Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta, (Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত ( Maikel Modhushudôn Dôtto) 25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a popular 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist. He was born in Sagordari (Bengali: সাগরদাঁড়ি), on the bank of Kopotaksho River, a village in Keshobpur Upozila, Jessore District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His father was Rajnarayan Dutt, an eminent lawyer, and his mother was Jahnabi Devi. He was a pioneer of Bengali drama. His famous work Meghnad Bodh Kavya (Bengali: মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য), is a tragic epic. It consists of nine cantos and is exceptional in Bengali literature both in terms of style and content. He also wrote poems about the sorrows and afflictions of love as spoken by women.

From an early age, Dutt aspired to be an Englishman in form and manner. Born to a Hindu landed-gentry family, he converted to Christianity as a young man, to the ire of his family, and adopted the first name Michael. In later life he regretted his attraction to England and the Occident. He wrote ardently of his homeland in his poems and sonnets from this period.

Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what came to be called amitrakshar chhanda (blank verse). Dutt died in Kolkata, India on 29 June 1873.