Peary Chand Mitra

Peary Chand Mitra was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudo name is Tekchand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance with the introduction of simple Bengali prose. His Alaler Gharer Dulal pioneered the novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken up by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and others. Mitra died on 23 November 1883 in Kolkata. Mitra joined Calcutta Public Library as deputy librarian in 1836. The library was established the same year in the residence of an Englishman named Strong in the Esplanade. It was later shifted to Fort William College and when the Metcalfe Hall was constructed to pay respect to the memory of Charles Metcalfe, the library was moved to the hall in 1844.