Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়; 15 September 1876 or ৩১ শে ভাদ্র ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ – 16 January 1938), was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century. Most of his works deal with the lifestyle, tragedy and struggle of the village people and the contemporary social practices that prevailed in Bengal. He remains the most popular, translated, and adapted Indian author of all time.

Early life

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was born on 15 September 1876 (৩১ শে ভাদ্র, ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ), in a Bengali Brahmin family in Debanandapur, a small village in Hooghly, West Bengal.

Sarat Chandra spent most of his childhood at his maternal uncle's home in Bhagalpur, Bihar. Chandra spent his childhood in extreme poverty. Chandra was a daring, adventure-loving boy. His education began at Pyari Pandit's pathshala, an informal village school and later he joined Hooghly Branch High School. He was a good student and got a double promotion that enabled him to skip a grade. He passed his Entrance Examination (public examination at the end of Class X) but could not take his F.A. (First Arts) examination or attend college due to lack of funds.

House of Chattopadhyay

After returning from Burma, Chattopadhyay stayed for 11 years in Baje Shibpur, Howrah. Then he made a house in the village of Samta, in 1923, where he spent the later twelve years of his life as a novelist. His house is known as Sarat Chandra Kuthi. The two-storied Burmese style house was also home to Sarat Chandra's brother, Swami Vedananda, who was a disciple at Belur Math. His and his brother's ''samadhi'' are within the house's compound. Trees like bamboo and guava planted by the renowned author still stand tall in the gardens of the house.

Appreciation

The phenomenal popularity of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay has been attested by some of the most prominent writers as well as literary critics across India in their writings. Most of the authors in Assam and Odisha, at least before the Independence, read him admiringly in original Bengali; rest of India read him in translations in varying quality. Publishers were never tired of reprinting his works; he remains the most translated, the most adapted and the most plagiarized author. His novels also reached a number of people through the medium of film and he is still an important force in Indian cinema. O. N. V. Kurup writes "...Sarat Chandra's name is cherished as dearly as the names of eminent Malayalam novelists. His name has been a household word". Dr Mirajkar informs "the translations of Sarat Chandra created a stir amongst the readers and writers all over Maharashtra. He has become a known literary personality in Maharashtra in the rank of any popular Marathi writers including H. N. Apte, V. S. Khandekar, N. S. Phadke and G. T. Madkholkar". Jainendra Kumar, who considers that his contribution towards the creation and preservation of cultural India is second, perhaps, only to that of Gandhi, asks a rhetorical question summing up Sarat Chandra's position and presumably the role of translation and inter-literary relationship: "Sarat Chandra was a writer in Bengali; but where is that Indian language in which he did not become the most popular when he reached it?"

Films

His works have been made into around fifty films in many Indian languages. Particularly, his novel ''Devdas'' has been made into sixteen versions, from Bengali, Hindi to Telugu. '' Parineeta'' has also been made thrice in Hindi. In 1957 ''Bardidi'' was made by director Ajoy Kar. '' Rajlakshmi O Srikanta'' and ''Indranath Srikanta O Annadadidi'' by Haridas Bhattacharya in 1958 and 1959 respectively, ''Majhli Didi'' (1967) by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and ''Swami'' (1977), for which he was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Story, are other adaptations. Another famous film ''Chhoti Bahu'' (1971) is based on his novel ''Bindur Chhele''. His novel 'Datta' was adapted into a Bengali film as Datta (film) in 1951 directed by Saumyen Mukhopadhyay starring Sunanda Banerjee and Manoranjan Bhattacharyya with Ahindra Choudhury as Rashbehari, and again in 1976 starring Suchitra Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee. The film ''Sabyasachi'' (film) was released in 1977 based on his work ''Pather Dabi''.
The other movies based on his novel were ''Nishkriti'', and ''Apne Paraye'' (1980) by Basu Chatterjee, starring Amol Palekar. The Telugu film ''Thodi Kodallu'' (1957) is also based on this novel. Gulzar's 1975 film, '' Khushboo'' is majorly inspired by his work ''Pandit Mashay''. The 1961 Telugu film ''Vagdanam'' by Acharya Aatreya is loosely based on his novel ''Datta''. Also the 2011 film ''Aalo Chhaya'' is based on his short story, ''Aalo O Chhaya''.'Chandranath'is also another film made based on his novel in the year 1957 and Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar played the main role.

Awards

Bibliography

Sarat Chandra wrote novels, novellas, and stories. Sarat Chandra used to visit village after village, mingle with the local people and outside Bengal, in foreign, he spent several days and the experience which he gathered was the reason of his unique and elegant style of his literary works.

His first novel was '' Badadidi'' (1907), which was published in the ''Bharati'' and made him well known. He went on to write several stories and novels, including
*''Bindur Chhele O Anyanya'' (1914)
*'' Parinita'' (1916)
*''Baikunther Will'' (1916)
*''Pallisomaj'' (1916)
*''Devdas'' (1917)
*'' Choritrohin'' (1917)
*''Nishkrti'' (1917)
*'' Shrikanta'' (Part 1–4, 1917–1933)
*'' Datta'' (1918)
*''Grihadaha'' (1920)
*''Dena-Paona'' (1923)
*'' Pother Dabi'' (1926)
*''Shes Proshno'' (1931)

He also wrote essays, which were anthologized in ''Narir Mulya'' (1923) and ''Svadesh O Sahitya'' (1932). ''Shrikanta'', ''Charitrahin'', ''Devdas'', ''Grihadaha'', ''Dena-Paona'' and ''Pather Dabi'' are among his most popular works. ''Pather Dabi'' was banned by the British Government because of its revolutionary theme. His posthumous publications include ''Chhelebelar Galpa'', ''Shubhada'' (1938), ''Sheser Parichay'' (1939), ''Sharat Chandrer Granthabali'' (1948) and ''Sharat Chandrer Aprakashita Rachanabali'' (1951).

He wrote some essays including ''Narir Itihas'' (The History of Women) and ''Narir Mulya'' (The Value of Women). ''Narir Itihas'', which was lost in a house fire, contained a history of women on the lines of Spencer's Descriptive Sociology. While the second, ''Narir Mulya'' gives a theory of women's rights in the context of Mill's and Spencer's arguments.

Stories
* ''Aalo O Chhaya''
* ''Abhagir Swargo''
* ''Anupamar Prem''
* ''Anuradha''
* ''Andhare Aalo''
* ''Balya Smriti''
* ''Bilashi''
* ''Bindur Chhele'', (Bindu's Son) 1913
* ''Bojha''
* ''Cheledhora''
* ''Chobi''
* ''Darpochurno'' (Broken Pride)
* ''Ekadoshi Bairagi''
* ''Kashinath''
* ''Haricharan''
* ''Harilakshmi''
* ''Lalu'' (parts 1, 2, and 3)
* ''Mamlar Phol''
* ''Mandir''
* ''Mahesh'' (The Drought)
* ''Mejdidi''
* ''Bochor Panchash Purber Ekti Kahini''
* ''Paresh''
* ''Path Nirdesh''
* ''Ramer Shumoti'', (Ram's Good Sense) 1914
* ''Sati''
* ''Swami'' (The Husband)

Plays
Sarat Chandra converted three of his works into plays.
* ''Bijoya''
* ''Rama''
* ''Shoroshi''
* ''Jai hind''

Essays
* ''Narir Mulya''
* ''Swadesh O Sahitya''
* ''Taruner Bidroho''

Other works
* ''Dehati Samaj'', 1920
* ''Sharoda'' (published posthumously)

Biography
*''Awara Masiha ' (in Hindi) by Vishnu Prabhakar
*''Great Vagabond: Biography and Immortal Works of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee''

See also

* Films based on works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
* Samtaber, the village where Sarat Chandra spent his life's early years as a novelist
* Sarat Chandra Kuthi, the house of Sarat Chandra at Samtaber
* List of Indian writers

References

Notes

* Ganguly, Swagato. "Introduction". In '' Parineeta'' by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005. (English translation)
* Guha, Sreejata. "Introduction". In ''Devdas'' by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2002. (English translation)
* Roy, Gopalchandra. ''Saratchandra'', Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata
* ''Sarat Rachanabali'', Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata
* Prithwindra Mukherjee. "Introduction" in '' Mahesh et autres nouvelles'' by Saratchandra Chatterji. Paris: Unesco/Gallimard, 1978. (French translation of ''Mahesh'', '' Bindur chhele'' and '' Mejdidi'' by Prithwindra Mukherjee. Foreword by Jean Filliozat)
* Dutt, A. K. and Dhussa, R. "Novelist Sarat Chandra's perception of his Bengali home region: a literary geographic study". Springer Link
* Sil, Narasingha Prasad. ''The life of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay: drifter and dreamer''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2012.
* Das, Sisir Kumar, "A History of Indian Literature 1911–1956: Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy", South Asia Books (1 September 1995),

External links

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The man behind Devdas, Parineeta

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chattopadhyay, Sharat Chandra
Writers from Kolkata
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
1876 births
1938 deaths
20th-century Indian novelists
People from Howrah
Bengali writers
Bengali Hindus
Indian male novelists
Bengali-language writers
University of Calcutta alumni
Poets from West Bengal
Novelists from West Bengal
20th-century Indian short story writers
20th-century Indian male writers
Deaths from liver cancer