Jibanananda Das

Jibanananda Das was an Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist who wrote in the Bengali language. Often referred to as the Rupashi Banglar Kabi, he is regarded as one of the most prominent Bengali poets after Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, although he received limited recognition during his lifetime.
Born in Barisal to a Bengali Hindu family, Das studied English literature at Presidency College, Kolkata, and earned a master's degree from Calcutta University. He experienced persistent difficulty securing stable employment and faced financial hardship throughout his life. He taught at several colleges but never granted tenure. Following the partition of India, he permanently settled in Kolkata. Das died on 22 October 1954, eight days after being struck by a tram. Witnesses had later reported that the tram had sounded its whistle, but Das did not stop and was hit. Some accounts have speculated that the incident may have been a suicide.
Das was relatively unrecognised during his lifetime. Although he wrote profusely, he published little of his work, partly due to his introverted nature. Much of his writing remained unpublished, and only seven volumes of his poetry appeared during his lifetime. After his death, it was discovered that, in addition to poetry, Das had written 21 novels and 108 short stories. His notable works include Ruposhi Bangla, Banalata Sen, Mahaprithibi, and Shreshtha Kavita. His early poetry reflects the influence of Kazi Nazrul Islam, but by the latter half of the 20th century, his own work had become a major influence on the development of modern Bengali verse.
Das received the Rabindra-Memorial Award for Banalata Sen in 1953 at the All Bengal Rabindra Literature Convention. His collection Shrestha Kavita won the Sahitya Academy Award in 1955. A film inspired by his short story Jamrultola, titled 'Sunder Jibon' and directed by Sandeep Chattopadhyay, was produced by Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, The film won the National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film at the 50th National Film Awards, with Shantanu Bose in the lead role.

Biography

Early life

Das was born in 1899 in Barisal, a district town in the British Raj, into a Bengali Baidya family. His ancestors originated from the Bikrampur region of the Dhaka Division, from the now-extinct village of Gaupara in the kumarvog area of the Louhajang Upazila on the banks of the river Padma. Das' grandfather Sarbānanda Dāśagupta was the first to settle permanently in Barisal. He was an early exponent of the reformist Brahmo Samaj movement in Barisal and was highly regarded in town for his philanthropy. He erased the -gupta suffix from the family name, regarding it as a symbol of Vedic Brahmin excess, thus rendering the surname to Das. Jibanananda's father Satyānanda Dāś was a schoolmaster, essayist, magazine publisher, and
founder-editor of Brôhmobadi, a journal of the Brahmo Samaj dedicated to the exploration of social issues.
Jibanananda's mother Kusumakumārī Dāś was a poet who wrote a famous poem called Adôrsho Chhēlē whose refrain is well known to Bengalis to this day: Āmādēr dēshey hobey shei chhēlē kobey / Kothae nā boṛo hoye kajey boro hobey.
Jibanananda was the eldest son of his parents, and was called by the nickname Milu. A younger brother Aśōkānanda Dāś was born in 1901 and a sister called Sucharita in 1915. Jibananda fell violently ill in his childhood, and his parents feared for his life. Fervently desiring to restore his health, Kusumkumari took her ailing child on pilgrimage to Lucknow, Agra and Giridih. They were accompanied on these journeys by their uncle Chandranāth.
In January 1908, Jibanananda, by now eight years old, was admitted to the first grade in Brojomohon School. The delay was due to his father's opposition to admitting children into school at too early an age. Jibanananda's childhood education was therefore limited to his mother's tutelage.
His school life passed by relatively uneventfully. In 1915 he successfully completed his matriculation examination from Brajamohan College, obtaining a first division in the process. He repeated the feat two years later when he passed the intermediate exams from Brajamohan College. Evidently an accomplished student, he left his home at rural Barisal to join University of Calcutta.

Life in Calcutta: first phase

Jibanananda enrolled in Presidency College, Kolkata. He studied English literature and graduated with a BA Degree in 1919. That same year, his first poem appeared in print in the Boishakh issue of Brahmobadi journal. Fittingly, the poem was called Borsho-abahon. This poem was published anonymously, with only the honorific Sri in the byline. However, the annual index in the year-end issue of the magazine revealed his full name: "Sri Jibanananda Das Gupta, BA".
In 1921, he completed the MA degree in English from University of Calcutta, obtaining a second class. He was also studying law. At this time, he lived in the Hardinge student quarters next to the university. Just before his exams, he fell ill with bacillary dysentery, which affected his preparation for the examination.
The following year, he started his teaching career. He joined the English department of City College, Calcutta as a tutor. By this time, he had left Hardinge and was boarding at Harrison Road. He gave up his law studies. It is thought that he also lived in a house in Bechu Chatterjee Street for some time with his brother Ashokanananda, who had come there from Barisal for his MSc studies.

Travels and travails

His literary career began to improve. When Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das died in June 1925, Jibanananda wrote a poem called 'Deshbandhu' Prayan'e' which was published in Bangabani magazine. This poem would later take its place in the collection called Jhara Palok. On reading it, poet Kalidas Roy said that he had thought the poem was the work of a mature, accomplished poet hiding behind a pseudonym. Jibanananda's earliest printed prose work was also published in 1925. This was an obituary entitled "Kalimohan Das'er Sraddha-bashorey," which appeared in serialised form in Brahmobadi magazine. His poetry began to be widely published in various literary journals and little magazines in Calcutta, Dhaka and elsewhere. These included Kallol, perhaps the most famous literary magazine of the era, Kalikalam, Progoti and others. At this time, he occasionally used the surname Dasgupta as opposed to Das.
In 1927, he published Jhara Palok, his first collection of poems. A few months later, Jibanananda was fired from his job at the City College. The college had been struck by student unrest surrounding a religious festival, and enrolment seriously suffered as a consequence. Still in his late 20s, Jibanananda was the youngest member of the faculty and therefore regarded as the most dispensable. In the literary circle of Calcutta, he also came under serial attack. One of the most serious literary critics of that time, Sajanikanta Das, began to write aggressive critiques of his poetry in the review pages of Shanibarer Chithi magazine.
With nothing to keep him in Calcutta, Jibanananda left for the small town of Bagerhat in the far south, there to resume his teaching career at Bagerhat P. C. College. But after about three months he returned to the big city, now in dire financial straits. To make ends meet, he gave private tuition to students while applying for full-time positions in academia. In December 1929, he moved to Delhi to take up a teaching post at Ramjas College; again this lasted no more than a few months. Back in Barisal, his family had been making arrangements for his marriage. Once Jibanananda went to Barisal, he failed to go back to Delhi – and, consequently, lost the job.
In May 1930, he married Labanyaprabha Sen, a girl whose ancestors came from Bagerhat. His marriage was solemnized at the Brahmo Samaj Mandir which was attended by leading literary lights of the day such as Ajit Kumar Dutta and Buddhadeb Bose. A daughter called Manjusree was born to the couple in February of the following year.
Around this time, he wrote one of his most controversial poems. "Camp'e" was printed in Sudhindranath Dutta's Parichay magazine and immediately caused a firestorm in the literary circle of Calcutta. The poem's ostensible subject is a deer hunt on a moonlit night. Many accused Jibanananda of promoting indecency and incest through this poem. More and more, he turned now, in secrecy, to fiction. He wrote a number of short novels and short stories during this period of unemployment, strife and frustration.
In 1934 he wrote the series of sonnets that would form the basis of the collection called Rupasi Bangla. These poems were not discovered during his lifetime, and were only published in 1957, three years after his death.

Back in Barisal

In 1935, Jibanananda, by now familiar with professional disappointment and poverty, returned to his alma mater Brajamohan College, which was then affiliated with the University of Calcutta. He joined as a lecturer in the English department. In Calcutta, Buddhadeb Bose, Premendra Mitra and Samar Sen were starting a brand new poetry magazine called Kobita. Jibanananda's work featured in the very first issue of the magazine, a poem called Mrittu'r Aagey. Upon reading the magazine, Tagore wrote a lengthy letter to Bose and especially commended the Das poem: "Jibanananda Das' vivid, colourful poem has given me great pleasure." It was in the second issue of Kobita that Jibanananda published his now-legendary "Banalata Sen". Today, this 18-line poem is among the most famous poems in the language.
The following year, his second volume of poetry Dhusar Pandulipi was published. Jibanananda was by now well settled in Barisal. A son Samarananda was born in November 1936. His impact in the world of Bengali literature continued to increase. In 1938, Tagore compiled a poetry anthology entitled Bangla Kabya Parichay and included an abridged version of Mrityu'r Aagey, the same poem that had moved him three years ago. Another important anthology came out in 1939, edited by Abu Sayeed Ayub and Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay; Jibanananda was represented with four poems: Pakhira, Shakun, Banalata Sen, and Nagna Nirjan Haat.
In 1942, the same year that his father died, his third volume of poetry Banalata Sen was published under the aegis of Kobita Bhavan and Buddhadeb Bose. A ground-breaking modernist poet in his own right, Bose was a steadfast champion of Jibanananda's poetry, providing him with numerous platforms for publication. 1944 saw the publication of Maha Prithibi, Jibanananda's 4th collection of poems. The Second World War had a profound impact on Jibanananda's poetic vision. The following year, Jibanananda provided his own translations of several of his poems for an English anthology to be published under the title Modern Bengali Poems. Oddly enough, the editor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya considered these translations to be sub-standard, and instead commissioned Martin Kirkman to translate four of Jibanananda's poems for the book.

Life in Calcutta: final phase

The aftermath of the war saw heightened demands for Indian independence. Muslim politicians led by Jinnah wanted an independent homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Bengal was uniquely vulnerable to partition: its western half was majority-Hindu, its eastern half majority-Muslim. Yet adherents of both religions spoke the same language, came from the same ethnic stock, and lived in close proximity to each other in town and village. Jibanananda had emphasized the need for communal harmony at an early stage. In his very first book Jhora Palok, he had included a poem called Hindu Musalman.
However, events in real life belied his beliefs. In his poem 1946-47 he deplored the loss of life in communal riots. In the summer of 1946, he travelled to Calcutta from Barisal on three months' paid leave. He stayed at his brother Ashokananda's place through the bloody riots that swept the city. Violence broke out in Noakhali and Tippera districts later in the autumn. Just before partition in August 1947, Jibanananda quit his job at Brajamohan College and said goodbye to his beloved Barisal. He and his family were among the 10 million refugees who took part in the largest cross-border migration in history. For a while he worked for a magazine called Swaraj as its Sunday magazine editor. However, he was fired from the job after a few months.
In 1948, he completed two of his novels, Mallyaban and Shutirtho, neither of which were discovered during his life. Shaat'ti Tarar Timir, his 5th anthology of poems, was published in December 1948. The same month, his mother Kusumkumari Das died in Calcutta.
By now, he was well established in the Calcutta literary world. He was appointed to the editorial board of yet another new literary magazine Dondo. However, in a reprise of his early career, he was sacked from his job at Kharagpur College in February 1951. In 1952, Signet Press published an expanded edition of Banalata Sen. The book received widespread acclaim and won the Book of the Year award from the All-Bengal Tagore Literary Conference. Later that year, the poet found another job at Barisha College. This job too he lost within a few months. He applied afresh to Diamond Harbour Fakirchand College, but eventually declined it, owing to travel difficulties. Instead he was obliged to take up a post at Howrah Girl's College, a constituent affiliated undergraduate college of the University of Calcutta. As the head of the English department, he was entitled to a 50-taka monthly bonus on top of his salary.
By the last year of his life, Jibanananda was acclaimed as one of the best poets of the post-Tagore era. He was constantly in demand at literary conferences, poetry readings, radio recitals etc. In May 1954, he was published a volume titled 'Best Poems'. His Best Poems won the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955.

Love and marriage

Young Jibanananda fell in love with Shovona, daughter of his uncle Atulananda Das, who lived in the neighbourhood. He dedicated his first anthology of poems to Shovona without mentioning her name explicitly. He did not try to marry her since marriage between cousin was not socially acceptable. She has been referred to as Y in his literary notes.
Jibananda married Labanyaprabha Das in 1930. Labanyaprabha was the daughter of Rohini Kumar Gupta and Sarojubala Gupta. Her paternal uncle was Amritalal Gupta, a renowned Acharya of the Brahmo Samaj in Dhaka. He was the author of "Cheleder Katha" and "Punyabati Nari".

Death

Jibanananda was in a road accident on 14 October 1954. He was hit by a tram while crossing a road near Calcutta's Deshapriya Park, while on his evening walk. Seriously injured, he was taken to Shambhunath Pundit Hospital, where he died eight days later on 22 October 1954, aged 55. He left behind his wife, Labanyaprabha Das, a son and a daughter.
His body was cremated the following day at Keoratola crematorium. It has been alleged in some biographical accounts that his accident was actually an attempt at suicide.
He was widely mourned in literary circles, with obituaries in almost all the main newspapers appreciating his poetry. Poet Sanjay Bhattacharya wrote the news of the death and sent it to different newspapers. On 1 November 1954, The Times of India wrote that "The premature death after an accident of Mr. Jibanananda Das removes from the field of Bengali literature a poet, who, though never in the limelight of publicity and prosperity, made a significant contribution to modern Bengali poetry by his prose-poems and free-verse... A poet of nature with a serious awareness of the life around him, Jibanananda Das was known not so much for the social content of his poetry as for his bold imagination and the concreteness of his image."

Poetics

Jibanananda Das started writing and publishing in his early 20s. During his lifetime he published only 269 poems in different journals and magazines, of which 162 were collected in seven anthologies, from Jhara Palak to Bela Obela Kalbela. Many of his poems have been published posthumously at the initiative of his brother Asokananda Das, sister Sucharita Das and nephew Amitananda Das, and the efforts of Dr. Bhumendra Guha, who over the decades copied them from scattered manuscripts. By 2008, the total count of Jibananda's known poems stood at almost 800. In addition, numerous novels and short stories were discovered and published about the same time.
Jibanananda scholar Clinton B. Seely has termed Jibanananda Das as "Bengal's most cherished poet since Rabindranath Tagore". He was known as a surrealist poet for his spontaneous, frenzied overflow of subconscious mind in poetry and especially in diction.

Major works

Poetry

Jhôra Palok, 1927.Dhusar Pandulipi, 1936.Banalata Sen, 1942.Môhaprithibi, 1944.Shaat-ti Tarar Timir,, 1948.Shreshtho Kobita,, 1954: Navana, Calcutta.Ruposhi Bangla, written in 1934, published posthumously in 1957.Bela Obela Kalbela, 1961, published posthumously but the manuscript was prepared during lifetime.Sudorshona, published posthumously in 1973: Sahitya Sadan, Calcutta.Alo Prithibi, published posthumously in 1981: Granthalaya Private Ltd., Calcutta.Manobihangam, published posthumously in 1979: Bengal Publishers Private Ltd. Calcutta.Oprkashitô Ekanno, published posthumously in 1999, Mawla Brothers, Dhaka.Krishna Dasami, Pathak Samabesh, Dhaka. published posthumously in 2015.Surya Osuryaloke, Suchoyoni, Dhaka. published posthumously in 2021.

Major collected texts

Bandopdhaya, Deviprasad : Kabya Songroho − Jibanananda Das, 1993, Bharbi, 13/1 Bankim Chatterjje Street, Kolkata-73.
Bandopdhaya, Deviprasad : Kabya Songroho − Jibanananda Das, 1999, Gatidhara, 38/2-KA Bangla Bazaar, Dhaka-1100, Bangladesh.
Bandopdhaya, Deviprasad : Jibanananda Das Uttorparba, 2000, Pustak Bipani, Calcutta.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Das'er Prôbôndha Sômôgrô,, First edition : Desh Prokashon, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Das'er Prôbôndha Sômôgrô,, Second edition : Mowla Brothers, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, F. L. : Oprokashito 51, 1999, Mawla Brothers, Dhaka.
Shahriar, Abu Hasan : Jibanananda Das-er Gronthito-Ogronthito Kabita Samagra, 2004, Agaami Prokashoni, Dhaka.

Books on Jibanananda

'Ekti Nakkhatro Ase', Ambuj Basu, Mousumi.
'Kobi Jibanananda Das', Sanjay Bhattacharya, Varbi.
'Jibanananda ', Gopal Chandra Roy, Sahittya Sadan;
'Manus Jibanananda', Labanya Das, Bengal Publishers;
'Jibanananda Smriti', Debkumar Basu edited, Karuna Prokasani.
'Suddhatamo Kobi', Abdul Mannan Saiyad, Knowledge Home, Dhaka; 'Rupasi Banglar Kobi Jibanananda', Bijan Kanti Sarkar, Bijoy Sahitya Mandir; 'Rupasi Banglar Kobi Jibanananda', Shaymapada Sarkar, Kamini Prokasan.
'Jibanananda das', edited by Birendra Bhattacharya, Onnisto.
'Kobi Jibanananda', Suddhaswatto Basu, Sankha Prokasan.
'Jibanishilpi Jibanananda Das', Asadujjan, Bangladesh Book Corporation, Dhaka.
'Rupasi Banglar Kobi Jibanananda', Bijan Kanti Sarkar, Bijoy Sahitya Mandir; 'Rupasi Banglar Kobi Jibanananda', Shyamapada Sarkar, Kamini Prokashan.
'Rupasi Banglar Dui Kobi', Purnendu Patri, Ananda Publishers Ltd.
'Kacher Manus Jibanananda', Ajit Ghose, Bijoy Krishna Girls' College Cheap Store;'Rabindranath Najrul Jibanananda ebong aekjon Probasi Bangali', Kalyan Kumar Basu, Biswagaen;'Adhunikata, Jibanananda o Porabastob', Tapodhir Bhattacharya and Swapna Bhattacharya, Nobark;'Jibananander Chetona Jagot', Pradumno Mitra, Sahityshri;'Jibanananda Das:Jiboniponji o Granthoponji', Provat Kumar Das, Hardo;'Prosongo:Jibanananda', Shibaji Bandopadhaya, Ayon.
'Jibanananda', Amalendu Basu, Banishilpo,;'Uttor Probesh', Susnato Jana;'Jibanananda', edited by Abdul Manna Sayad, Charitra, Dhaka;'Jibanananda Prasongiki', Sandip Datta, Hardo,
'Ami sei Purohit', Sucheta Mitra, A.Mukherji and Co;'Probondhokar Jibananada', Subrata Rudro, Nath Publishing;'Jibanananda Jiggasa', edited by Tarun Mukhopadhaya, pustok Biponi.
'Jibananda : Kabitar Mukhamukhi', Narayan Haldar.
'Amar Jibanananda', Dr. Himabanta Bondopadhyay, Bangiya Sahitya Samsad.
'Essays on Jibanananda Das', edited by Chowdhury F. L., Pathak Samabesh, Dhaka.
'Etodin Kothay Chilen', Anisul Hoque.
'Jibananander Andhokaare', Rajib Sinha, Ubudash, Kolkata-12.Ekjon Komolalebu, Sahaduzzaman

Awards

The Kolkata Poetry Confluence, in collaboration with Bhasha Samsad, has instituted the Jibanananda Das Award for poetry translation. Jibanananda Das awards for translation were given away in ten different languages.
A literary award named Jibanananda Puroshkar, also known as the Jibanananda Prize, has been instituted in Bangladesh. It confers annual awards to the best works of poetry and prose by Bangladeshi authors.

Biography

Bhattacharya, Bitoshoke, Jibanananda, Banishilpo Publishers, Kolkata.
Banerjee, Deviprarad, Jibanananda Das – Bikaash Protishthaar Itirbitta, Bharat Book Agency, Calcutta.
Seely, Clinton B. : 'A Poet Apart', 1990, Associated University Press Ltd, USA
Ray, Gopal, Jibanananda, Sahitya Sadan, Calcutta.
Das, Prabhatkumar, Jibanananda Das, Poshchim-bongo Bangla Akademi, Calcutta.
Dassarma, Pradip, Nil Hawar Samudre: a biographical novel on Jibanananda Das, Pratibhash Publishers, Kolkata

Literary analysis

Bose, Ambuj, Ekti Nakshetra Ashe, Mausumi, Calcutta.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Das'er "Aat bochor aager ekdin", Dibbyo Prokash, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Das'er "Godhuli-shondhi'r Nritto", Dibbyo Prokash, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Das'er "Mrityur Aage, Dibbyo Prokash, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Bibechona, Anya Prokash, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Proshôngo Jibanananda, Dibbyo Prokash, Dhaka.
Chowdhury, Pranab, Jibanananda Niye Probôndho, Jatiyo Grontho Prokashon, Dhaka
Das, Prabhatkumar, Jibanananda Das, Poshchim-bongo Bangla Akademi, Kolkata.
Dutta, Birendra, Jibanananda: Kobi Gôlpokar, Pustok Biponi, Kolkata.
Gupta, Dr. Kshetra, Jibanananda: Kobitar Shorir, Shahitto Prokash, Kolkata.
Mukhopadhyay, Kamal, Jibanananda Onnikhon, Shilindhro Prokashon, Kolkata
Roychoudhury, Samir, Postmodern Bangla Poetry, Haowa#49 Publishers, Kolkata.
Rudro, Subrata, Probôndhokar Jibanananda, Nath Publishing, Kolkata
Roychoudhury, Malay, Postmodern Jibanananda, Graffiti Publishers, Kolkata.
Shahriar, Abu Hasan, Jibanananda Das: Mullayon o Patthodhhar, Shahitto Bikash, Dhaka
Syed, Abdul Mannan and Hasnat, Abul, Jibanananda Das: Jônmo-shôtobarshik Sharok-grontho, Ôboshôr Prokashona Shôngstha, Dhaka.
Sinha, Rajib,'Jibananander Andhokaare', Ubudash, Kolkata-12.
Chowdhury, Faizul Latif, Jibanananda Patrabali, Pathak Samabesh, Dhaka.