Madanmohan Tarkalankar
{{short description|Sanskrit scholar and Bengali writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Madanmohan Tarkalankar
| image = Madan Mohan Tarkalankar.jpg
| other_names = Madan Mohan Tarkalankar
| birth_date = {{birth date|1817|1|03}}
| birth_place = Bilwagram, Nakashipara, Bethuadahari, Nadia district, Bengal presidency, British India{{Cite web |title=196th Birth Centenary Of Madan Mohon Tarkalankar Observed In Nakashipara - News from Nadia |url=http://www.newsfromnadia.com/index.php/news-reader/items/id-196th-birth-centenary-of-madan-mohon-tarkalankar-observed-in-nakashipara.html }}{{Cite book |title=কবিবর মদনমোহন তর্কালঙ্কারের জীবনচরিত ও তদগ্রন্থ সমালোচনা |publisher=The new Indian Press |year=1870 |location=Kolkata}}
| death_date = {{Death-date and age|9 March 1858|3 January 1817}}
| children =
| death_place =Kandi, Bengal Presidency, British India
| movement = Bengali Renaissance
| monuments = Asannagar Madan Mohan Tarkalankar College,{{Cite web |title=Asannagar Madan Mohan Tarkalankar College |url=http://www.asannagarmmtcollege.org/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728091000/http://asannagarmmtcollege.org/index.html |archive-date=28 July 2013 |access-date=28 July 2013}} Post Graduate in Sanskrit Department of Krishnanath College
| education = Calcutta Presidency College
}}
Madanmohan Tarkalankar (3 January 1817 – 9 March 1858) is one of the Sanskrit scholars of the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth century who has made a special contribution to the development of written Bengali language. He is also considered as one of the pioneers of the Bengali renaissance. He was a professor at Fort William College and authored several textbooks on early childhood education.
Birth and family identity
He was born in 1817 in a Hindu Brahmin family in Bethuadahari, Nakashipara. His father's name is Ramdhan Chattopadhyay He had two children named Bhuvanmala and Kundamala.
Education
He studied at the Sanskrit College, where he was a classmate of Ishwar chandra Vidyasagar. He later studied at the Presidency University.
Work life
He was a professor of literature at Fort William College. Later in November 1850 he was appointed as the District Judge of Murshidabad. He was appointed Deputy Magistrate of Murshidabad (in December 1855) and Kandi in 1856.{{Cite web |title=Anandabazar Patrika- Murshidabad and Nadia |url=http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1111001/1mur-letter.html |access-date=1 April 2019}}
Social reformer
He was one of the founders of the practice of 'Hindu widow marriage'.
{{Rquote|quote=The first widow marriage took place in 1857. The bridegroom was Srishchandra Vidyaratna and the bride was Kalimati. Madanmohan Tarkalankar was one of the people who helped to find and contact the two of them.|author=Mrinalkanti Chakraborty, a retired teacher of Berhampore College|source=}}
His contribution to the spread of women's education is undeniable. In 1849, when Bethun founded the Hindu Mahila School, he admitted his two daughters there. He used to teach girls in this school without pay. In 1850, he wrote a groundbreaking essay in favor of wife education in Sarvashubhakari magazine{{Cite book |last=Subodh Chandra Sengupta |first=Anjali Basu |title=Samsad Bangali Charitbidhan, {{lang|bn|সংসদ বাঙালি চরিতাভিধান}}(First Part) |publisher=Sahitya Samsad |year=2002}}
Books
Madanmohan Tarkalanka devoted considerable effort to spread education in Bengali language. The book Shishusiksha written by him was also published before the book Barnaparichay written by Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.{{Cite book |last=Bandyopadhyay |first=Asitkumar |title=Bangla Sahitye Vidyasagar |title-link=Asitkumar Bandyopadhyay |publisher=Dey's publishing |year=2005 |location=Kolkata |pages=84–85}} He published Shisushiksha{{refn|group=n|of {{lang|bn|শিশুশিক্ষা}}}} in 1849 and a second part in 1850. Later, third part and fourth part (Bodhodoy).{{refn|group=n|{{lang|bn|'বোধোদয়'}}}}He wrote two books in his childhood- Basabdutta and Rasatrangini.{{refn|group=n|{{lang|bn|'বাসব দত্তা','রসতরঙ্গিনী'}}}}{{Cite web|title=যারা কবি হতে চায় তাদের গীতবিতান পড়তে বলি|url=http://www.anyodhara.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1230:%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%BE%E0%A7%9F-%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF&Itemid=95 |access-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102145408/http://anyodhara.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1230:%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%BE%E0%A7%9F-%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF&Itemid=95 |archive-date=2 November 2013|url-status=dead}}
His poem "Amar Pan"' is one of the poems in Bengali textbooks for second class students in Bangladesh and is considered as an excellent guide for the formation of children's psyche.Majumdar, Swapan, Literature and Literary Life in Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, pp112-113, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-563696-1}}.{{Cite web |title=Dainik Destiny |url=http://www.dainikdestiny.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Cricket&pub_no=445&cat_id=1&menu_id=54&news_type_id=1&index=2&archiev=yes&arch_date=20-10-2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921170957/http://www.dainikdestiny.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Cricket&pub_no=445&cat_id=1&menu_id=54&news_type_id=1&index=2&archiev=yes&arch_date=20-10-2012 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=3 January 2016}}
He translated 14 Sanskrit books.
Some of his notable books are:-
- Rasatrangini (1838)
- Basabdutta (1836)
- Shishushiksha -3 parts (1839 to 1851)
Death
On 9 March 1858, he died at Kandi of cholera.
References
{{reflist}}