Rajshekhar Basu ( bn, রাজশেখর বসু; better known by the pen name Parashuram; 16 March 1880 – 27 April 1960) was a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
,
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
. He was chiefly known for his comic and
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
short stories, and is considered the greatest
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
humorist
A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...
of the 20th century. He was awarded the
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
in 1956.
Early life
Basu was born at his maternal uncle's home at Bamunpara near
Kandorsona,
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
(now
Purba Bardhaman district
Purba Bardhaman district is in West Bengal. Its headquarters is in Bardhaman. It was formed on 7 April 2017 after the division of the previous Bardhaman district. Great revolutionary Rash Behari Bose was born in village Subaldaha in the district ...
of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
). He was the second son (and sixth child) of Chandrasekhar Basu and Lakshmimani Devi. His father, who belonged to the Basu family of
Birnagar
Birnagar (formerly Ula) is a municipality city Ranaghat subdivision of Nadia district in West Bengal, India.
The Birnagar Municipality has a population of 32,799 of which 16,658 are males while 16,141 are females as per report released by Cens ...
in
Nadia District
Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north.
Nadia district is highly influentia ...
of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, was the Dewan
Darbhanga
Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region.
Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstw ...
Raj. Rajshekhar spent his childhood in
Darbhanga
Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region.
Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstw ...
, in the state of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, and learned to speak
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
as a
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
, rather than Bengali. He was an inquisitive child and manifested a knack for science early in life. Shashisekhar, his elder brother, later wrote that the young Rajshekhar put together a laboratory at home equipped with two cupboards of various chemicals; he would forecast the weather by looking at a barometer that he had hung on the wall, would write prescriptions of cough-mixtures for his family members, and later, would even go to the Temple Medical School to dissect corpses.
Basu was introduced to Bengali literature when he went to
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
to study for the F.A. degree, where he interacted with a number of Bengali speakers. After school, he moved to
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
and joined
Presidency College, where he completed his BA and
MA degrees in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
. After graduating he completed a degree in law as well, but only attended court for three days, after which he quit the legal profession for good, and decided to pursue a career in science.
Around this time, he met
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy
Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, CIE, FNI, FRASB, FIAS, FCS (also spelled Prafulla Chandra Rây and Prafulla Chandra Roy; bn, প্রফুল্ল চন্দ্র রায় ''Praphulla Chandra Rāy''; 2 August 1861 – 16 June 1944 ...
, who had recently started a company –
Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals. In 1903, Basu joined the company as a chemist. He was very quickly promoted to the post of director, and began a long association with the company, which continued even after his retirement in 1932.
Literary career
Basu began his writing career in the 1920s. He adopted the pen name of Parashuram while writing humorous pieces for a monthly magazine. The name was not, apparently, a homage to the
Parashurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appear ...
of mythology. In fact, Basu simply borrowed the surname of someone at hand, the family goldsmith, Tarachand Parashuram. His first book of stories, ''Gaddalika'', was published in 1924 and drew praise from such personalities as
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
.
In 1937, when he published ''Chalantika'', a monolingual Bengali dictionary, Rabindranath commented:
"''At long last, we have a dictionary for Bengali. The concise grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
for Bengali that you have included in the appendix is also wonderful.''"
''Chalantika'' also included Basu's first efforts to reform and rationalise Bengali
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
. A few years before its publication, in 1935,
Calcutta University
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...
formed a committee, chaired by him, to formulate a set of guidelines governing the spelling of Bengali words. The recommendations of this committee were broadly accepted, and ''Chalantika'' is still in use today.
Basu's collection of short stories, ''Anandibai Ityadi Galpa,'' won a
Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
for Bengali literature in 1958. The book was published under his
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
, Parasuram, and contained fifteen satirical stories, touching on themes of love, courtship, families, and politics.
Other achievements
Basu was a man of diverse achievements. He was an active member of the National Council of Education, founded in 1903. He served on the ''
Bangiya Sahitya Parishad
Bangiya Sahitya Parishat is a literary society in Maniktala of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Established during the time of the British Raj, its goal is to promote Bengali literature, both by translating works in other languages to Bengali and ...
''. He even provided covert assistance to the revolutionaries of the
Indian Independence Movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
in the form of money and chemicals, and also provided his expertise in making
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
s.
Basu also played a major role in the history of printing in Bengal. He was the principal assistant to
Sureshchandra Majumdar, credited with creating the first
linotype in the Bengali script. The second edition of Parashuram's ''Hanumaaner Svapna Ityadi Galpa'' was the first book to be completely printed in Bengali linotype.
Awards and honours
Basu received a good deal of recognition for his writing. Calcutta University awarded him the ''Jagattarini'' and ''Sarojini'' medals in 1940 and 1945 respectively. In 1957, the University awarded him
D.Litt.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...
followed suit the next year. ''Krishnakali ityadi golpo'' won the ''
Rabindra Puraskar
The Rabindra Puraskar (also Rabindra Smriti Puraskar) is the highest honorary literary award given in the Indian state of West Bengal. This award is named after the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and is administered by the Government of W ...
'' in 1955, and in 1956, he was awarded the ''Padma Bhushan''. In 1958, he was awarded the ''Akademi Puraskar'' for ''Anandibai Ityadi Galpa''.
Personal life
Basu was married and had one daughter. He suffered a great deal of tragedy in his personal life. His son-in-law died of a terminal illness at a very young age, and his heartbroken daughter died the same day. In 1942, he lost his wife as well. He lived for almost 18 years after his wife's demise and wrote a great deal during this time, but he did not allow his personal tragedies to colour his writing. Even after a debilitating stroke in 1959, he continued writing. On 27 April 1960, he suffered a second stroke while he was resting and died in his sleep.
Rajshekhar's younger brother,
Girindrasekhar Bose
Girindrasekhar Bose (31 January 1887 – 3 June 1953) was an early 20th-century Indian psychoanalyst, the first president (1922–1953) of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society.Sudhir Kakar, 'Girindrasekhar Bose (1886-1953), ''International Diction ...
(1887–1953), was an early
Freudian
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
of the non-Western world, and also wrote books for children.
Works
Dictionary
* ''Chalantika'' (1937)
Short stories
* ''Sri sri siddheswari limited'' (1922)
* ''Gaddalika'' (1922)
* ''Kajjali'' (1927)
* ''Hanumaner Svapna Ityadi Galpa''(1937)
* ''Galpakalpa'' (1950)
* ''Dhusturi Maya Ityadi Galpa''
* ''Krishnakali Ityadi Galpa'' (1953)
* ''Nil Tara Ityadi Galpa''
* ''Anandibai Ityadi Galpa'' (1957)
* ''Chamatkumari Ityadi Galpa''
* '' Asmani choti''
* ''Jaliyat''
Translations
* ''Kalidaser Meghdut'' (1943)
* ''Valmiki Ramayan'' (1946)
* ''Krishnadvaipayan Vyas krita Mahabharat'' (1949)
* ''Hitopadesher Galpa'' (1950)
* ''Shrimadbhagabat Gita''
Collection of essays
* ''Laghuguru'' (1939)
* ''Bharater Khanij'' (1943)
* ''Kutir Shilpa'' (1943)
* ''Bichinta'' (1955)
* ''Chalachchinta''
Poetry
* ''Parashuramer Kabita'' (published posthumously)
Screen adaptations
* Two Bengali movies, both directed by
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
, were based on short stories by Parashuram. These were ''
Parash Pathar
''Parash Pathar'' ( bn, পরশ পাথর ''Porosh Pathor''; English: ''The Philosopher's Stone''; French: ''La Pierre Philosophale'') is a 1958 Bengali language Indian fantasy comedy film. It was Satyajit Ray's first film outside of ''The A ...
'' ( bn, পরশ পাথর (The philosopher's stone)), based on the story of the same name; and ''
Mahapurush
''Mahapurush'' ( bn, মহাপুরুষ; ) is a 1965 film directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a short story ''Birinchibaba'' (বিরিঞ্চি বাবা) by Rajshekhar Basu.
Plot
After the death of his wife, Gurupada Mit ...
'' ( bn, মহাপুরুষ (The holy man)), based on the short story ''Birinchibaba'' ( bn, বিরিঞ্চি বাবা).
* In the film ''
Chaar
''Chaar'' (English: Four) is a 2014 Indian Bengali anthology film, directed by Sandip Ray and produced by Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni and Nispal Singh under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films and Surinder Films. It based on four stories by d ...
'', one story ''(Bateswarer Abodan)'' is written by Rajshekhar Basu. The film is directed by
Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray (born 8 September 1953) is an Indian film director and music director who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the only child of the famous Bengali director Satyajit Ray and Bijoya Ray.
Life and education
Sandip Ray was born in C ...
.
References
External links
Rajsekhar Bose Section in ParabaasRajsekhar Bose Section in Abasar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Rajshekhar
1880 births
1960 deaths
20th-century Bengalis
19th-century Bengalis
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
Bengali-language writers
Bengali Hindus
Brahmos
Writers from West Bengal
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education
Recipients of the Rabindra Puraskar
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali
University of Calcutta alumni
People from Purba Bardhaman district
20th-century Indian translators
20th-century Indian essayists
20th-century Indian short story writers
19th-century Indian translators
20th-century Indian writers
20th-century Indian male writers
Indian male writers
Indian writers
Indian short story writers
Indian male short story writers
Indian essayists
Indian male essayists
Indian translators
Indian non-fiction writers
Indian male non-fiction writers
20th-century Indian non-fiction writers
Indian chemists
20th-century Indian chemists
Indian comedy writers
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Scientists from British India
Writers in British India