JASHORE, Jan 24, 2022 (BSS) - The 198th birth anniversary of legendary

Bengali poet and father of Bengali sonnet Michael Madhusudan Dutt is
tomorrow.

   On January 25 in 1824, Madhusudan Dutt was born to landlord Raj Narayan
Dutt and Janhabi Devi at Sagardari village under Keshabpur upazila in the
district.

   Madhusudan, also called Mahakobi (epic poet) for his tragic epic 'Meghnad
Badh Kavya', earned name and fame in the arena of literature for his
extraordinary creative works.

   Madhusudan Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in
Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered
'Amitrakshar Chhanda' (blank verse). His first attempt of blank verse was
'Sharmistha' in Bengali literature.

   "Always, o river, you peep in my mind/ Always I think you in this
loneliness/ Always I soothe my ears with the murmur/ Of your waters in
illusion, the way/ Men hear songs of illusion in a dream," are the few lines
of his extraordinary creation 'Kapatakkha Nad' in which he showed his deep
love towards his country and the river.

   Apart from his outstanding talent in authoring poems, Madhusudan Dutt
showed prodigious skills as a playwright as he was the first to write Bengali
plays in the English style, segregating the play into acts and scenes.

   He was also the pioneer of the first satirical plays in Bengali
literature. 'Buro Shaliker Ghare Ron' and 'Ekei Ki Boley Sabhyota' are among
his famous satirical plays.

   Kaliprasanna Singha, who is famous for his translation of the ancient
Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali, organised a felicitation ceremony for
Madhusudan Dutt to mark the introduction of blank verse in Bengali poetry.

   His most famous literary work is sonnet "Kapatakkha Nad". Kapatakkha Nad
(river) flows through Jashore, the poet's ancestral home.

   Madhusudan was a gifted linguist and polyglot as he studied in Hebrew,
Latin, Greek, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit.

   Madhusudan passed away at Kolkata on June 29, 1873 at the age of 49, only
three days after his wife Henrietta breathed her last. The poet was buried in
Kolkata.

   Keshabpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer MM Arafat Hossain said that due to the
Corona situation the day-long programme will be celebrated tomorrow complying
with the health protocol including maintaining social distance.

   The programme includes wreath-laying at the portrait of the great poet and
discussion at Sagardari.

  For the first time this year, under the management of the district
administration, special supplements on the great poet will be published in
local newspapers, he said.