Nabinchandra Sen: A great poet from Chattogram

 

We are going to discuss the life sketch and literary activities of one of the stalwarts of Bangla literature of the nineteenth century of the previous millennium. Let's first make it clear which Nabinchandra we are going to discuss. In fact, there were two Nabinchandra who had many things in common. Both of them hailed from Chittagong, both going to the same school and college. Both were great poets of their time and Civil Servants by profession. One was junior to the other by only 6 years. Consequently, they were working and writing at similar times under similar conditions. Our topic today will cover Nabinchandra Sen who was termed Mohakabi (writer of an epic) at times for his creation Palashir Juddho. The other renowned poet was Kabigunakor Nabinchandra Das, whose life and achievements we may discuss on some other occasion.

Poet Nabinchandra Sen was born in the village Pashchim Guzara of Noapara in Chittagong in a wealthy Zamindar family. His father started his professional life as a Peshkar in Chittagong Judge's court but later shifted to law practice as an advocate. He was a person of plain living and noble thinking. He was a benevolent person and never bothered about earning money by squeezing his clients. Advocate Gopimohan was a religious devotee and spent a lot of time in his prayers. Being benevolent he had a big clientele. Dividing his time between prayers and law practice, he found no time to manage his Zamindari and left it to his brothers. They did a good job of enriching their pocket and Gopimohan landed in a difficult financial situation losing his landed property.

Well to do Advocate Gopimohan had hard times during the later part of his life because of the treachery of his brothers and could never get back his landed property. He had four daughters and could marry off only two of them during his lifetime. Nabinchandra later retrieved part of their zamindari with his own earnings and looked after the family after his father's demise. When Gopimohan left for his eternal abode, Nabinchandra was still a student just 3 months away from his final BA examination. When young Nabinchandra showed signs of being a good student, Gopimohan was still a man of means. He sent his son to Chittagong City for studies. Nabin passed Matriculation (present SSC) from Chittagong Collegiate School in 1863 as a 16 year old boy. Then he was sent to Calcutta and was studying FA (First Arts, equivalent to present HSC).

Poet Rabindra Nath's elder brother Jyotirindra Nath was his classmate and he came in close touch with Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Dr. Annada Charan Khastagir of Chittagong. He received help and guidance from these two kind souls. He started writing poems during these Calcutta student years. During this time he was compelled to get married to a girl whose father Gopimohan was promise bound to get his son married. The necessity arose as due to some family reasons the girl was about to be given in marriage to someone else. The last moment change of decision infuriated the other party. Nabin's family had to face legal proceedings initiated by them. However, nothing big happened, and after marriage young Nabin went back to his studies in Calcutta. As already mentioned earlier Nabinchandra lost his father just before he was sitting for the BA exam. His family by then was facing hardship. He sat for the Bengal Competitive Exams in 1868 and being successful, joined Bengal Secretariat. Before this, he had a short stint as a teacher in the famous Hare School.

Soon after joining the admin job, he was transferred to Jashore as Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector. Then he served in Bihar before getting transferred to Chittagong in 1871. While serving in Chittagong at the Divisional Commissioner's office, he got involved in a physical fight with a British Doctor. On the complaints of the White man, Nabinchandra was suspended for a short period. When he intended to file a complaint against the Brit, Nabin was reinstated. He served as Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector at different places of Bengal Presidency (Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa) namely, Feni, Ranaghat, Patna, Puri, Bhagalpur, Mymensingh, etc before retiring in 1904. His epic Polashir Juddho, published in 1875 brought him fame as a Mohakobi but because of its Nationalistic contents, the authority's wrath came upon him and he remained devoid of promotions during his service life.

Nabinchandra Sen is considered one of the greatest poets of Bengal before the advent of Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore. He started composing poems when he still was a student. The first volume of his poems was published by the name Abakashranjini in the year 1871. It reflected his thoughts about self and the condition of the general masses of that period. A further second volume of Abakashranjini was published in 1877. In between the two volumes of Abakashranjini came to his epic Palashir Juddho in which the history of the fall of Subah Bangla in the hands of the British East India Company is depicted. The epic raises the sense of patriotism in the heart of its readers. It evoked an expression of Bengali Nationalism and is a fine exposition of Bengali literature of the time. Because of authoring this book, the poet's civil servant fell out of the good books of the then British authorities. Nabinchandra rewrote the famous Mahabharata in three volumes Raivataka in 1887, Kurukshetra in 1893, and Prabhash in 1896. This trio popularised the Mahabharata amongst his contemporary readers and in his creation, he drew a bright image of Lord Krishna.

He wrote biographies of Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha too. He also published a book titled Cleopatra. Nabinchandra translated Bhagabat Gita and Markandeya Purana into Bengali. His travel memoirs were published as a book named Probashir Potro. He wrote a novel in poetry namely Bhanumati. His prose was limited although he wrote and published his autobiography by the name Amar Jibon in 5 volumes. They are written so lucidly that one can go through them as if he/she is reading a novel full of fine humor. In these volumes, the administrative system, political, social, and cultural structure of Bengal is vividly described. Nabinchandra Sen is considered one of the leading figures of the Bengali Renaissance.

This renaissance helped develop the social, cultural, intellectual, educational, and psychological development of the Bengali generation of the late 1800s with the help of educated Bengalis and some European officers and Missionaries sympathetic to the Bengalis. Nabinchandra Sen was a founder leader of the famous organization Bangiyo Sahittya Parishad.

The organization was established in 1893 and he was one of the two Vice Presidents of the First Committee of the organization which is still functioning effectively working for the development of the Bengali language and literature. He was a successful civil servant too. A few examples can be shown at different places of his posting. He found out the exact birthplace of ancient poet Krittibash in Phulia while he was the SDO of Ranaghat. It's a tourist destination and place of interest since then. When he was posted in Chittagong, he revitalized and properly restarted almost dying Chittagong College.

It is the best college in Chattogram till date. Being posted in Noakhali he established proper road and train communication between Chittagong and Noakhali. After his retirement, he spent some time in Rangoon with his son Barrister Nirmal Chandra Sen. Another of his sons Pramathalal Sen was a Brahmo leader and close associate of famous Keshab Chandra Sen.

They broke away from Dendra Nath Thakur's Adi Brahmo Samaj and formed Bharatborshiyo Brahmo Samaj. Their New Dispensation tried to incorporate some values of Christianity in Unitarian Brahmo ideals. After his Rangoon stay Nabinchandra Sen returned to Bengal and stayed in his native Chittagong and Calcutta. Finally in 1909 Nabinchandra breathed his last in Calcutta. A tomb to the Mohakobi still stands in today's Kolkata. Alas, he is not remembered in Chittagong city. He used to own a well-designed fine bungalow in the Jamalkhan area of Chattogram which was taken up as a vested property by the Government. Earlier it used to be the residential quarters of Government Officers.

Later it was leased out to individuals and a school stands on the campus now. Nothing is on record about the whereabouts of his descendants now. The local Lawmaker of Raozan MP Rezaul Karim Chowdhury took proper steps to establish a Government Primary School in Nabinchandra's name at his native village. It is necessary to establish a museum, a research center on his works (being so vast), and family in his erstwhile property or any other suitable place. A road in Chittagong can be named after him to show proper respect to this great son of our soil.

Reference:

*    Chattogram Charitavidhan published by Premier University, Chattogram.

*    Aliur Rahman, a journalist, and activist working on the history and heritage of Chattogram.

*    Wikipedia


The writer is a travel enthusiast and history buff.