Akinchan Chakrabarty (; c. 18th century) 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. He wrote three

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...

s: ''Parvatir Sankirtan'' or ''Chandir Nutan Mangal'' (a version of

Chandimangalkavya The Chandimangal () is an important subgenre of mangalkavya, the most significant genre of medieval Bengali literature. The texts belonging to this subgenre eulogize ''Chandi'' or ''Abhaya'', primarily a folk goddess, but subsequently identified w ...

), ''Shitala-Panchali'' and ''Ganga Mangal''. He was greeted by the

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

s as ''Kavindra'' ("Great Poet") and lived at Bengaral village near

Ghatal Ghatal is a town and a municipality in Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. Earlier it was part of Hooghly District in 1872 it was merged with Medinipur district. It is the headquarters of the Ghatal subdivision. History In ancien ...

in modern-day

Paschim Medinipur district Paschim Medinipur (English: ''West Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur a ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of Paschimbanga (

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

). The exact date of his first poem ''Shitala-Panchali'' or ''Shitala-Mangal'' is unknown. Professor Asutosh Bhattacharya assumed that ''Chandir Nutan Mangal'' was composed in the later half of 18th century, while Sukumar Sen believed it was composed particularly in 1757. Akinchan's version of Chandimangalkavya was greatly influenced by that of Mukunda Chakrabarty. This vast work has two ''khandas'' (Cantos) further divided into 16 ''palas'' (Books). He was, so far known, the last poet of Chandimangalkavya tradition. ''Ganga-Mangal'', a small narrative of Descent Of Ganga composed in 1776, was his last work. Not much of Akinchan's personal or family life is known except that his father Purushottam lived at Atghara-Srirampur village near Ghatal and Akinchan had three sons: Ramchand, Ramdulal and Shibananda.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakrabarty, Akinchan 18th-century Bengali poets Bengali male poets People from Paschim Medinipur district Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Bengali Hindus Bengali-language writers