Pramatha Chaudhury
| Pramathanath Chaudhuri | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
7 August 1868 Jessore, British India |
| Died | 2 September 1946 (aged 78) Calcutta, British India |
| Pen name | Birbal |
| Occupation | poet, essayist, writer |
| Nationality | British Indian |
| Period | Bengal Renaissance |
Pramathanath Chaudhuri (Bengali: প্রমথনাথ চৌধুরী) (7 August 1868 – 2 September 1946), known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, alias Birbal, was a Bengali writer and an influential figure in Bengali literature.
Profoundly patriotic and a stated cosmopolitan, aficionado of Sanskrit, Pramatha Chaudhuri had immense faith in the native genius of the Bengali. "Today if the traditional high Bengali with its stilted Sanskritic elements makes place, more and more, for a form of spoken Bengali, if 'current' Bengali is considered an effective medium of literature of Bengal (including the part that is now Bangladesh)- much of the credit must go to Pramatha Chaudhuri and his magazine Sabuj Patra," says Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay.
Pramatha Chaudhuri was not only a pioneer; he was also a creative author of exceptional abilities in writing essays and fiction in specific. According to Arun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, "He is undoubtedly one of the most influential makers of the Bengali language and literature in the twentieth century."
Born of Durgadas Chaudhuri, who belongs to the famous zamindar family of Haripur Village in Pabna (now in Bangladesh), Chaudhuri spent his first five years in Haripur and the following ten at Krishnanagar in Nadia (now in West Bengal). His father's tours of duty took him to many places in Bihar and Bengal Presidency. Chaudhuri recalls of his father, an aristocrat and a high-ranking official of the British Government, "My father, a student of Hindu College (now Presidency College, Kolkata), was an uncompromising atheist. For that matter, the entire Chaudhuri family were anti-god." Two prominent characteristics of his family set their firm impress on Chaudhuri in his boyhood – their zeal and sense of humour and an open philosophy of life. He grew up "in a paradise of paradoxical forces – the rural and urban, hunting and music, feudalism and free thought."
...
Wikipedia