December 3 marked the 56th death anniversary of Bengali novelist Manik Bandopadhyay.
Manik is considered one of the leading lights of modern Bengali fiction. During a short lifespan of 48 years, plagued simultaneously by illness and financial crisis, he produced 36 novels and 177 short stories. His important works include “Padma Nadir Majhi”, “Putul Nacher Itikatha”, “Shahartali”, “Chatushkone” and others.
Manik was born in 1908 in a small town called Dumka, in the district of Santal Parganas, in the Bihar province in India. His real name was Prabodh Kumar Bandhopaddhay. His pen name was derived from his pet name 'Manik'. He was the fifth of 14 children of Harihar Bandopadhyay and Niroda Devi. His father Harihar was a government official who travelled across undivided Bengal as part of his job.
Manik passed the entrance examination for the Midnapore Zilla School in 1926, securing first division with letter marks in compulsory and optional mathematics. In the same year he got enrolled in Welleslyan Mission College at Bankura. Earlier, he studied in Kanthi Model School in Tangail. In 1928 he passed I.Sc. (Intermediate in Science) with first division. He enrolled in the B.Sc. course in Mathematics at the Presidency College, Kolkata with inspiration from his father.
Manik's stories and novels were published in literary magazines -- Bichitra, Bangasree, Purbasha, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Jugantor, Satyajug, Probashi, Desh, Chaturanga, Noro Nari, Notun Jiban etc.
Manik's writing was inspired by both Marxian and Freudian philosophy -- which are quite contrasting in nature. His writing stands in stark contrast to that of other contemporary luminaries like Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay who portrayed life in rural Bengal in a gentle, lyrical light. Although he had some common ground with Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, he distinguished himself with his profound and rational analysis of the lives of ordinary people. Manik's writing dealt with the pettiness and wretchedness of existence in the context of rural Bengal. His primary concern was the dark alleyways of the human mind, even among the supposedly simple village folk, and not the serene beauty of nature that was always in the background in his novels.
Manik died in 1956, at the age of 48.
