Shakti Chattopadhyay

{{Infobox writer

| name = Shakti Chattopadhyay

| image = ShaktiChattopadhyay.jpg

| caption = Shakti Chattopadhyay

| pseudonym = Sphulinga Samaddar{{cite book|title= Akademi Bidyarthi Bangla Abhidhan|trans-title=Akademi Students' Bengali Dictionary |edition=2nd |year=2009 |orig-year= 1999|publisher= Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi |location= Kolkata|language=bn |isbn= 978-81-86908-96-9 |page=875 }}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1933|11|25}}

| birth_place = Jaynagar Majilpur, Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Samir |title=Shakti Chattopadhyay |edition= 1st|series=Makers of Indian Literature|year= 2005 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |location=New Delhi |isbn= 978-81-260-2003-4 |page= 5 }}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1995|03|23|1933|11|27}}

| death_place = Calcutta, West Bengal, India

| occupation = Poet

| language = Bengali

| nationality = Indian

| period = 1961–1995

| movement = Hungry movement, Krittibas

| notableworks = Abani Bari Achho
Jete Pari Kintu Keno Jabo

| awards = Ananda PuraskarSengupta, Samir (2005). Shakti Chattopadhyay. p. 93
Sahitya Akademi AwardSengupta, Samir (2005). Shakti Chattopadhyay. p. 94

}}

Shakti Chattopadhyay (25 November 1933 – 23 March 1995) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Bengali.{{Cite journal |date=1966 |title=Back Matter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23030809 |journal=Mahfil |volume=3 |issue=4 |issn=0025-0503}} He is known for his realistic depictions of rural life. He was a green poet, many of his poems raised the issue of nature in crisis. Through his poems he urged to protect Mother Nature and plant trees.{{Cite book |last=Chakrabarti |first=Kunal |title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis |last2=Chakrabarti |first2=Shubhra |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-5334-8 |series=Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and Cultures |location=Lanham |pages=127-128}}

The huge surprise and controversy surrounding his poetry have repeatedly moved the readers. The omnipotent humanity of the American Beatniks moved him at one time.

Early life

Shakti Chattopadhyay was born in Jaynagar Majilpur, to Bamanath Chattopadhyay and Kamala Devi. He lost his father at the age of four and was brought up by his maternal grandfather. He passed Matriculation Examination in 1951 and got admitted to the City College to study commerce as his maternal uncle, who was a businessman and also his guardian, promised him a job of an accountant. In 1953, he passed Intermediate Commerce Examination, but gave up studying commerce and got admitted to the Presidency College (now Presidency University, Kolkata) with Honours in Bengali literature but he did not appear in the examination.

Shakti Chattopadhyay worked with Ananda Bazar Patrika from 1970 to 1994, and was a visiting professor at Visva Bharati University after his retirement.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&q=Shakti+Chattopadhyay+Santiniketan&pg=PA127| title = Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis |work= Sakti Chattopadhyay, Pages 127-128| publisher = Scarecrow Press, USA |access-date = 2 September 2019| isbn = 9780810880245 | date = 22 August 2013 }}

Literature career

He started writing novels to make a living from literature. Kuyotala was his first novel. His first collection of poems, Hey prem, Hey naishyabda (O love, O silence), published in 1956. Abani Bari Achho is a poem by Shakti Chattopadhyay. It is included in his seminal early collection Dhôrmeo achho jirafeo achho published in 1965.{{cite web | url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/abani-are-you-home | title=Poem: Abani, Are You Home by Shakti Chattopadhay }} He also published 10 novels, several collections of travel writing, a collection of essays and Bengali translations.

Notable works

Kuyotala
Hey prem, Hey naishyabda (O love, O silence)
Jwalanta Rumal
Āmāke jāgāo
Dhôrmeo achho jirafeo achho : Abani Bari Achho
Jete Pari Kintu Keno Jabo
Padyasamagra
Sakale pratyeke ekā
Kabira galpa
Agranthita padya
Sandhyāra se-śānta upahāra
Jongole Pahare
Amar Rabindranath

Awards

Ananda Puraskar
Sahitya Akademi Award{{Cite web |date=1984-03-15 |title=Shakti Chattopadhyay: An iconoclastic poet of Bengal and Sahitya Akademi award winner |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/story/19840315-shakti-chattopadhyay-an-iconoclastic-poet-of-bengal-and-sahitya-akademi-award-winner-803565-1984-03-14 |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=India Today |language=en}}

References

External links

{{Internet Archive author}}
{{Gbooks-author|Shakti Chattopadhyay}}
[http://www.parabaas.com/shakti/index.shtml Shakti Chattopadhyay Section at parabaas.com]
[http://www.parabaas.com/shakti/articles/bibliography.shtml Complete, chronological bibliography of Shakti Chattopadhyay (in Bengali)]
[https://ppoddar.github.io/shakti/index.html Selected Poems of Shakti Chattopadhya]

Category: Writers from Kolkata

Category:1934 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:Indian male writers

Category:Indian male poets

Category:Bengali-language writers

Category:Bengali male poets

Category:Bengali Hindus

Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali

Category:Recipients of the Gangadhar National Award

Category:City College, Kolkata alumni

Category:University of Calcutta alumni