Satyendranath Dutta (also spelt Satyendranath Datta or Satyendra Nath Dutta; ; 11 February 1882 – 25 June 1922) was a Bengali poet and is considered the "wizard of rhymes" ('ছন্দের জাদুকর'; ). Satyendranath Dutta was an expert in many disciplines of intellectual enquiry including medieval Indian history, culture, and mythology.

Early life and education

Satyendranath Dutta was the son of Rajaninath Dutta, who was a trader. He was born on 11 February 1882 at Nimta,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. The family hailed from Chupi in Purba Bardhaman district He was the only son of his parents. His grandfather, Akshay Kumar Datta, was a great thinker, Brahmo social reformer and writer who was the guiding spirit of the Tattwabodhini Patrika. After passing the school-leaving examination from the Central Collegiate School, he received his graduate-level education from the General Assembly's Institution in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. Although he left (what is 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 Asia. ...

without taking a degree, his training there helped him immensely for the future. After unsuccessfully joining the ranks of his father in their family business, he quit that to devote his energies entirely to scholarly pursuits. He wrote poems like Jatir Pati.

Personal life

In 1903, Satyendranath Dutta married Kanaklata Devi, eldest daughter of Ishan Chandra Bose and Giribala Devi (her biological mother Noroda Sundari Devi, the first wife of Ishan Chandra Bose, died when Kanaklata and her siblings were young children). Kanaklata Devi was from a wealthy

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Kulin Kayastha family, originally hailing from

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

Nayabari and later settled at

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

where the family owned estates. The marriage was fixed by their families, which was a common practice at that time. After Satyendranath Dutta's death in 1922, Kanaklata Devi lived a lonely life and died in December 1967.

Death

He died on 25 June 1922, aged 40.

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

has immortalized Satyendranath in a poem written after his death.

Kazi Nazrul Islam Kazi Nazrul Islam (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengalis, Bengali poet, short story writer, journalist, lyricist and musician. He is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul produced a List of works by Kazi Nazrul Islam, large body of ...

also wrote a poem titled 'Sayendranath' eulogizing his death. A street in South Kolkata has been named after him.

Works

Satyendranath Dutta composed poems and initially composed poems for the Bengali magazine ''Bharati''. Although his stylistic nuances during this stage reflect the influence of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Akshay Kumar Baral and Debendranath Sen, his later poetry illustrates a greater resonance with the poetry of

. Dutta wrote under multiple pseudonyms, including ''Nabakumar'', ''Kaviratna'', ''Ashitipar Sharma'', ''Tribikram Varman'' and ''Kalamgir''.

Books of poems

* ''Sabita'' (The Sun, 1900) * ''Sandhiksan'' (The Opportune Moment, 1905) * ''Benu O Bina'' (The Blaze of the Yagya, 1907) * ''Fuler Fasal'' (The Harvest of Flowers, 1911) * ''Kuhu O Keka'' (Song of Cuckoo and Peahen, 1912) * ''Tulir Likhon'' (Written with a Brush, 1914) * ''Abhra-Avir'' (Farewell Hymn, 1924) * ''Kavyasanchayan'' (Collected Poems, 1930) * ''Shishu-Kavita'' (Children's Poetry, 1945) * ''Bhorai'' (The song of Dawn) * ''Tirtha-renu'' * ''Tirtha-Salil''

Other works

* ''Janmaduhkhi'' (Destined to be sad from Birth - novel, 1912) * ''Chiner Dhup'' (Chinese incense - essays, 1912) * ''Rangamalli'' (play, 1913)

References

*''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali edited by Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose

External links

* *
Satyendranath Dutta
at the West Bengal Public Library Network {{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Sattendranath Writers from Kolkata 1882 births 1922 deaths 19th-century Bengali poets 20th-century Bengali poets 19th-century Bengalis Bengali Hindus Bengali-language poets Bengali male poets Dutta, Satyendranath Dutta, Satyendranath Dutta, Satyendranath Translators to Bengali Indian poets Indian male poets Poets from West Bengal People from West Bengal 19th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian male writers 19th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian translators 19th-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian poets 19th-century Indian poets