Jatindranath Sengupta, also spelt as Yatindranath Sengupta, was a reputable Bengali writer and poet who was born in Shantipur, West Bengal in 1887.
Early Life of Jatindranath Sengupta
Jatindranath Sengupta was an engineer by profession and pursued Bachelor of Engineering degree from Shibpur Engineering College (which is the present-day Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur) in the year 1911. It was in the same year that he commenced work as an overseer. A majority of his leisure was spent in writing, and Jatindranath Sengupta was revered for his eminent creations which enriched the Bengali literature.
Works of Jatindranath Sengupta
Jatindranath Sengupta was born in Haripura village and his parents were Dwarkanath Sengupta and Mohitkumari Devi. His village was located at a distance of three miles from the region of Shantipur, which is the centre of Vaishnava culture, in Nadia. When he arrived in the city of Kolkata, he appeared and cleared the Entrance examination in 1903 while he passed the First Arts Examination in the year 1905, from Scottish Church College. Thereafter, Jatindranath Sengupta graduated from the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur as a civil engineer.
Sengupta started working as Deputy Engineer of Nadia district for some years. However, an abrupt illness compelled him to quit his job for a period of about three years. Being a devoted follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Jatindranath Sengupta made an attempt to earn money by spinning yarns in the `Charkha`. He also manufactured match boxes with the aide of some unemployed boys in the village. He began working as an Estate Engineer in the Cossimbazar Raj Estate in 1923. Sengupta remained in the same post until his retirement in 1950.
Jatindranath Sengupta imparted an element of masculinity in the arena of Bengali literature in the twenties. `Marumaya` or the desert illusion, `Marichika` or the Mirage, `Marushikha` or the desert flame were his first three books which established him firmly on the throne of a distinct genre as a poet who rejected romanticism. His poems are a reflection of how he strived to create his own unique identity by breaking away from the impact of Rabindranath Tagore in the field of Bengali poetry. His comments and satirical remarks on the poets who specialized in the genre of romantic poetry as well as on the poems of God made him an atheist in the eyes of his readers. Scholars are of the opinion that that Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jatindranath Sengupta and Mohitlal Majumdar are the famous trio who pioneered the style of modernism in the poems of the Bengali language. Starting from the poem of `Sayan` or dusk, Jatindranath Sengupta began writing poems extensively on love, beauty and a craving for youth. His favourite subjects included almost anything which involved the impoverished people of the society. Most of these poems portray humanism interlinked with the feature of feminism.
Other renowned poetic works of Sengupta are `Kavya Sangraha`, `Kavya Sambhar` while prose works are `Gadya Sankalan` and `Kavya Parimiti`. He has translated `Kumarasambhava` by Kalidasa, `Rathi O Sarathi`, `Gandhi Bani Kanika` and `Shakespeare O Anyanya Anubad`.
Personal Life of Jatindranath Sengupta
In 1908, Jatindranath Sengupta married the daughter of Charuchandra Gupta, who was named Jyotirlata Devi who was a lawyer in the area of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. He belonged to a poor family and his father Dwarkanath Sengupta worked as the Headmaster of a school in Patishar (which is now present in Bangladesh).
Many of the poems composed by Jatindranath Sengupta have been included in the syllabus at school level, higher secondary and secondary school levels, in the Bengali literature in the nation of Bangladesh. He died in 1954.
