Nationality Indian Died January 23, 1859, Kolkata Role Poet | Name Ishwar Gupta Ethnicity Bengali Books Kabijibani | |
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Born March 1812 Kanchrapara, 24 Parganas, Bengal, British India Occupation Poet, scholar and writer | ||
Kobita_(K) Of Ishwar Chandra Gupta
Ishwar Chandra Gupta (Bengali: ঈশ্বরচন্দ্র গুপ্ত; March 1812 – 23 January 1859) was an Indian Bengali poet and writer. Gupta was born in Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India).
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Early life
Ishwar Chandra Gupta was brought up in his uncle's house after the death of his mother. Gupta spent most of his childhood in Kolkata. At that time, poets were named Kobiwala and the kobiwalas were not so civilized in language. Sexual words and clashes were common. But Ishwar Chandra Gupta created a different style of poetry.
He started the newspaper Sambad Prabhakar with Jogendra Mohan Tagore on January 28, 1831, which finally became a daily on June 4, 1839. Many Bengali writers of the 19th century started their careers with that magazine. He reintroduced into Bengali poetry the mediaeval style with double meaning (already seen in Sandhyakaranandi and Bharatchandra):
'Ishwar' means God, 'Gupta' means hidden and 'Prabhakar' is the sun. So a translation runs:
Also, Ishwar (Chandra) Gupta ran the journal Prabhakar. So a second meaning of the poem, making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the author, runs:
Literary style
He brought modern era of poetry in Bengali. He did not describe the life of Gods and Goddesses, but the daily life of human beings. He also wrote biographies of many Bengali poets and musicians.
Ishwarchandra Gupta always satires the so-called modern class who blindly followed the colonial British power.
His literary works were included in the curriculum of school level, secondary and higher secondary Bengali Literature in Bengali speaking states like West Bengal, Tripura etc. of India and country Bangladesh.
Political views
In the early days he was a conservative, opposing the Young Bengal movement as well as frowning on widow remarriage. His views on widow remarriage put him at odds with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He was one of the earliest advocates of a Hindu view of Indian society. Later in his life, his views began to change and he championed the cause for the remarriage of virgin widows and women's education.