Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Michael Madhusudan Dutt, famous Bengali epic poet and playwright, was born on 25th January in 1824 at Sagardari village in undivided Bengal’s Jessore district. He knew several European languages ─ English, Latin, Greek, French and Italian. He had taught himself Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Hebrew. He also knew Persian.

Madhusudan Dutt had converted to Christianity.

One of the greatest poets of the Bengali language, Dutt wrote his magnum opus Meghnadbadh Kavya (The Slaying of Meghnada) in 1861. Meghnadbadh Kavya is based on an episode from the Ramayana in which Meghnad (also known as Indrajit), son of Ravana, is killed by Rama's brother Lakshmana.

Dutt introduced in Bengali poetry amitrakshar chanda, or what is known as Blank Verse. The celebrated epic Meghnad Badh Kavya was written in blank verse. In 1860, he had used amitrakshar in his work Padmabati. He also replaced deva mahima, or praise for the divinity, with humanism. He had introduced the sonnet, or chaturdashpadi kabita, in Bengali literature.

Madhusudan had translated Dinabandhu Mitra's play Nil Darpan into English. .

Michael Madhusudan Dutt died on June 29, 1873 in Calcutta where in Lower Circular Road cemetery he is buried.

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