 1941, to poet Amiya Chakravarty
, Chaudhuri revealed, "My sonnets represent largely my interest in experiments. I wonder, therefore, if they will stand the literary test. If some of them do, unhesitatingly I shall attribute my success to the rigorous rules of sonnets. It is likely that my sonnets breathe more artificially than art."
Chaudhuri’s second collection of verses, Padacharan, which he dedicated to poet Satyendranath Dutta
, was published in 1919. These poems were written between 1911 and 1916 and according to Chaudhuri, "Presumptuous though it may appear for a prose writer to intrude into poetic field, I have ventured nonetheless in the firm belief that, if anything, my poems have rhyme and, may I add, reason as well."
Indeed, Chaudhuri’s poems "sparkle with wit". For example, one can site his poems like Balika Badhu, Bernard Shaw, Dwijendralal, Byartho Jiban, Upadesh, Atma Katha and Taj Mahal. In Byartho Jiban, he proclaimed, "I do not wield my pen to please readers". As a poet, Chaudhuri was neither pessimistic or an escapist nor even sold to romanticism or emotion. He was an passionate lover of this universe and joyous minstrel of the modern mind.
and pro-Tagore Bengali journal edited by Pramatha Chaudhuri, made its debut in April, 1914. In the very first issue, the editor clarified the ideals and objectives of the magazine:
Of the name of the journal, Chaudhuri asserted:
Rabindranath Tagore
was a regular contributor to Sabuj Patra. Many of his early 20th century works including the Balaka poems, two of his novels, Ghare Baire and Chaturanga
, a play titled Phalguni and a considerable lot of short stories and essays were published in this journal.
In Sabuj Patra, Tagore expressed his revolutionary view on society and political situations of contemporary times through his fiction and prose. Haimanti and Streer Patra caused a frown of contemporary Bengali society as well as his essays Bastab and Lokohito were severely attacked in conservative journals like Sahitya and Narayan.
The second tale, told by Sitesh, portrays the protagonists quest for eternal feminine in many souls and his failure to find anyone. On a drizzly afternoon in London
, Sitesh found her lady love, an English girl, with whom he fell in love at the first sight. He begged her for a second visit. The girl put her card in his pocket and made him promise that he would not open it for five minute. After five minute he took the card out just to realize his guineas were pinched. The girl was nowhere to be found by then.
The Third tale is told by Somnath, who, in order to be cured from insomnia
, went for a change of climate to a small town in England’s South West Coast Path
. In hotel met a calm and compassionate young girl whom he named Tarini and affectionately called Rini. The affair went on more than a year and Rini seemed to take interest on Somnath. But at last he found that he had been used by the girl to make her fiancé jealous.
The last tale, which is quite different from the previous three, is told by Roy. Anna, a maid servant where Roy lived as a paying guest in London, fell in love with him. But neither had she given any indication of her love nor did Roy realize anything by himself. After ten long years, he received a long-distant call from a battlefield in France
where Anna met her death while serving as a nurse and the call, at last, disclosed her love for Roy.
by Indira Devi Chaudhurani was thus criticized: “Tales of Four Friends is an Indian attempt to write the counterpart such tales as Mr. Kipling’s Without Benefit of Clergy and Pierre Loti
’s Romantic accounts of exotic amours. We need only add that Mr. Chaudhuri’s style is worthy of the high reputation his magazine has own as a record of all that is best in contemporary Bengali literature.”
Annada Shankar Ray
’s comment is suffice to indicate the importance of Char-Yari Katha in Bengali literature, “The eternal aroma of a romantic mind is at the heart of Char-Yari Katha. It is at once pleasant and poignant. Another Char-Yari Katha cannot be had for the asking. One cannot just walk back into youth and folly. Indeed, it is the swan song of second youth longing for the earlier one.” (Birbal, 1941)
Bengali literature
Bengali literature is literary works written in Bengali language particularly from Bangladesh and the Indian provinces of West Bengal and Tripura. The history of Bengali literature traces back hundreds of years while it is impossible to separate the literary trends of the two Bengals during the...
. It is astounding how he kept hold of his uniqueness in all-pervasive era of Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
. As the editor of Sabuj Patra ("Green Leaves",1914) and the mentor of the group that gathered around this journal, Chaudhuri left a lasting legacy to the literature of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
.
Profoundly patriotic and a stated cosmopolitan, aficionado of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Pramatha Chaudhuri had immense faith in the native genius of the Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
. “Today if the traditional high Bengali with its stilted Sanskritic elements makes place, more and more, for a form of spoken Bengali, if ‘current’ Bengali is considered an effective medium of literature of Bengal (including the part that is now 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...
)- much of the credit must go to Pramatha Chaudhuri and his magazine Sabuj Patra,” says Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay. Rabindranath Tagore evoked, “He (Chaudhuri) gave this magazine (Sabuj Patra) its distinctive character and paved the way for my literary activities to brunch out in new directions.”
Pramatha Chaudhuri was not only a pioneer; he was also a creative author of exceptional abilities in writing essays and fiction in specific. According to Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, “He is undoubtedly one of the most influential makers of the Bengali language and literature in the twentieth century.”
Early life
Born of Durgadas Chaudhuri, who belongs to the famous zamindar family of Haripur Village in PabnaPabna
Pabna is a town in Rajshahi Division ofBangladesh and the administrative capital of eponymous Pabna District. It is located on the north bank of Padma river and has a population of about 138,000.-Name:...
(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...
), Chaudhuri spent his first five years in Haripur and the following ten at Krishnagar
Krishnagar
Krishnanagar is a municipality and administrative headquarters of Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Geography:Krishnanagar is located at . It has an average elevation of 14 metres...
in Nadia
Nadia District
Nadia district is a district of the state of West Bengal, in the north east of India. It borders with Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Bardhaman district to the west, and Murshidabad district to the north....
(now in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
). His father’s tours of duty took him to many places in Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
and Bengal Presidency
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency originally comprising east and west Bengal, was a colonial region of the British Empire in South-Asia and beyond it. It comprised areas which are now within Bangladesh, and the present day Indian States of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura.Penang and...
. Chaudhuri recalls of his father, an aristocrat and a high ranking official of the British Government, “My father, a student of Hindu College (now Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
), was an uncompromising atheist. For that matter, the entire Chaudhuri family were anti-god.” Two prominent characteristics of his family set their firm impress on Chaudhuri in his boyhood – their zeal and sense of humour and an open philosophy of life. He grew up “in a paradise of paradoxical forces – the rural and urban, hunting and music, feudalism and free thought.”
Life at Krishnagar
From his fifth to the thirteenth year, Chaudhuri lived at Krishnagar, renowned for its own sophisticated speech and wit and craftsmanship of Baharat Chardra that made a noteworthy contribution to the growth of literature in Chaudhuri. According to him, ‘it (Krishnagar) gave me speech and shaped my mind’ (Atma Katha, An Autobiography).He further assists, “The moment I arrived at Krisnagar, objects of visual and sensual delight began to enter into my being. I started an intimate acquaintance with the outer world, appreciating its beauty and growing familiar with sights and sound around me. That was indeed an auspicious introduction to that coveted world which philosophers call the world of aesthetics.” (Atma Katha, An Autobiography).“I started singing when I was very young,” stated Chaudhuri in his Atma Katha, “With my naturally sonorous voice I could correctly reproduce the tunes that fell upon my ears.” Chaudhuri’s love of music derived from his mother and in the cultural atmosphere of Krishnagar it developed into a passion for him.
In this period, Chaudhuri read in as many as six schools, ranging from Pathshala (traditional Hindu village primary schools in Bengal), through a Christian missionary institution, to the local collegiate school. In 1881, when he was in the Entrance class, malaria broke out in an epidemic from at Krishnagar. Chaudhuri, a victim of that epidemic, remained unconscious for eight days and later was removed to Arrah, his father’s semi-urban official station in Bihar. For the next three months, he put aside his texts and read the novels of Bulwer Lytton, George Eliot
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
and Palgrave's Golden Treasury
Palgrave's Golden Treasury
The Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics is a popular anthology of English poetry, originally selected for publication by Francis Turner Palgrave in 1861. It was considerably revised, with input from Tennyson, about three decades later...
. In 1882, Chaudhuri returned to Kolkata and passed the Entrance examination from Hare School
Hare School
Hare School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades 1 to 12 under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The boys-only school was established by the Scottish watch-maker David Hare with the help of social...
with first division marks.
Youth
Chaudhuri joined the Presidency College, KolkataPresidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
for the First Arts course. But he had to shift to Krishnagar again as an outbreak of dengue fever in Kolkata and joined sophomore year Arts class at Krishnagar College. Unfortunately he had to suspend his studies again and moved to his father in Dinajpur
Dinajpur
The Dinajpur District was split between India and Bangladesh. The term can refer to the following:* Dinajpur District, Bangladesh** In the district, there is the Upazila of Dinajpur Sadar* West Dinajpur district, India. It was split on 1992-04-01 into:...
owning to persistent fever. Back in Krishnagar in 1886, he met Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, a friend of Ashutosh Chaudhuri, his elder brother, just returned from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Later Ashutosh inspired his younger brother to learn French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Chaudhuri became an ardent student of French Literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
and also obtained an absorbing interest in Pre-Raphaelite poets. Returning to Kolkata in 1887, he passes the Arts examination from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of...
with second division marks.
Tagore, who made a selection of his own poems for Kadi O Komal with Ashutosh Chaudhuri’s collaboration, was a frequent visitor in the Chaudhuri residence in Mott Lane, Kolkata. Ashutosh married to Pratibha Devi, a niece of Tagore and Pramatha to Indira Devi, the daughter of Satyendranath Tagore
Satyendranath Tagore
Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. He was an author, song composer, linguist and made significant contribution towards the emancipation of women in Indian society during the British Raj.-Formative years:...
, Rabindranath’s elder brother. Chaudhuri later recalled, “The aesthetic envioronment of the Tagore house wetted my appetite for music. To cap it all, there was Rabindranath’s personal affection for us.” Noteworthy, Chaudhuri’s wife who was later known as Indira Devi Chaudhurani, was a renowned connoisseur of Rabindra Sangeet
Rabindra Sangeet
Rabindra Sangeet , also known as Tagore Songs in English, is a form of music composed by Rabindranath Tagore who added a new dimension to the musical concept of India in general and Bengal in specific....
.
Chaudhuri’s attraction towards poetry began when he started attending the discussions between his brother and Tagore. In Atma Katha, He later asserted, “Poetry became meaningful to me. Our pursuit of it was promoted by Rabindranath’s presence in person. That created an amazing atmosphere in our family.
Chaudhuri returned to Presidency College in 1988 and the following year received the Bachelor’s degree with first class Honours in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Then he toured far and wide, visiting many places, including Asansol
Asansol
Asansol is a coal mining and industrial metropolis and one of the busiest commercial centres in India. It is the second largest city and urban agglomeration in West Bengal after Kolkata and the 19th largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is located in the western part of the Burdwan...
and Darjeeling in Bengal, Sitarampur
Sitarampur
Sitarampur , a small township just off the Asansol-Dhanbad stretch of the Grand Trunk Road, was one of the early hubs of coal mining activity. Coal was found in abundance around Sitarampur in the early years of the 19th century and mining started at this place in a big way...
in Bihar, Raipur in Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
and during this period he learned Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. While in Rajshahi
Rajshahi
The city of Rajshahi is the divisional headquarters of Rajshahi division as well as the administrative district that bears its name and is one of the six metropolitan cities of Bangladesh. Often referred to as Silk City and Education City, Rajshahi is located in the north-west of the country and...
(now in Bangladesh) at Lokendranath Palit’s residence, Chaudhuri, along with Tagore and Palit, spent hours discussing the course of literature which was later chronicled in his Panchabhut. He got his M.A. in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from Presidency College, standing first in the first class.
Works
Qualifying for law thereafter, Chaudhuri joined the firm of Ashutosh Dhar, a solicitor, as an article clerk. Chaudhuri sailed for England in 1893 an returned three years after as a Barrister-at-Law, having been called to the bar from the Inner TempleInner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
. Meanwhile, between, 1890 and 1893, two of this original essays and two stories, Phuldani (The Flower Vass) and Torquato Tasso, were published. Khayal Khata (A Scrap Book) was the first piece that appeared under the pen name Birbal in a Bengali journal Bharati in 1902. He wrote Ek Tukro Smritikatha (A Handful of Reminiscence), in 1908.
With a colloquial style in Bengali Prose and the dominating element of reason and rationality, Chaudhuri as the editor of Sabuj Patra made his first appearance. Around the magazine developed an assembly of authors, a fraternity that regularly gathered in Chaudhuri’s Bright Street house.
Later life
Chaudhuri held a high place in the literary field for thirty years though the number of his contributions in prose and poetry was not large. These comprised tow books of poems, a few collections of short stories and several books of essays. But they made a extensive impact on Bengali literature.As a Barrister-a-Law, he practiced in Kolkata High Court, but did not take this occupation seriously. For some time he was a lecturer at the Law College, University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
and also edited a law journal for a period. The closing years of his life he spent at Santiniketan
Santiniketan
Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata . It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town that attracts thousands of visitors each year...
.
Early Prose
Pramatha Chaudhuri’s literary productions, though little before the Sabuj Patra phase, gave adequate indication of his aptitude as an author. The preparation for the Sabuj Patra movement went on invisibly between 1880 to 1914. His works occasionally appeared in the periodicals, Sadhana and Bharati, influenced by Brahmo SamajBrahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
and run by the Tagore household and the Sahitya, an orthodox Hindu journal edited by Suresh Chandra Samajpati. Chaudhuri’s Bengali translation of Etruscan Vase by French author Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...
of whom Tagore incidentally tried to dissuade him from translating, with an essay named Adim Manavi (First Woman) appeared in Sahitya in 1891. Chaudhuri’s representation of Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, from French, never published. He wrote Torquato Tasso Ebang Tanhar Sidhha Betaler Kathopokathan, a translated piece from Italian, for Sadhana in 1893.
Jayadeva (Bharati, 1890) was Chaudhuri’s first original prose to be published. Though he followed a conventional style of writing here, he did not accept Jayadeva
Jayadeva
Jayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
, the composer of Gita Govinda
Gita Govinda
The Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...
, as neither a first-rank poet nor he would recognize him as a pious person and convincingly established its depiction of sensuous delights. Bharati published it, though Tagore differed from Chaudhuri’s revolutionary point of view.
As it is said, his first work as Birbal was Kheyal Khata, published in Bharati, 1902. Of it he asserted , “The subject may not be serious but it must have truth in it. Still better if embellishment can be added. Worn-out thoughts and ideas are as unacceptable as worn-out coins. My preferences lean to the lighter side of life. Tit-bits, apparently insignificant, are my favorite cup of tea. Literature, I strongly feel, has to be tuned anew to save it from static melodrama. Our country badly needs today a good bath in the sunshine of gaiety and humour – if not for our happiness, for our mental health.”
Banga Bhasha banam Babu Bangla orfe Sadhu Bhasha (Bengali Language vis a vis Traditional Bengali) and Sadhu Bhasha banam Chalit Bhasha (Book Language versus Colloquial Language) were two articles published in Bharati in 1912. According to Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, “He injected vitality into Bengali prose – a force imbedded in this very nature of spoken language. This resulted from his realization that a language is far removed from the way people speak it, loses the throb of life.” In four essays written in this period, Chaudhuri made his views about the proper diction of prose clear –
In Bangla Sahityer Nabajug (A New Era in Bengali Literature), published in 1913 in Bharati, Chaudhuri analyzed the character of Bengali literature of the time and indicates the affinity of the new literature to the mass.
Early Poetry
Sonnet Panchasat, his first collection of poem was published in 1913. It was a collection of fifty sonnets in which Chaudhuri "did succeed in marrying rhyme and reason". In a letter dated 22 April 1913, Tagore wrote to Chaudhuri of this collection, "I am delighted to have read your Sonnet Panchasat. I do not recall coming across this type in our Bengali literature. Every single line is worth attention. That proves how sincere you have been. A steel knife, as it were, its sharp-edged simile dazzles. Nowhere do sobs choke or shadows dim it. Only a few blood strains are barely perceptible. You have indeed added a new string of steel to SaraswatiSaraswati
In Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
’s Veena
Veena
Veena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...
."
In a letter dated 6 November 1941, to poet Amiya Chakravarty
Amiya Chakravarty
Amiya Chandra Chakravarty was a literary critic, academic, and Bengali Poet. He was a close associate of Rabindrath Tagore, and edited several books of his poetry. He was also an associate of Gandhi, and an expert on the American catholic writer and monk, Thomas Merton. Dr. Chakravarty was...
, Chaudhuri revealed, "My sonnets represent largely my interest in experiments. I wonder, therefore, if they will stand the literary test. If some of them do, unhesitatingly I shall attribute my success to the rigorous rules of sonnets. It is likely that my sonnets breathe more artificially than art."
Chaudhuri’s second collection of verses, Padacharan, which he dedicated to poet Satyendranath Dutta
Satyendranath Dutta
Satyendranath Dutta , a Bengali poet, is considered the wizard of rhymes...
, was published in 1919. These poems were written between 1911 and 1916 and according to Chaudhuri, "Presumptuous though it may appear for a prose writer to intrude into poetic field, I have ventured nonetheless in the firm belief that, if anything, my poems have rhyme and, may I add, reason as well."
Indeed, Chaudhuri’s poems "sparkle with wit". For example, one can site his poems like Balika Badhu, Bernard Shaw, Dwijendralal, Byartho Jiban, Upadesh, Atma Katha and Taj Mahal. In Byartho Jiban, he proclaimed, "I do not wield my pen to please readers". As a poet, Chaudhuri was neither pessimistic or an escapist nor even sold to romanticism or emotion. He was an passionate lover of this universe and joyous minstrel of the modern mind.
Appearance
Sabuj Patra (Bengali: সবুজ পত্র, “Green Leaf”), a liberalLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and pro-Tagore Bengali journal edited by Pramatha Chaudhuri, made its debut in April, 1914. In the very first issue, the editor clarified the ideals and objectives of the magazine:
Of the name of the journal, Chaudhuri asserted:
Rabindranath Tagore and Sabuj Patra
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
was a regular contributor to Sabuj Patra. Many of his early 20th century works including the Balaka poems, two of his novels, Ghare Baire and Chaturanga
Chaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
, a play titled Phalguni and a considerable lot of short stories and essays were published in this journal.
In Sabuj Patra, Tagore expressed his revolutionary view on society and political situations of contemporary times through his fiction and prose. Haimanti and Streer Patra caused a frown of contemporary Bengali society as well as his essays Bastab and Lokohito were severely attacked in conservative journals like Sahitya and Narayan.
Other Contributors of Sabuj Patra
Among the contributors other than Chaudhuri himself and Tagore, there were Atul Chandra Gupta, Kiran Shankar Roy, Satish Chandra Ghatak, Satyendranath Bose, Barada Charan Gupta, Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, Suresh Chandra Banerjee, Suresh Chandra Chakravarti, Dhurjati Prasad Mukherjee, Biswapati Chaudhuri, Harik Krishna Dev and Indira Devi Chaudhurani. “A close scrutiny of these writers would reveal that they stood firmly for a rational intellect free of inhibitions or emotions,”Char-Yari Katha
Char-Yari Katha (Bengali: চার ইয়ারি কথা, ‘Tales of Four Friends’), published in 1916, is Chaudhuri’s magnum opus as a storyteller. A rare presentation and superb implementation, this story depicts Chaudhuri’s evident art and artifice. “All the four episodes of it emanate from the world of memory, in some cases factual, and in others factious… A study in depth, however, reveals that Char-Yari Katha weaves a yarn which is neither fact nor fiction.”Synopsis
Each tale in Char-Yari Katha is narrated by the protagonist of the story. The first tale is told by Sen, a youth who during a walk along the banks of Ganges in Kolkata, encountered a beautiful English-woman. He instantly fell in love with her and she too gave him a meaningful smile just before he found her a lunatic, escaped from an asylum. Her pathetic laughter and excruciating scream while being dragged away broke the magical charm and destroyed Sen’s delusion. He realized, “From the moment the eternal feminine was lost to me forever but I my own self.”The second tale, told by Sitesh, portrays the protagonists quest for eternal feminine in many souls and his failure to find anyone. On a drizzly afternoon in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Sitesh found her lady love, an English girl, with whom he fell in love at the first sight. He begged her for a second visit. The girl put her card in his pocket and made him promise that he would not open it for five minute. After five minute he took the card out just to realize his guineas were pinched. The girl was nowhere to be found by then.
The Third tale is told by Somnath, who, in order to be cured from insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
, went for a change of climate to a small town in England’s South West Coast Path
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is Britain's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Since it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more...
. In hotel met a calm and compassionate young girl whom he named Tarini and affectionately called Rini. The affair went on more than a year and Rini seemed to take interest on Somnath. But at last he found that he had been used by the girl to make her fiancé jealous.
The last tale, which is quite different from the previous three, is told by Roy. Anna, a maid servant where Roy lived as a paying guest in London, fell in love with him. But neither had she given any indication of her love nor did Roy realize anything by himself. After ten long years, he received a long-distant call from a battlefield in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where Anna met her death while serving as a nurse and the call, at last, disclosed her love for Roy.
Criticism
Tales of Four Friends, a translated edition of the story in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Indira Devi Chaudhurani was thus criticized: “Tales of Four Friends is an Indian attempt to write the counterpart such tales as Mr. Kipling’s Without Benefit of Clergy and Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
’s Romantic accounts of exotic amours. We need only add that Mr. Chaudhuri’s style is worthy of the high reputation his magazine has own as a record of all that is best in contemporary Bengali literature.”
Annada Shankar Ray
Annada Shankar Ray
Annada Shankar Ray was a Bengali poet and essayist.Annada Shankar Ray was born in 1904 at Dhenkanal, Orissa. He graduated in English from Ravenshaw College. His father had shifted base from their ancestral village of Rameswarpur near Dhamnagar in Bhadrak of Orissa, following a family feud...
’s comment is suffice to indicate the importance of Char-Yari Katha in Bengali literature, “The eternal aroma of a romantic mind is at the heart of Char-Yari Katha. It is at once pleasant and poignant. Another Char-Yari Katha cannot be had for the asking. One cannot just walk back into youth and folly. Indeed, it is the swan song of second youth longing for the earlier one.” (Birbal, 1941)
Non-Fiction Prose
- 1. Tel Nun Lakri, 1906 – Collection of Socio-political Essays.
- 2. Birbaler Halkhata, 1917 – Collection of Essays.
- 3. Nana Katha, 1919 – Collection of Essays.
- 4. Aamaader Shiksha, 1920 – Collection of Essays.
- 5. Du-Yarki, 1920 – Collection of Political Essays.
- 6. Birbaler Tippani, 1921 – Collection of Short Essays.
- 7. Rayater Katha, 1926 – Rayater Katha and other Essays.
- 8. Nana Charcha, 1932 – Collection of Essays.
- 9. Ghare Baire, 1936 – Collection of Essays.
- 10. Prachin Hindusthan, 1940 – Collection of Essays.
- 11. Banga-Sahityer Sanskhipta Parichaya, 1944 – Girish Ghosh Lecture, delivered at the instance of the University of CalcuttaUniversity of CalcuttaThe University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
. - 12. Hindu-Sangeet, 1945 – Collection of Short Notes on MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
- 13. Atma-Katha, 1946 – AutobiographyAutobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
- 14. Prabandha Sangraha, Vol.I, 1952 – Collection of Selected Essays.
- 15. Prachin Bangla Sahitye Hindu-Musalman, 1953 – A Treatise
- 16. Prabandha Sangraha, Vol.II, 1952 – Collection of Selected Essays.
Poetry
- 1. Sonnet Panchasat, 1913 – Collection of 50 SonnetSonnetA sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s. - 2. Padacharan, 1919 – Collection of Poems.
- 3. Sonnet Panchasat and Anyanya Kabita, 1961 – Collection of all Sonnets and Poems.
Fiction
- 1. Char-Yari Katha, (Tales of Four Friends), 1916 – Story.
- 2. Ahuti, 1919 – Collection of Short Stories.
- 3. Nil-Lohit, 1932 – Collection of Stories.
- 4. Nil-Lohiter Adi-Prem, 1934 – Collectio of Stories.
- 5. Ghoshaler Tri-Katha, 1937 – Collection of Stories.
- 6. Anukatha-Saptak, 1939 – Collection of Short Stories.
- 7. Galpa-Sangraha, 1941 – Collection of Stories.
- 8. Galpa-Sangraha, 1968 – Collection of Stories (Revised Enlarged Edition).
Collected Works
1. Pramatha Chaudhuri Granthabali, 1926 – Collection of Prose and Poetical Works.Further reading
- Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical Dictionary), ed. by Anjali Bose, Sahitya Samsad, Kolkata. ISBN 81-86806-98-9
- Makers of Indian Literature: Pramatha Chaudhury, Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, ISBN 81-260-1426-1