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| Michael Madhusudan Dutta |
Michael Madhusudan Dutt was born at Sagardari, Jessore on 25 January 1824. He was a pioneer of Bengali drama and popular 19th-century poet. His father was Rajnarayan Dutt, a pleader in the Sudder Court and his mother was Jahnabi Devi. His childhood education started in a village named Shekpura, at old mosque, where he went to learn Persian. He was an exceptionally talented student. Science his childhood, Dutta was recognized by his teachers and professors as being a precocious child with a gift of literary expression. He was very imaginative. Early exposure to English education and European literature at home and in Kolkata inspired him to emulate the English is taste, manners ans intellect. An early influence was his teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta, David Lester Richardson. Richardson was a poet and inspired in Dutt a love of English poetry, particularly Byron. Dutt began writing English poetry aged around 17 years, sending his works to publications in England, including Blackwood's Magazine and Bentley's Miscellany. They were, however, never published. It was also the time he began correspondence with his friend, Gour Das Bysack, which today form the bulk of the source on his life. As a young student, Dutt was influenced by the thoughts and actions of the Young Bengal ( A movement by a group of illustrious former students of the Hindu College, Kolkata. Dutta, a student of Hindu College himself, aspired to be an English poet and longed to travel to England to gain fame. When his father, concerned by these trends, arranged his marriage, he rebelled. One aspect of his rebellion involved conversion to Christianity. He had to leave Hindu College on account of being a convert. In 1844, he resumed his education at Bishop's College, where he stayed for three years. In 1847, he moved to Madras due to severe family tensions and economic hardship, having been distinguished by his father. While in Madras, he stayed in the Black Town neighborhood and began working as an "usher" at the Madras male Orphan Asylum. Four years later, in 1851, he became a Second Tutor in the Madras University High School. In addition, he edited and assisted in editing the periodicals, Madras Circulator and General Chronicle, Athenaeum, Spectator and Hindu Chronicle.
