Sisir Kumar Das

Sisir Kumar Das
শিশির কুমার দাশ
Born	November 1936 Calcutta, British India
Died	7 May, 2003 (Age 67) Kolkata, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	South Suburban School (Main), Presidency College, University of Calcutta
Occupation(s)	Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Translator
Parent(s)	Mukul Chandra Das (Father) , Sarala Devi (Mother)
Awards	Rabindra Puraskar

Sisir Kumar Das (1936–2003) was a linguist, poet, playwright, translator, comparatist and a scholar of Indian literature. He is considered to be the "doyen of Indian literary historiographers." Das built an integrated history of Indian literature composed of many languages, a task multiple Indian literature scholars considered to be “a historian’s despair.” His three volumes (among proposed ten volumes), A History of Indian Literature (Western Impact: Indian Response 1800–1910; Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy 1911–1956; From Courtly to Popular 800–1399), are credited for having devised previously absent methods for situating diverse Indian literary cultures in history. Das also edited the multi-volume English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore.

Though his formal training was specifically in Bengali language and literature, Das helped shape the discipline of Comparative Literature in India. Das criticized the compartmentalization of literary education in India, remarking that "whether study of literature or reading of literature, call it whatever, [it] would remain incomplete if not approached comparatively. It is like that old saying: What does he know of English who only English knows. The literature departments have erected walls between literatures. New thoughts would start blowing only when these walls are shattered down."

Das was also a poet and playwright, writing mostly in Bengali. Having spent most of his professional life in Delhi, away from the mainstream of Bengali cultural life, he remained largely unacknowledged within his lifetime. He was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar by the Government of West Bengal twice (for The Shadow of the Cross in 1976 and for The Artist in Chains in 1987.) His collection of poetry, entitled Abalupta Chaturtha Charan (The Disappeared Fourth Line), published in his own handwriting, remains a major work in 20th century Bengali poetry. Several of his plays have been performed by the theatre group Bahuroopi.

Life and works

Sisir Kumar Das was born in November 1936 to parents Mukunda Chandra Das and Sarala Das. Das graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta with Bengali Honours in 1955.

In 1956, his first collection of verses entitled Janmalagna was published.

In 1957, he completed his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. From 1958 to 1960, he taught at the West Bengal Education Service. He then taught for three years (1960–1963) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Das earned his doctorate degree by simultaneously submitting two completely different theses at the University of Calcutta and the University of London in 1963. After returning to India, he started teaching at the newly formed Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies in Delhi University from 1963 until 2001.

Das held the distinguished post of Tagore Professor from 1980 to 2001. He also remained the president of the Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI) from 1999 until his death in 2003.

Though some of his major scholarly works are in English, he wrote most of his works in Bengali. He also wrote several pieces for children, according to Sisir Kumar Das: A Personal Tribute.

Das' translations of ancient Greek poets, playwrights, and philosophers into Bengali promoted an interest in the literature of western antiquity within Bengali literary culture. His play Aloukik Sanglap consists of imaginary conversations between several historical figures, including Kalidasa and Aristotle as well as Parashuram and Orestes.

During the late 1970s, Das started publishing a series of articles on the Bhakti movement and its literature, exhibiting a way of approaching the various Indian literary cultures by noting their exchange with each other. Methods formulated out of this understanding of the dynamics of Indian literature during the Bhakti movement later served as key concepts in his historiography of Indian literature. Earlier histories of Indian literature, written mainly by Indologists, largely concentrated on Sanskrit literature and occasionally Pali and Prakrit literary cultures.

The history of the deshi Indian literature (often called Bhasha literature) remained limited as Indologists avoided pointing out the exchanges that one Indian language-literary culture made with the neighboring ones. An integrated history of Indian literature remained unwritten until Sahitya Akademi assigned the project to Das, who was well aware of the mammoth task ahead of him:

"A history of Indian literature is a long desideratum and Our task is to make it possible. Undoubtedly the task is enormous: the corpus is too Wide and diverse, languages involved are too many and difficulties numerous, some of them almost insurmountable in the present state of Our knowledge.... Nonetheless the writing of a history of Indian literature cannot be postponed indefinitely and a beginning has to be made."

His journey began in 1991 with the publication of the first volume, which spanned 1800 to 1910 and was subtitled 'Western Impact: Indian Response.' In 1995, he completed the second volume covering 1911 to 1956, titled 'Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy.' The first volume ran to 815 pages, while the second expanded to 908 pages. Das described his work on Indian literature as:

"...not a product of a man of leisure. I worked when people usually rested or relaxed. It has been possible because of the labours of my predecessors in the field. I offer my homage to their hallowed memory…I earnestly hope my critics will not be merely engaged in finding faults and fallacies in this work- they must be too many- but will produce a much better history of Indian literatures replacing it."

Das died on 7 May 2003 in Delhi at the age of sixty-seven, while researching and writing about India's medieval literary history (500-1399 AD).

Awards

• Nehru Prize from the Federal Republic of Germany (1970)
• Philippines Amodiesa of National Language (1974)
• Rabindra Puraskar for The Shadow of the Cross (1976) and The Artist in Chains (1987)
• Sudhamoyee Smriti Padak from the University of Calcutta (1996)
• Kamal Kumari National Award (1995)
• Honored as a distinguished playwright by Paschimbanga Natya Akademi (1995)
• Honored by Tagore Research Institute (1996)

Publications (Bengali)

Poetry

• Janmalagna (1956)
• Hoyto Darja Ache Anyadike (1986)
• Abalupta Chaturtha Charan (1986)
• Bajpakhir Sange Kichukkhon (1992)

For children

• Sonar Pakhi (1959)
• Taray Taray (1960)
• Argos (1993)
• Michael (1994)
• Chingri (1994)
• Chand Mama o Bagher Masi (2001)

Plays

• Jhad (1970)
• Surjaster Por (1970)
• Ekti Mritodeho (1972)
• He Durbhikkha, He Banya (1972)
• Banglar Mukh (1971)
• Chandrahas (1973)
• Socrates-er Jobanbondi (1975)
• Socrateser Sandhan (1983)
• Bhnaru Dutta (1977)
• Parashuram (1980)
• Adim Andhakar (1985)
• Muchiram Gur (1991)
• Puraskar Prahasanam (1990)
• Tulpule Antardhan Rahasya (1991)
• Shyama (1996)
• Bagh (1996)
• Natok Shurur Natok (1993)
• Satyameba Jayate (1994)
• Akbar-Birbal (1995)
• Sinduk (1996)
• Aloukik Sanglap (1996)
• Bhaluker Hasi (1996)
• Khela (1996)
• Purush Purush Korchho Kare
• Salmaner Tarabari (1997)
• Sakuntala (2000)
• Ekdin Ekratri (1999)
• Dom Antonio (2000)
• Andhabuddha (2000)
• Maunabhanga (2001)
• Bibaha Mandap Prahasan (2000)
• Ekti Kukur o Koyekjon Manush (2000)
• Dadaji, Amra Kon Partyr Lok (2003)

Collection of essays

• Madhusudaner Kobimanas (1959)
• Bangla Chhotogolpo (1961)
• Chaturdashee (1966)
• Gadya o Padyer Dwanda (1985)
• Bitarkita Atithi (1985)
• Shashwata Mouchak (1987)
• Kobitar Mil o Aumil (1987)
• Pathyakram o Sahitya (1992)
• Bhasha Jijnasa (1992)
• Phooler Phasal (Samkalaner Rajneeti) (1998)
• Moder Gorob, Moder Asha (1999)
• Bharat Sahitya Katha (1999)
• Shaswata Mouchak: Rabindranath o Spain

Translations

Plays

• Ahuti, Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis’
• Byatikram o Niyam, Brecht’s “The Exception and the Rule”
• Antigone, Sophocles’ Antigone
• Bandini, Euripides’ Trojan Women
• Raja Oidipous, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King

Poetry

• Bahujuger Opar Hote
• Nirbachita Kobita: Selected Poems of the Chinese poet Ai Ching
• Nirbachita Kobita: Selected Poems of the Greek Poet George Seferis
• Kalo Meyer Panchali, a long ballad by the Chinese poet Ai Ching
• Prachin Nabiker Panchali (translation of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
• Thammar Wool Bona (translated from the English version of Uri Orlev’s Hebrew poem: Grenny Krits)

Prose

• Akbar (translated from Lawrence Binyon’s biographical essay Akbar)
• Bidyutgati Adhiyan (D. K Palit’s The Lightening Campaign)
• Kabyatattwa (Aristotle’s Peri Poetikes)

Edited works

• Shashibhushan Dasgupta Smarak Grantha
• Shatayu Sukumar
• Michael Madhusudan Dutta: Nirbachita Rachana
• Samsad Bangla Sahityasangee

Publications (English)

• Comparative Literature: Theory and Practice (co-edited with Amiya Dev)
• The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore
• A History of Indian Literature: 1800–1910, Western Impact, Indian Response
• A History of Indian Literature: 1910–1956, Triumph and Tragedy
• A History of Indian Literature: 500–1399 AD, From Courtly to Popular
• Indian Ode to the West Wind: Studies in Literary Encounters
• Selected Writings on Literature and Language by Rabindranath Tagore (co-edited with Sukanta Chaudhuri, Sankha Ghosh)
• Studies in Comparative Literature: Theory, Culture and Space (co-edited with Jansi Jayims);
• Early Bengali Prose
• The Artist in Chains
• Ancient and Modern
• The Polyphony of the Bhakti Movement
• Sahibs and Munshis
• The Shadow of the Cross
• Structure of Malto
• Western Sailors, Eastern Seas
• The Mad Lover
• An Indian Ode to the Westwind
• The Controversial Guest: Tagore In China

External links

• http://www.bookfinder.com/author/sisir-kumar-das/
• https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&q=sisir+kumar+das
• https://books.google.com/books?id=BC3l1AbPM8sC&q=sisir+kumar+das
• https://books.google.com/books?id=bsTNd7_Jt4EC&dq=sisir+kumar+das&pg=PA33
• http://clai.in/sahityavolume1-27feb2011.pdf
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/23341675/
• https://doi.org/10.1177%2F000944558502100103/
• http://www.milansagar.com/kobi/sisirkumar_das/kobi-sisirkumardas.html/