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Manik Bandyopadhyay lias Banerjee(; 19 May 1908 – 3 December 1956) is an Indian Litterateur regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years of literary career, battling with epilepsy from the age of around 28 and financial strains all along, he produced some masterpieces of novels and short stories, besides some poems, essays etc.


Early life

Manik was born on 19 May 1908 in Dumka, a small town of Santhal Parganas district in the state of the then Bihar (now under Jharkhand) in British India in a Bengali Brahmin family. His good-name was Prabodh Kumar Bandyopadhyay and Manik was his nickname. His ancestral home was in Malapadiya village of Bikrampur in Dacca district (present day Bangladesh). His father was Harihar Bandyopadhyay and mother Niroda Devi. They had fourteen children (ultimately ten survived) and Manik was fourth of the six sons with all four elder sisters. His father, who joined in government service as Surveyor and finally retired as sub-deputy collector, had to work in different parts of undivided Bengal like Calcutta, Midnapore, Barasat, Dacca, Dumka, Cumilla, Brahmanbaria, Mymensingh, Tangail and in some parts of Orissa and Bihar. This gave Manik an opportunity to experience in early life the misery and sorrows of the rural and urban people which was reflected sympathetically in his works throughout. Romantic in nature, Manik could sing well and play flutes from early in his life almost till death.


Literary life

Manik was much inclined to literature and had read some Bengali masterpieces at an early age. While in Class VII in Bindubasini School at Tangail, the Bengali teacher would be pleased with Manik's way of writing essays and would often advise classmates to follow him. Manik wrote poetry at the age of sixteen. A brilliant student, Manik studied in the prestigious Presidency College in Calcutta (now Kolkata) with Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Honors course in mathematics. One day, some classmates argued that leading periodicals publish stories only of eminent authors. Manik differed and took the challenge with a bet and replied that his first story would be good enough for the purpose. He wrote his first story "Atasimami" (Aunt Atasi), a romantic love story based on his early life experience of an older couple, a clarionet player and his wife, and went straight to the office of the then renowned monthly ''Bichitra''. Manik handed over the story to the deputy editor present there without even asking when to come next to know the fate of the story. After anxiously waiting for around four months, one fine morning, the famous writer and editor of the monthly himself came to his home with a copy of ''Poush'' 1335 issue (Dec-Jan 1928–29) and honorarium and requested for another story. "Atasimami" created sensation in the literary circle of Bengal and Manik became casual in his studies and could not succeed twice in B.Sc. final terms and devoted himself wholeheartedly to literature. Never a well-off person, Manik had to struggle throughout his life to maintain his family along with wife Kamala Bandyopadhyay.  


Social and political views

Manik Bandyopadhyay carefully read Freud, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and socialist philosophers and participated in cultural activities and mass movements of the toiling people. He finally joined the Communist Party of India in 1944 and remained a member until his death.


Works

In 28 years of literary career, he wrote 38 novels, 306 short stories (includes 32 juvenile stories), one book of drama, one book of poems and one book of essays on literature. Manik wrote his first novel ''Dibaratrir Kavya'' (''Poetry of the Day and Night'') at the age of 21. His notable novels include first published one, ''Janani'' (''Mother''), 1935, ''Dibaratrir Kavya'', 1935, '' Putul Nacher Itikatha'' (''The Puppets’ Tale''), 1936, ''Padma Nadir Majhi'' (''Boatman of the River Padma''), 1936, ''Shahartoli'' (''Suburbia'' in 2 vols.), 1940, 1941, ''Chatushkone'' (''Quadrangle''), 1942, ''Chinha'' (''Signs''), 1947, and ''Halud Nadi Sabuj Bon'' (''Yellow River Green Forest''), 1956. Manik had 16 books of short stories published during his lifetime. Some of his famous stories include: "Sailaja Shila" ("Rocky Rocks"), "Pragoitihasik" ("Primeval"), "Sarishrip" ("Reptiles"), "Atmahatyar Adhikar" ("Right to Suicide"), "Haludpora" ("Burnt Turmeric"), "Namuna" ("A Sample"), "Aaj Kal Porshur Galpo" ("Today, Tomorrow and Day After"), "Shilpi" ("Craftsman"), "Haraner Natjamai" ("Haran's Grandson-in-Law"), "Chhotobokulpurer Jatri" ("Travelers to Chhotobokulpur"), "Upay" ("The Way-out"). His two other works (edited) are ''Manik Bandyopadhyayer Kavita'' (''Poems of Manik Bandyopadhyay''), 1970, edited by Jugantar Chakravarty, and ''Samagra Prabandha Ebong'' (''Complete Essays''), 2015, edited by Subhamoy Mandal and Sukanta Bandyopadhyay.


Translations

Manik Bandyopadhyay (Banerjee) is one of very few Bengali authors whose works have been translated into so many Indian, English, and other languages abroad. His highly acclaimed novel ''Padma Nadir Majhi'' (''Boatman of The Padma'') has been translated into 7/8 Indian languages, thrice in English and in Swedish, Czech, Hungarian, Chinese, Bulgarian, Russian, Slovak, Dutch, German, French, and latest into Italian in 2014. Other distinctive novel ''Putul Nacher Itikatha'' (''The Puppets’ Tale'') has translations into 11/12 Indian languages and in English, Czech and in Hungarian language. The novel ''Chinnha'' (''Signs'') is translated into Assamese (Indian, 2006), English (2021), and into Czech language (1956). Another novel ''Darpan'' (''Mirror'') was translated into Hindi in 1986. Besides, two other novels have also been translated into two Indian languages, English and into Czech language. Following are the five books of translation of Manik Bandyopadhyay's stories: 1) ''Primeval And Other Stories'', People’s Publishing House, New Delhi, 1958. 11 stories by 9 translators – edited by Debiprasad Chattopadhyay with an introduction by Atulchandra Gupta.    2) ''Selected Stories: Manik Bandyopadhyay'', THEMA, Kolkata, 1988. 16 stories by 13 translators, Introduced and edited by Malini Bhattacharya with a translation. 3) ''Wives & Others'', Penguin Books India (P) Ltd., New Delhi, 1994. 24 stories and a novel (''Amritasya Putra'') – translated with elaborate introduction by Kalpana Bardhan. 4) ''Opium A Jiné Povídky'' (''Opium & Other Short Stories'') n Czech language Svobodné Slovo – Melantrich, Praha, Czechoslovakia, 1956. 16 stories with a novel ''Chinha'' (''Signs'') – translated by Ajit Majumder. 5) ''Selected Short Stories'', Shan Shi Peoples’ Publishing House, Taiyuan, China, 1984. 14 stories translated by Mrs. Srieve Chen. Nearly 70 short stories of Manik Bandyopadhyay are known to have been translated into Indian and international languages.


References


Further reading

* Saroj Mohan Mitra, Manik Bandyopadhyayer Jibon-o-Sahitya, 1970 *Jugantar Chakravary (editor), Aprokashito Manik Bandyopadhyay: Diary o Chithipatra, 1976 *Nitai Basu, Manik Bandyopadhyay’er Samaj Jijnasa, 1978 *Subhamay Mandal & Sukanta Bandyopadhyay (jt. editor), Samagra Prabandha Ebong, 2015 *Malini Bhattacharya, Manik Bandyopadhyay: Ekti Jiboni, 2021 (Biography).


External links

*
Article on Manik Badopadhyay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandopadhyay, Manik 1908 births 1956 deaths People from Dumka district Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Bengali novelists Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis Bengali-language writers Bengali-language literature Marxist writers University of Calcutta alumni Manik Bandyopadhyay Novelists from Jharkhand Indian novelists Indian male novelists 20th-century Indian novelists Indian essayists Indian male essayists 20th-century Indian essayists Indian short story writers Indian male short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers Indian male poets Indian poets 20th-century Indian poets Indian memoirists People from Dhaka Writers from Kolkata Novelists from West Bengal People from Kolkata