Peary Chand Mitra

Peary Chand Mitra ( _bn. প্যারীচাঁদ মিত্র) (1814-1883), a member of Derozio’s Young Bengal group, author and journalist, played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance with the introduction of simple Bengali prose. His "Alaler Gharer Dulal" pioneered the novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken up by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and others.

Early life

Son of Ramnarayan Mitra, he was born at Kolkata on 22 July 1814. As per the custom of the day, he started learning Persian at a young age and in 1829 joined the Hindu College, where he started learning English. While still a student he started a school in his own home in order to teach others in his locality what he learnt. At some point in time his friends Rasik Krishna Mallick, Radhanath Sikdar and Sib Chandra Deb joined him to bolster his efforts. David Hare and Derozio helped him. A brilliant student, he passed out with rewards and prizes, and joined the ‘Public Library’ as deputy librarian in 1835.

The Public Library was established the same year in the residence of an Englishman named Strong in the Esplanade. It was later shifted to the Fort William College and when the Metcalfe Hall was constructed to pay respect to the memory of Charles Metcalfe, the library was moved to the hall in 1844. Peary Chand Mitra rapidly rose up the ladder as librarian, secretary and finally curator, a position he held till his retirement.

Family

He had one daughter named Uma Shashi Mitra who was married to Bengali Lawyer Shri B N Das of sambalpur Orissa.

‘The Dickens of Bengal’

While working in the library, Peary Chand Mitra used it extensively to enhance his knowledge. He used to write widely in magazines then being published – "Bengal Spectator", "Bengal Harkara", "Englishman", "Hindu Patriot", "Calcutta Review". Along with his Derozian friend Rasik Krishna Mallick, he edited the "Jnananeswan". Another Derozian, Ram Gopal Ghosh, was associated with it.

That was the age when Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar was writing Bengali heavily loaded with Sanskrit words and Akshay Kumar Datta was experimenting with the language in Tattwabodhini Patrika. Both were masters of Sanskrit and used all the ornamentation of that rich language. Bengali prose was in its infancy. Learned people used to poke fun at it and ridiculed the language, and a newspaper such as Iswar Chandra Gupta’s "Sambad Prabhakar" published all that.

In 1857, Peary Chand Mitra and Radhanath Sikdar started a small magazine, "Masik Patrika", which used simple spoken Bengali prose everybody could understand. It was a major breakthrough in the use of Bengali, and the magazine instantly became popular. His novel "Alaler Gharer Dulal", written under the pseudonym Tek Chand Thakur, used simple Bengali prose, closer to the spoken speech of the day, and was serialised in the magazine. It was one of the earliest Bengali novels and became an instant success. [Hana Catherine Mullens wrote "Phoolmani O Karunar Bibaran" in 1852. This is regarded as the first novel in Bengali; "Alaler Gharer Dulal" was published in 1858, as per "Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan" page 423. Harinath Mazumdar wrote a novel "Bijay Basanta" at the same time as per "Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj", page 88.] So great was its popularity that the language style came to be known as ‘Alali’. That set the trend for Bengali prose then. In 1864, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay published his first novel "Durgeshnandini" to finally lay down the standard for Bengali prose. "Alaler Ghare Dulal" was translated into English.

Rev. James Long, who was a keen observer of the literary scene in Bengal, and was imprisoned and fined for the English translation of the controversial play "Nil Darpan," used to call him ‘the Dickens of Bengal’. Peary Chand Mitra wrote a number of books –"Abhedi", "Jatkinchit", "Bamatoshini", "Ramaranjika", "Adhyatika", "Mad Khaoa Baro Daey". He wrote a biographical sketch of David Hare in English.

Other activities

In later life, he was a successful businessman. Along with his Derozian friend Tarachand Chakraborty, he was involved in export-import business. He was associated with a variety of social welfare activities of his day. He was a member of the Calcutta University Senate, the society for prevention of cruelty to animals, and Bethune Society. He was secretary of the British India Society (later Association). He was a Justice of the Peace.

He had great interest in the development of agriculture in the country. His criticism of the permanent settlement, "The Zemindar and Ryots", created a sensation. While a member of the Agricultural Society, he started an organisation for the translation of books on agriculture from English to Bengali.

In 1881, when Madame Blavatsky and Col Olcott visited India, he became involved with the Theosophical Society. He died on 23 November 1883 at Kolkata.

References

* "Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj" in Bengali by Sivanath Sastri, page 87.
* "Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan" (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali edited by Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose, page 292.

Note

External links

* [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/M_0283.htm Banglapaedia biography]
* [http://www.boi-mela.com/banglapedia/ViewArticle.asp?TopicRef=3548 Boimela biography]

ee also

Persondata
NAME=Peary Chand Mitra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES='Dickens of Bengal'
SHORT DESCRIPTION=author and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH=22 July 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH=Kolkata
DATE OF DEATH=23 November 1883
PLACE OF DEATH=Kolkata