Ishwar Chandra Gupta ( bn, ঈশ্বরচন্দ্র গুপ্ত; 6 March 1812 – 23 January 1859) was a famous

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poet and writer. Gupta was born in

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, in

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Early life

Ishwar Chandra Gupta was born in a Baidya family. He was brought up in his uncle's house after the death of his mother. Gupta spent most of his childhood in

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 ...

. At that time, poets were named ''Kobiwala'' and the ''kobiwalas'' were not so civilized in language. Sexual words and clashes were common. But Ishwar Chandra Gupta created a different style of poetry. He started the newspaper '' Sambad Prabhakar'' with Jogendra Mohan Tagore on January 28, 1831, which finally became a daily on June 4, 1839. Many Bengali writers of the 19th century started their careers with that magazine. He reintroduced into Bengali poetry the mediaeval style with double meaning (already seen in Sandhyakaranandi and Bharatchandra): ::''কে বলে ঈশ্বর গুপ্ত, ব্যপ্ত চরাচর,'' ::''যাহার প্রভায় প্রভা পায় প্রভাকর।'' ::''Ke bole Ishwar Gupta, byapta charachar,'' ::''Jahar prabhaye prabha paye Prabhakar.''. 'Ishwar' means God, 'Gupta' means hidden and 'Prabhakar' is the sun. So a translation runs: ::Who says God is hidden? He is omnipresent ::From Him the Sun gets its luminescence. Also, Ishwar (Chandra) Gupta ran the journal ''Prabhakar''. So a second meaning of the poem, making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the author, runs: ::Who says Ishwar (Gupta) is hidden? His reach touches the world ::For his brilliance makes the ''Prabhakar'' luminescent.

Literary style

He brought modern era of poetry in

. He did not describe the life of Gods and Goddesses, but the daily life of human beings. He also wrote biographies of many Bengali poets and musicians. Ishwarchandra Gupta always satires the so-called modern class who blindly followed the colonial British power. ::Tumi ma kalpataru ::Amra shob posha goru ::Shikhi ni shing bankano ::Khai kebol khol-bichuli-ghash ::Jano ranga amla ::::Tule mamla ::::::Na bhange gamla ::Ma! ::Pele bhushi ::::Tatei kushi ::::::Ghushi khele bachbo na!

Political views

In the early days he was a conservative, opposing the Young Bengal movement as well as frowning on widow remarriage. His views on widow remarriage put him at odds with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He was one of the earliest advocates of a Hindu view of Indian society. Later in his life, his views began to change and he championed the cause for the remarriage of virgin widows and women's education.

Important works

*Life of Bharat Chandra Roy *Probodh Pravakara *Kobitabolir Saar Sangraha

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Ishwar Chandra 19th-century Indian poets Bengali male poets Bengali-language poets Bengali-language writers 1812 births 1859 deaths Hindu poets People from North 24 Parganas district 19th-century poets Writers from West Bengal