Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Michael Madhusudan Dutt was an important figure of the Bengali Renaissance who helped place Bengali literature on the throne it holds at present. He was hailed as the greatest poet of the Bengali language, until the advent of Rabindranath Tagore. Even now, he is considered one of the greatest poets of Bengal. This is a humble tribute to the prolific poet and dramatist on his 192nd birth anniversary, which falls on January 25. 

Greatly influenced by the English style of living and European literature, Madhusudan was a gifted linguist who mastered several oriental and occidental languages. He is known as ‘the father of the Bangla sonnet and modern poetry’. He also pioneered ‘amitrakshar chhanda’ (blank verse), which is a unique style of composing poems.
Madhusudan, the first Bengali rebel and modern poet, was born into an aristocratic family on the January 25, 1824 in Sagordari, a village on the bank of Kopotakkho River in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore district. He was the only son of Rajnarayan Dutt, an eminent lawyer, and Jahnabi Devi. 
Madhusudan received his early education at home under the guidance of his mother. He was also sent to a local mosque to learn Persian. He later attended Sagordari Primary School. He was a gifted student, with exceptional literary expression. His family moved to Calcutta (Kolkata) when he was seven years old. There, he attended the Hindu College of Kolkata in 1843 and studied Sanskrit and Persian, along with Bengali. 
As a young student, Madhusudan was influenced by the thoughts and actions of the Young Bengal _ a movement by a group of illustrious former students of the Hindu College (later renamed Presidency College) against the atrocities, blind beliefs and customs prevalent in 19th century Bengali society which they regarded as illogical. He became a self-proclaimed ambassador of English mannerisms and intellect, owing to his early exposure to English education and European literature. Inspired by his thoughts and to escape a marriage arranged by his father, Madhusudan left home and soon became a Christian. On the day of his baptism, Madhusudan adopted ‘Michael’ as his Christian name.
It was then that Michael Madhusudan went to England to study law, but the English weather and racism made things unbearable. By the time he moved to Versailles, France in the 1860s, he was desperately poor. He was only able to complete his law course and return home thanks to the generosity of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. For this, Madhusudan regarded Vidyasagar as ‘Dayar Sagar’ (Ocean of Kindness) for as long as he lived. 
His major works are Tilottama (1860) _ the first blank verse in Bangla, Padmaboti (1860) _ his first comedy in Bangla, Krishna Kumari (1861) _ first historical and tragic play), Meghnad Bodh Kavya, Birangana, Choturdoshpodi Kobitaboli, Brajangngana, Sharmishtha, Ekei Ki Bole Sovyota, Buro Shaliker Ghare Rown, Ratnavali, Rizia, The Sultana of Inde, The Captive Lady, Visions of the Past, Rosalo Sornolatika, Bongobani, Sonnets and other poems.
However, Madhusudan’s early works of poetry and drama were mostly in English. They included translations _ he translated into Bengali the scene of Prince Hector’s death from Homer’s Iliad, plays such as Sharmishtha, and poems like The Captive Lady, which was written about the mother of his close friend Sri Bhudev Mukhopadhyay. 
He was the first to write Bengali plays in the English style, segregating the drama into acts and scenes. He was also the pioneer of the first satirical plays in Bengali – ‘Buro Shaliker Ghare Row’ and ‘Ekei Ki Bole Sovyota’ (Is this what we call civilisation?). 
Needless to say, Madhusudan was particularly inspired by both the life and works of the English Romantic poet, Lord Byron. He was also influenced by John Milton and would write a sonnet, ‘Satan’, which drew from Milton’s depiction of the devil in ‘Paradise Lost’. 
‘Meghnadh Badh Kabya’(The Saga of Meghnadh’s Killing), his most famous work, is a tragic epic that comprises of nine cantos and is unique in Bengali literature, both in terms of style and content. Published in 1861, it was inspired by Homer and Dante, but based on the ancient Sanskrit epic ‘Ramayana’. 
In the original, Ravana was a powerful demon king and the villain of the piece. Meghnadh was his son, who was actively involved in a war between Ravana and Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. Meghnadh was invincible in battle as long as he completed a ritual beforehand. However, Rama’s brother, Lakshmana, disrupted the ritual, and after battling for three days, managed to kill Meghnadh.
Madhusudan turned this story on its head by portraying Ravana as a good and noble king, and Meghnadh as a patriot, a loving family man, and an honourable and just warrior, much like Hector, who was killed by Achilles in a vendetta.                                                                                                                                             Madhusudan dedicated his first sonnet ‘Bango Bhasa’ (Bengali Language) to his friend Rajnarayan Basu and accompanied it with a letter: “What say you to this, my good friend? In my humble opinion, if cultivated by men of genius, our sonnet in time would rival the Italian”. His most famous sonnet is ‘Kapatakkha Nadh’ (Kopotakkho River), which first created a patriotic zeal in the hearts of all Bengalis. 
In his personal life, Madhusudan had relationships with two women of English descent. When in Madras (now Chennai), he married Rebecca McTavish, with whom he had four children. However, the marriage didn’t work out and in 1856, Madhusudan started living with another woman, Henrietta Sophia White, who was with him till the end. They had a son and a daughter together.
Michael Madhusudan Dutt was a spirited bohemian and romantic. To cite the poet himself: “I awoke one morning and found myself famous”. He left this world on June 27, 1873. 

His epitaph, a verse of his own, reads:
   
Stop a while, traveller!
Should Mother Bengal claim thee for her son.
As a child takes repose on his mother’s Elysian lap,
Even so here in the long home,
On the bosom of the earth,
Enjoys the sweet eternal sleep
Poet Madhusudan of the Duttas.

The writer is a Masters student of Dhaka College.