Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was born on 15 September 1876,[3] in Debanandapur, a small village in Hooghly, West Bengal.[4]

Birthplace of Sarat Chandra in Debanandapur, Hooghly

Sarat 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.[5] He was a good student and got a double promotion that enabled him to skip a grade.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[9] 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[9] 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[10] 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,[9] 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?"

His works have been made into around fifty films in many Indian languages.[9] Particularly, his novel Devdas has been made into sixteen versions, from Bengali, Hindi to Telugu. Parineeta has also been made twice. 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 in the lead roles with Ahindra Choudhury as Rashbehari,[11][12] and again in 1976 starring Suchitra Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee in the lead roles. 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.[13] 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 Atreya is loosely based on his novel Datta. Also the 2011 film Aalo Chhaya is based on his short story, Aalo O Chhaya.

Sarat Chandra wrote novels, novellas, and stories.[14]

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.[15]

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)[16]

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[17][18]
• Great Vagabond: Biography and Immortal Works of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee[19]

• 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

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

• Works by or about Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay at Internet Archive
• The man behind Devdas, Parineeta'
• Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay at IMDb