Rajanikanta Sen
| Rajanikanta Sen রজনীকান্ত সেন |
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|---|---|
Rajanikanta Sen
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| Born |
26 July 1865 Bhangabari, Pabna, India (now Bangladesh) |
| Died | 13 September 1910 (aged 45) Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India (now West Bengal, India) |
| Occupation | Lyricist, music composer, singer |
| Language | Bengali |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | Bengal Renaissance |
| Genre | Song, poems |
| Literary movement | Bengal Renaissance |
| Notable works | Kantageeti, Bani, Kalyani, Amrita |
Rajanikanta Sen (Bengali: রজনীকান্ত সেন) (26 July 1865 – 13 September 1910) was a Bengali poet and composer, known for his devotional (bhakti) compositions, as well as his patriotic songs.
Rajanikanta was born in the village of Bhangabari, Pabna (present-day Bangladesh). He was the third child of Guruprasad Sen and Manomohini Devi. Guruprasad served as sub-judge in many parts of Bengal, during which period he published a collection of 400 Vaishnava brajabuli poems, padachintamanimAlA. Guruprasad was posted in Katwa when Rajanikanta was born. Guruprasad's elder brother, Govindanath, was a successful advocate. However, much of the family wealth was unwisely invested, and Rajanikanta faced increasing poverty throughout his life. His mother Manomohini was a competent housewife.
Rajani studied in Boalia Zilla School (now Rajshahi Collegiate School). He was a very mischievous and playful child. Though he spent less time for his studies, yet he scored well in all his examinations. He has later mentioned in his diary:
I was never a book-worm, for I was blessed with very brilliant parts.
He learnt Sanskrit from Rajnath Tarkaratna, a neighbour in his village Bhangakuthi during school vacations. Rajani got Gopal Chandra Lahiri as his academic mentor. He passed entrance examination in 1882 with second division and got rupees ten per month as stipend. He passed FA in 1885 with second division and joined City College. He completed Bachelor of Arts degree in 1889 and Bachelor of Law degree in 1891 from the same college.
Rajani's mother Manomohini Devi had interest in Bengali literature. She used to discuss about it with young Rajani. This influenced his future compositions a lot. Rajani also imbibed a deep interest in music from Tarakeshwar Chakrabarty, his friend in Bhangakuthi, who was good in singing,
He was fluent in writing poems in Bengali and Sanskrit from childhood. He started composing music for his poems and singing those along with playing musical instruments later. Rajani's poems were published in local magazines – Utsaha, Ashalata many times. He used to compose songs for inaugural and closing ceremonies for various assemblies in his college days. He wrote his very famous song within a very short period of one hour for such an assembly in Rajshahi library:
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