Nabinchandra Sen ( bn, নবীনচন্দ্র সেন; 10 February 1847 – 23 January 1909) was a

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 ...

poet and writer, often considered one of the greatest poets prior to the arrival of Rabindranath Tagore. He commented on the battle of Plassey and the arrival of British Rule in India as "A night of Eternal Gloom".

Life

Nabinchandra was born in Noapara, Raozan Upazila in Chittagong on 10 February 1847 in a Baidya family. He studied at the

Chittagong Collegiate School Chittagong Collegiate School is a government educational institution in Chittagong, the southern port city in Bangladesh.It provides education from 5th to 12th grade. Established in 1836, it is one of the oldest and the best educational institute ...

, clearing the school leaving Entrance examination in 1863, In 1865, he passed the FA exam from Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1868, he earned his BA from General Assembly's Institution (now

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in A ...

), and after teaching for a brief period at

Hare School Hare School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades one to twelve under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. It is a state government-administered boys sc ...

, he joined the colonial administrative services as a Deputy Magistrate. Sen retired in 1904, and died on 23 January 1909. He has been considered one of Bengal's greatest writers and poets.

Works

Sen's earliest poems were published in the ''Education Gazette'' edited by Peary Charan Sarker, and his first volume of poetry, ''Abakash Ranjani'', was published in 1871. A second volume of ''Abakash Ranjani'' was published in 1877. ''Palashir Juddha'' (1875), a long epic poem lamenting the betrayal of Siraj ud-Daulah by his followers and his defeat at the Battle of

Plassey Palashi or Plassey ( bn, পলাশী, Palāśī, translit-std=ISO, , ) is a village on the east bank of Bhagirathi River, located approximately 50 kilometres north of the city of Krishnanagar in Kaliganj CD Block in the Nadia Distr ...

, was an evocative expression of Bengali nationalism in literature, and it established his reputation as a powerful Bengali poet. A contemporary to Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Nabichandra is also known for popularizing the epic narrative in the Bengali language through his reinterpretations of the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

in a three-volume epic:''Raivatak'' (1887), ''Kuruksetra'' (1893) and ''Prabhas'' (1896), where Krishna serves as the protagonist and adventurer during the fall of kingdoms. He wrote biographies of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, and Cleopatra in the Bengali language, and made verse translations of the Bhagavad Gita and the

Markandeya Purana The ''Markandeya Purana'' ( sa, मार्कण्डेय पुराण; IAST: ) is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu History, who is the central c ...

. Nabindrachandra's ''Bhanumati'' (a novel-in-verse) and "Prabaser Patra" ( a memoir of his travels) also brought him fame. His five-volume autobiography, ''Amar Jiban'' (My Life), is an important document chronicling the politics and social aspirations of the Bengali literati in the late nineteenth century.

Bibliography

Epics

His epic trilogy was based on New Mahabharata. * ''Raivatak'' * ''Kurukkhetra'' * ''Provash''

Poetry

* ''Abakash Ranjani'' (1871) * ''Palashir Juddha'' (1875)

Biographies

* ''Amitabha'' (biography of the

) * ''Khrishta'ra Jibani'' (biography of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

) * ''Cleopatra'' (biography of Cleopatra)

Autobiography

* ''Probasher Potro'' * ''Amar Jiban'', in 5 volumes

Poetic translations

* ''Geeta'' * ''Chandi''

Poetic novel

* ''Bhanumoti''

References

External links

*
Sen, Nabin Chandra
at the West Bengal Public Library Network {{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Nabinchandra Bengali male poets Bengali-language poets People from Chittagong District Bengali writers Bengali-language writers 1847 births 1909 deaths Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni People from Chittagong 19th-century poets Writers from Kolkata