Shaktipada Rajguru ( bn, শক্তিপদ রাজগুরু) (1 February 1922 – 12 June 2014) was an Indian

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 ...

writer. Several of his novels have been adapted for the screen including the Ritwik Ghatak-directed '' Meghe Dhaka Tara'' and the Shakti Samanta-directed '' Amanush''. His stories have been translated into

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 ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

, and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

Personal life

Shaktipada Rajguru was born on 1 February 1922 in Gopebandi,

Bankura District Bankura district (Pron: bãkuɽa) is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is part of Medinipur division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. Bankura district is surrounded by Purba Bardhaman distri ...

, in what is now

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 ...

. His early schooling was at Pachthopi Trailakyanath Institutional School in

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. During ...

. He received his bachelor's degree from

Surendranath College Surendranath College is an undergraduate college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata, India. It was founded in 1884 by the nationalist leader and scholar Surendranath Banerjee. The Women's section of the college was founded ...

under the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

. He began writing in 1945 with his first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, ''Dinguli Mor'', which revolved around the sensitive topic of the plight of refugees. Over the course of his career he wrote over 100 novels. He died on 12 June 2014 at the age of 92.

Writing style

Shaktipada Rajguru was fond of travelling and many of his novels are set in locations such as Chota Nagpur,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, and

Dandakaranya Dandakaranya is a historical region in India, mentioned in the Ramayana. It is identified with a territory roughly equivalent to the Bastar division in the Chhattisgarh state in the central-east part of India. It covers about of land, which inc ...

, places distant from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, where his novels are published. He was fond of describing nature in great detail and in portraying strong central characters in these locations. He cites

Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay () (12 September 1894 – 1 November 1950) was an Indian writer in the Bengali language. His best known works are the autobiographical novel, ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road''), ''Aparajito (Undefeate ...

and

Tarashankar Bandopadhyay Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (23 July 1898 – 14 September 1971) was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. ...

as major influences.

Select bibliography

*''Meghe Dhaka Tara'' *''Moni Begum'' *''Antare antare'' *''Jeebon Kahini'' *''Anusandhan'' *''Amanush''

Awards

*The Bibhutibhushan Award for literary excellence *All-India Lion's Award, Best screenplay for '' Amanush'' *The Hall of Fame - Lifetime Achievement ''Sahityabramha'' Award, 2009

References

External links

*
archive.org/ Shaktipada Rajguru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajguru, Shaktipada Writers from Kolkata Bengali writers Bengali Hindus People from Bankura district University of Calcutta alumni 1922 births 2014 deaths Surendranath College alumni