Bengali Novelist Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. He was born in the village of Ghoshpara – Muraripur, Nadia District, West Bengal. His father’s name was Mahananda Bandyopadhyay. By profession, he was a Sanskrit scholar. Bibhutibhushan spent his early days of life in extreme poverty. But still, it did not affect his educational career. Removing all obstacles, he completed his graduation in history.
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay underwent hard times, his writings reflect that tragic feel of solitude. Before taking up writing as a profession, this noted personality was engaged in different professions. He taught in school, became an estate manager and a secretary to financially support his family.
Thereafter in the year 1921 his first short story was published. However, Mr. Bandopadhyay’s first novel, Pather Panchali brought him world-wide recognition. With the release of this literary work, he became one of the leading authors in the field of Bengali literature. One of the best-known Bengali film makers, Satyajit Ray, made film on this novel. Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay wrote many books and novels.
Although he lived and wrote in a literary golden age in Bengal, Bandyopadhyay crafted a distinctive style, cultivating a voice that suited his sensibility and the subjects close to his heart. His novels did not necessarily dwell on the psychological depth Tagore had brought to the genre nor did he follow the earthy realism, tinged with melodrama, which had become the staple of the best-selling novels of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay & although he was a modernist writer in a historical sense, Bandyopadhyay remained fairly traditional in his execution of language and plot, compared to some of his more daring contemporaries like Manik Bandopadhyay, whose experimental novels were unique for Bengali readers of the 1930s and 1940s. Bibhutibhushan’s writings not only express the hardship, poverty, hopes and dreams of rural Bengal, but he was also attracted to the natural beauty of the wilderness.
All of his novels were his gift as a travel writer, along with his abiding interest in natural history, which set apart Bandyopadhyay from his contemporaries. To this day, these qualities make him a unique figure in the pantheon of literary eminences of Bengal.
