Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Biography

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer and one of the leading novelists of modern Bengali literature. He is best known for writing the novel - Pather Panchali, an autobiographical work which was later made to a great film on celluloid by the celebrated filmmaker - Satyajit Ray. Pather Panchali (1955) was one among the famous The Apu Trilogy of films, the other two being Aparajito (1956) – its sequel and Apur Sansar (1959). Aparajito, the sequel of Pather Panchali was also penned by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. In 1951, he was awarded Rabindra Puraskar posthumously, for his work Ichhamati. His works are largely set in rural Bengal and wrote 16 novels in total.

He was born on 12 September 1894 in the Panitar village near Basirhat of West Bengal. His father, Mahananda Bandyopadhyay, was a Sanskrit scholar. He was a Kathak artist and story teller by profession. Mrinalini was his mother’s name and Bibhutibhushan had four younger siblings. His childhood days were spent in Barakpur village of North 24 Parganas and studied at Bongaon High School. He later studied at Surendranath College and also University of Calcutta, before taking teaching as his profession at a school at Jangipara, Hooghli.

Though he earned appreciation as a writer, earlier he had to do odd jobs to financially support his family. Though he took teaching as profession first, he also served as a travelling publicist for Goraksini Sabha, and later as a secretary for Khelatchandra Ghosh, where he looked after his estate. It as in those days he wrote and published Pather Panchali. He taught at Khelatchandra Memorial School for a short period before returning to his village as a school teacher of Gopalnagar School. Most of his novels were written in the backgrounds of Bongaon city. Pather Panchali, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, Ichamati and Bipiner Sansar are the best instances.

Published: N/A

Updated: December 11, 2015