Priyanath Mukhopadhyay

{{Infobox writer

| name = Priyanath Mukhopadhyay

| birth_date = 1855

|birth_place =Chuadanga, Bengal Presidency, British India

| death_date = 1947

|death_place =Calcutta, India

| occupation = Author
police inspector

| language = Bengali

| notableworks = Darogar Daptar

| citizenship = India

}}

Priyanath Mukhopadhyay (4{{nbsp}}June 1855{{snd}}20{{nbsp}}June 1947){{Cite book|last=Roy|first=Pinaki|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF3WegP2WzAC&q=Priyanath+Mukhopadhyay&pg=PA99|title=The Manichean Investigators: A Postcolonial and Cultural Rereading of the Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi Stories|publisher=Sarup & Sons|year=2008|isbn=978-81-7625-849-4|pages=98–99}}{{Cite web|title=প্রিয়নাথ মুখোপাধ্যায় - উইকিসংকলন একটি মুক্ত পাঠাগার|url=https://bn.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%96%E0%A6%95:%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A5_%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%96%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC|access-date=2021-05-22|website=bn.wikisource.org|language=bn}} was a Bengali writer and police detective in Calcutta during the British era.{{Cite book |last1=Kannabiran |first1=Kalpana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaMGo6zqzNYC&dq=Priyanath+Mukhopadhyay&pg=PA42 |title=Challenging The Rules(s) of Law: Colonialism, Criminology and Human Rights in India |last2=Singh |first2=Ranbir |date=2008-11-11 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-3665-7 |language=en}} He is considered a pioneer in the field of mystery and detective fiction in Bengali literature.{{Cite web|url=https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/nation/news-detail-646960|title='Detective fiction' back in vogue, courtesy Bengal cops|website=The Tribune|access-date=24 February 2020}}
- {{Cite web|url=https://www.anandabazar.com/supplementary/rabibashoriyo/which-is-more-poisonous-scorpion-or-devil-s-trumpet-1.386839|title=কী করে খুন করি

|website=Anandabazar Patrika|language=bn|access-date=24 February 2020}}
- {{Cite web|url=https://www.prothomalo.com/onnoalo/article/1044775/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%99%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0|title=বঙ্গের গোয়েন্দা-চরিত্র|website=Prothom Alo|date=23 December 2016 |language=bn|access-date=24 February 2020}}
- {{Cite web|title=Calcutta noir|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LibY45l3PWg0B2DYI8SsCN/Calcutta-noir.html|last=Bag|first=Shamik|date=17 January 2015|website=Livemint|access-date=4 May 2020}}

Biography

Mukhopadhyay was born in Chuadanga, undivided Nadia in British India. He was an inspector at Lalbazar Police Station in the detective department of the Calcutta Police. He worked in the department for 33 years, from 1878 to 1911. He was a detective of the Calcutta Police. The British Government gave him the title of Roybahadur (রায়বাহাদুর) for his excellent record in solving crimes in the city.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/detective-dead-whodunnit/cid/1288901|title=Detective dead, whodunnit?|website=The Telegraph|location=India|access-date=22 February 2020}}

In 1889, he began writing accounts of some of his cases in the journal Anusandhaan,{{Cite book|last=Roy|first=Shampa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNQkDwAAQBAJ&q=Priyanath+Mukhopadhyay&pg=PA29|title=Gender and Criminality in Bangla Crime Narratives: Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries|publisher=Springer|year=2017|isbn=978-1-137-51598-8|pages=29–30}} before moving in 1892 to Darogar Daptar (The Inspector's Files) devoted solely to his stories,{{Cite web|title=One of India's earliest crime fiction stories was about a delicious scam involving books|author=Abhijit Gupta

|date=10 January 2018 |url=https://scroll.in/article/863960/one-of-indias-earliest-crime-fiction-stories-was-about-a-delicious-scam-involving-books|website=Scroll|access-date=22 February 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bd-pratidin.com/various/2013/05/17/169240

|title=বাংলা সাহিত্যে গোয়েন্দা|website=Bangladesh Pratidin|date=17 May 2013 |language=bn|access-date=24 February 2020}} writing 206 stories over the next 11 years. Some detractors claim that many of his self-proclaimed experiences written in Darogar Daptar were actually stories heavily inspired by foreign authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=He did work in the Lalbazar, so it is highly likely that these were his personal experiences. There is no evidence that it were inspired by Sherlock Holmes.}}

He wrote his autobiography in 1911.