JASHORE, Jan 22, 2020 (BSS) – The annual ‘Madhu Mela’, marking the 196th birth anniversary of the great poet and originator of Bangla sonnets Michael Madhusudan Dutt, will begin tomorrow at the poet’s ancestral home at Sagordari in Keshabpur upazila of the district.
Though the annual fair was supposed to begin from today (Wednesday), the
authorities postponed the programmes of the inaugural day giving honor to
former state minister and local lawmaker Ismat Ara Sadique who died at the
age of 78 at a Dhaka hospital on Tuesday.
On January 25, 1824 Madhusudan, often fondly addressed as ‘Mahakavi’ (poet
of epics), was born to land lord Raj Narayan Dutt and Janhabi Devi at
Sagardari under Keshabpur upazila in Jashore.
President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave separate
messages on the occasion of Madhu Mela and birth anniversary of the great
poet.
Since 1973, a weeklong fair is arranged every year at Sagardari.
Member secretary of Madhu Mela and Madhusudan Dutt’s birth anniversary
celebration committee and Keshabpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Nusrat
Jahan told BSS that the fair will be held from tomorrow as per previous
schedule.
Hundreds of people of the region and different parts of the country
usually throng the fair every day, she said adding that noted personalities
will deliver speeches on the life and works of the legendary poet during
different discussions in the fair.
Different cultural organisations in association with district and upazila
administration have taken various programmes on the occasion. The Mela (fair)
will continue till January 28.
The programmes include circus, sports competition, seminar on Madhusudan’s
life and works and cultural functions during the fair.
The entire area wore a festive look marking the fair as over 200 stalls
has been set up with handicrafts and traditional products on the fair
premises.
Keshabpur thana officer-in-charge (OC) Md Abu Sayeed said law enforcement
agencies beefed up security measures on the premises and police will patrol
the area round-the-clock.
Madhusudan Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in
Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what
came to be called ‘Amitrakshar Chhanda’ (blank verse).
His first attempt at blank verse was ‘Sharmistha’ in Bengali literature.
Kaliprasanna Singha, who is famous for his translation of the ancient
Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali, organised a felicitation ceremony to
Madhusudan Dutt to mark the introduction of blank verse in Bengali poetry.
His most famous literary work is sonnet “Kapatakkha Nad”. Kapatakkha Nad
(river) flows through Jessore, the poet’s ancestral home.
“Always, o river, you peep in my mind/ Always I think you in this
loneliness/ Always I soothe my ears with the murmur/ Of your waters in
illusion, the way/ Men hear songs of illusion in a dream,” are a few lines of
his extraordinary creation ‘Kapatakkha Nad’ in which he showed his deep love
towards his country and the river.
Apart from his outstanding talent in authoring poems, Madhusudan Dutt
showed prodigious skills as a playwright as he was the first to write Bengali
plays in the English style, segregating the play into acts and scenes.
He was also the pioneer of the first satirical plays in Bengali
literature. ‘Buro Shaliker Ghare Ron’ and ‘Ekei Ki Boley Sabhyota’ are among
his famous satirical plays.
Madhusudan was a gifted linguist and polyglot as he studied Hebrew, Latin,
Greek, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit.
He passed away at Kolkata General Hospital on June 29, 1873, only three
days after his wife Henrietta breathed her last. The poet was buried at Park
Street in Kolkata.