“Extensive dissemination of knowledge amongst women is the surest way that leads a nation to civilisation and refinement, for it is women who first give ideas to the future philosopher and the would-be poet…In India, I may say in all the Oriental countries women are looked upon as created merely to contribute to the gratification of the animal appetites of men. This brutal misconception of the design of the Almighty is the source of much misery to the fair sex, because it not only makes them appear as of inferior mental endowments, but no better than a sort of speaking brutes. The people of this country do not know the pleasure of domestic life, and indeed they cannot know, until civilization shows them the way to attain to it.”These are the lines from an essay written by a 19th century Bengali student of Hindu College, a premier educational institution of Calcutta, then the national capital. It came out in 1842. And, his age? Eighteen. This was only his second attempt to be published in this period, the first one being a criticism on English poetry – Michael Madhusudan Dutta was showing his writing skills at an early age.Like the former one, here also, the young lad used a handful of poetry and proverbial references. Given his tender age and the admiration he held for classical European literature, the style was expected. Dutta’s English poems were also getting published simultaneously, in some of the leading English journals. His message was direct enough, though, and the essay, with no distinct title, would earn him a gold medal.Ironically, he would convert to Christianity within a year, only to avoid his marriage to a much younger and illiterate village girl, arranged by his advocate father, Rajnarayan Dutta.In late 1847, Dutta left Calcutta, his beloved friends and loving mother, to eventually settle down in Madras. Here, he would teach, edit English magazines, marry an English lady and associate with organisations of native freethinkers. These ventures in a city completely different from the one he hailed from, gave him the opportunity to meet different classes. His observations of his time and personal struggle with life would, in turn, lay the foundation of a literary genius.‘The Captive Ladie’ and ‘Rizia – Empress of Inde’ are the two major works that came out during his stay at Madras. Both works deal with two significant chapters of Indian history. The central theme of ‘The Captive Ladie’ was the legend of Prithviraj Chauhan and Sanyogita and in the second, a play, he paid his tribute to Razia Sultan, the only female Muslim ruler of Delhi Sultanate. While the first one can be called his first step to becoming a poets’ poet of Indian literature, the latter one is the first ever text with a Muslim protagonist, written by any non-Muslim Bengali of the 19th century. Even though wars and treachery constitute the historical background of the central story in both, Madhusudan’s primary focus was on a more important aspect of human life: love. Being a ‘friendless stranger’ in exile, he could feel the pain of captivity and estrangement. With deep compassion, he would utter:The home of youth, ‘tis far. Oh! far away.The hopes of youth, thy’ve fled and taught to weep:Even ‘Meghnadbadh Kabya’, his greatest gift to Indian literature that he would pen down more than a decade later, reflects similar ideas. He indeed criticised the assassination of Meghnad, the prince of Lanka, in the hands of Lakshmana, thus questioning the age-old tradition of portrayal of these figures as Gods. Under the outer skin of Ravana and Meghnad’s portrayal as tragic heroes and Rama’s portrayal as an anti-hero and a warrior who breaks the rules of war by taking the advantage of being closer to Gods, lies Madhusudan’s deep commentary of humanity. Rama’s concern for his beloved brother while sending him to the enemy camp to complete the daunting task of slaying Meghnad, Meghnad showing hospitality to Lakshmana even after he sneaked into the place of worship, Sita’s mourning over Meghnad’s untimely demise, a grief-stricken Ravana going out to war, Rama’s generosity in accepting a proposal of ceasefire during the seven-day mourning of Meghnad’s death, all these events contribute to that concept of humanism, something which Dutta had embraced all his life.However, compared to his poems, verses and plays, his essays, which are personal favourites, haven’t received much attention.Most of these essays were written in Madras. Reading his ‘Native Education’, ‘The Anglo-Saxon and the Hindu’, ‘Mussalmans in India’, ‘Remarriage of Hindu Widows’, etc., one can understand the direction of his opinion on contemporary political events. Over 90 years had already passed since the Battle of Plassey, and there were growing tensions between the Europeans and the native educated class in the big cities. In the wake of such a situation, Madhusudan always sided with the rationalists.The essays written during this period also witnessed a transformation of language. He was no more the dreamy son of a wealthy father in Calcutta, but a man with responsibilities, struggling to make ends meet. It certainly influenced the tenor of his writing. Now, he was more direct and communicative, and at the same time, analytical and bold in his approach.While composing essays on social themes, he would take a more radical path. That was natural in a sense, as a representative of the enlightened elite of the 19th century Calcutta. As historian Sajal Nag has pointed out, of the three major currents of the 19th century Bengal Renaissance, Rammohan Roy led the reformative movement, which was followed by the radicalism of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (who, as a young teacher at Hindu College, used to engage his students in debates on various social, religious and political issues, and ask them to think freely and question everything) and the revivalism of Shree Ramkrishna Paramhansa. Madhusudan belonged to the second faction. A devoted Derozian, he was a man of reasons and even led an Anglicised lifestyle. But, in contrast to his liberal contemporaries who were loudly critical of Hindu conservatism and inhumane practices but not of colonial exploitation, Madhusudan questioned both.As a western-enlightened youth, he admitted the Anglo-Saxon race to be ‘well-graced, ravishing the eyes of the audience with his manly beauty’, while the Hindu race, ‘once–a green, a beautiful, a tall, a majestical, a flowering tree’, was now ‘ill-favoured, worn out by the ceaseless waves of time, hoarse and dissonant as an untuned harp, as an unstrung lute.’ These words may lead the readers to believe that his conversion made him an anti-Hindu. But, in reality, he was never a practising Christian. He even expressed his discontent in a few of his letters to his close friend Gourdas Basak when the latter started addressing him as ‘Christian Friend M.’ To his friends and family, he always wanted to remain Madhu, the Duttakulodbhab (one who is from Dutta family).Even in Madras, when he was working in a missionary-run institution, he lacked no courage in making a statement like: “India under the Moslem rule was more prosperous than the Leadenhall rule. Sir Charles may disguise the fact, but history is against him.” (Mussalmans in India) ‘Leadenhall’ refers to the street in London where East India House was located.This essay was subject to harsh criticism, as expected. Surprisingly, no one pointed to what he said about the extravagant lifestyles of the Nawabs and the Mughals of that era.But, that was Madhusudan.A short-lived iconoclast (he was only 49 at the time of his death), he never surrendered to any establishment. A visionary modernist, he only borrowed the best elements of the cultures he came across. A penniless genius, his creations had always been rich with opulence. And, as a staunch non-religious person, the only religion he ever preached was the religion of love.January 25, 2024, marked the bicentennial celebration of the 200th birth anniversary of Michael Madhusudan Dutta.Soham Das is a Kolkata-based freelance writer and researcher.
