Bharatchandra Ray

Bharatchandra Ray (1712-1760) was the first poet in the Bengali language to be identified as a people`s poet. He had lent a new elegance and beauty to the language. He was born to Narendranarayan Ray and Bhavani Devi in Howrah district. When Bharatchandra was residing in the house of Indranarayan Chaudhury, his talent was noticed by Maharaja Krishnachandra of Krishnanagar that led to him becoming his court poet. He was given the title Raygunakar.

Works of Bharatchandra Ray
His most notable work is Annadamangal that was completed in 1752. It is divided in to three parts. The first section eulogises goddess Annapurna. The second part narrates the story of Vidya and Sundar and it is known as Kalikamangal and the third section narrates the story of Man Singh I and Bhavananda Majumdar known as Annapurnamangal. Rasamanjari is a Bengali adaptation of a Maithili work written by Bhanudatta. Nagashtaka is a bilingual poetic work in Sanskrit and Bengali that shows his mastery over Sanskrit metres. His other works include: Gangashtaka in Sanskrit, Satyanarayan Panchali and Chandi Natak which is an incomplete work.

He was the true representative of the evolution of Bengali music from medieval to modern age. He was well versed in classical music. He attempted to liberate the poetical as well as musical compositions from the hold of gods and goddesses thereby infusing a human touch into them. Many of his songs are long poetic works that could be sung independently. He is regarded as a pioneer in composing songs on Radha-Krishna love theme in raga musical form apart from the part of padavali kirtan. He is considered the predecessor of Ramprasad Sen and Ramnidhi Gupta.

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