Dotto, Modhushudon

Born into the family of lawyer Rajnarayan Dotto near Calcutta. He studied at a Muslim school in the village. Shekpur, where he studied the Persian language. In his youth, he showed abilities for languages ​​and literature. In 1837 he moved to Calcutta. He studied English, cultural traditions and achievements of Great Britain. Then he began to compose his first plays. In 1843 he converted to Christianity. Fearing persecution, fled to Madras. Here he married an Englishwoman. In 1856 he returned to Calcutta, where he remarried. Soon he moved to England. In the 1860s he traveled to France. However, at that time he was already begging, not receiving help from his comrades and family from India. At the end of the 1860s he returned to his homeland, where he was actively engaged in literary activities. Dotto died in Calcutta on June 29, 1873 .

It is believed that modern Bengali literature begins with Modhushudon Dotto. The heyday of Dotto's creative activity falls on the period from 1859 to 1862. During this time, his best works were written: in 1859, two satirical social plays “And this is called civilization ?!” and “The plumage of an old parrot”; in 1860 - the historical tragedy “Princess Krishna”, the mythological poem “The Birth of the Tilotti”, in 1862 - the heroic poem “The Death of Meghnad” and the poem “Heroines”.

Dotto was the first to organically combine the traditions of European and Indian art cultures. He significantly transformed Bengal drama, his works entered the classical repertoire, at the same time used, learned the experience of modern Bengal playwrights, in particular the experience of social drama, which entered the literary consciousness of contemporaries.

Modhushudon Dotto was the first in Indian poetry to introduce the sonnet genre, which later became one of the most popular genres. A collection of more than one hundred sonnets (1866), Dotto wrote while in France. In them, the poet sums up the life, they are imbued with nostalgia, love for the homeland. At the same time, the poet is sad about the slave fate of India, praises the beauty of his native expanses, condemns his neglect in his youth to his homeland.

The characters of Dotto's plays spoke in a simple folk speech, enriched by living everyday intonations. A significant contribution was the fact that he made a serious attempt to use the language as the social and individual characteristics of the characters.

• King porus
• The Captive Ladie (1849)
• Visions of the past
• Sermista (1859) (Bengali and English)
• Padmavati (1859)
• Ekei Ki Boley Sabyota (1860)
• Krishna Kumari (1860)
• Buro Shaliker Ghare Ron (1860)
• Tilottama Sambhava Kavya (1861)
• Meghnad Badh Kavya (1861)
• Brajagana Kavya (1861)
• Veerangana Kavya (1861)
• Ratnavali (English translation)
• Nil Darpan (English translation)
• Choturdoshpodi kobitaboli
• Rizia, the Sultana of Inde
• Rosalo sornolatika
• Bongobani
• Sonnets and other poems (1866)
• Bongo bhumir prati

• Roy, Pinaki. “Extravagant Genius: Michael Madhusudan Dutt and his Oeuvre.” Indian Poetry in English: Critical Essays. Ed. Mitra, Z. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 2012 ( ISBN 978-81-203-4571-3 ). Pp. 15-30.
• Murshid, Ghulam (2003). Lured by Hope: A Biography of Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-565362-5 . - Gopa Majumdar's translation of Ashar Chalane Bhuli
• Modhusudoner Engreji Kabita by Sayeed Abubakar, Bhumika Prakashani, Bangla Bazar, Dhaka-1100, (2009)
• Hindu School, Kolkata - Web Site
• Tilottoma sambhaba kabya