Early life and influences Sukanta Bhattacharya was born on 15 August 1926 in 42 Mahim Haldar Street in
Kalighat,
Calcutta. He was the second son of Suniti Devi and Nibaran Chandra Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya was named by his sister Ranidi, from a character in the story "Sukanta" by Manilal Gangopadhyay. Sukanta's
ancestral home was in
Kotalipara in
Faridpur, where his father Nibaran Chandra initially lived. He left the house at the age of thirteen following his father Jagachandra's death. He came to Calcutta and worked for Agroj, and they established the
book publishing house Saraswat Library. His father Nibaran Chandra rented a house in
Baghbazar and provided
accommodation to persons who came into Caluctta for jobs. Bhattacharya spent his early life in the Kalighat house; he was accompanied by either his grandmother or his sister Ranidi. According to Jagannath Chakravorty, Sukanta Bhattacharya took his first interest in
poetry from Ranidi, who could recite poems written by
Rabindranath Tagore. And from his mother, who would read aloud pages from the epics
Ramayana and
Mahabharata in Bengali. His father's brother Supandi was the leader of a
Sanskrit literary circle and hosted meetings with Sanskrit
scholars at the house. He started writing from about the age of eight or nine. He had five brothers: Sushil, Prashanta, Bibhas, Ashok and Amiya. His
half-brother Manomohan Bhattacharya married when he was six-years-old. Manomohan's wife Sorju Devi introduced him to
letters and
the alphabet. She brought "Khukumonir Chora" by
Jogindranath Sarkar and recited rhymes to him. He heard Rabindranath Thakur's poems from his uncle Saroj Bhattacharya, his grandfather Gopalchandra Bhattacharya, and from Rakhal Chandra Bhattacharya. Nibaran Chandra felt sad that his
financial income was less than his brother Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya. In the
environment Sukanta grew up, he was subject to
education and
poverty. He was introduced to literature and
learning from
childhood, but also felt the effects of poverty. He became
sensitive and
introverted. He became happy when someone showed him
sympathy. One day, his mother found a
cloth bag tied around her
sari. When she opened it, she saw the
writings of Sukanta saying he only loves Sushil and not him. According to Nandalal Bhattacharya, his uncle Krishna Chandra loved him even more than his parents and called him as "Sona." His sister Ranidi did many things for him from his childhood. His brother Manomohan and his uncles Gopal, Rakhal and Manoj also showed
affection to him. He had not then learned to read. He would tell Sorju Devi to shout the words loudly and he would listen. He memorized them and later would
recite them to others. Engaged in her work, she told him to learn to read. Bhattacharya got upset with her words and stopped coming near her; he wandered and had messy hair. She would pull him and bath him, feed him and comb his hair.
First works: Beginning of literary career Sukanta's family shifted from the
rented house in Baghbazar to their own
house in 34 Haramohan Ghosh Lane,
Beliaghata. In this house, Bhattacharya wrote a
verse on his younger brother Prasanta which he showed to his family. Prasanta did not like the two-line poem and complained to the elders. Shorty after he wrote, his sister Ranidi died. Bhattacharya's family moved to a rented house in
College Street, but they later returned to a
rented house in Haramohan Ghosh Lane six months later. Bhattacharya became a reciter of
children's poems and also wrote poems, particularly from inspiration by the ones written by Jogindranath Sarkar and
Sunirmal Basu. His step brother Manomohan Bhattacharya owned a
book shop on College Street, from where children's books were accumulated in his house and read by Sukanta. He also wrote
songs. Afterwards, he was enrolled in the school Kamala Vidya Mandir, by his
neighborhood teacher Ahinbabu, where he became a bright student. His
classmate Shailen Sarkar described the life of Bhattacharya in one of his articles. In the school, he got a role to play in the
drama Dhruba." In this magazine, he wrote "Suchikitsa," part of
Sukanta Samagra. Bhattacharya heard
less than usual in his ears. He and Basu usually sat in the back
benches discussing about
literature. One day, Basu shouted to him in excitement, which the teacher came for. A student told him about his ear problem. The teacher called him in the teacher's room and
confessed for his mistake. This teacher kept in touch with him even after
quitting teaching, related to his literature and poems. Bhattacharya read the books by
Sarat Chandra (Chattopadhyay),
Meghnad Badh Kavya by
Madhusudan (Dutta),
Alaler Gharer Dulal by
Tekchand Tagore and
Kathasaritsagar. Reading outside books, he got better at writing poems. The teachers in his school would be
surprised to see his writings. Bhattacharya wrote while sitting in class, and his teachers
kept a look on him. He engaged in discussions with Nabadwip Debnath, who helped him in organization in writing poems. He showed Debnath the story in
Sikha which he had written about
Vivekananda and some poetry. Upon finishing reading, he encouraged Bhattacharya to write more poetry, using different kinds of poems of
Satyendranath Dutta as an example. Arunachal and Sukanta were involved in literature while in school. Arunachal Basu's
walled house was located in an
empty field in Beliaghata. The house also served as a
girls' school, where his mother taught. In this house, Bhattacharya spent many of his
evenings in this house. He talked to and listened to the talks of Basu's mother Sarala Devi, often bringing
discussion about poems and literature. He loved Basu's mother like his
own mother. He told his poems, thoughts and ideas to Basu's mother, a teacher and
writer. She would play a literary
game where each person would write a separate line in a verse, such as "Shatabdi." In 1941, Basu's father changed his
residence abandoning the house. Basu was then in
Jessore. Sukanta wrote a
letter to him informing him of the abandonment of the old house and residence change in early 1941. One day, he and his friend named Robin Ghosh planned an
adventure and took a train from
Howrah. He wanted the journey to last long, but the lack of money and
morale of Ghosh made him return. After three days, he returned home and found his elder brother Sushil to be ill,
suffering from a
septic-related disease. He decided not to enter his home. He left a note in Arunachal's home telling him to find him in Beliaghata, specifically the Golaydori field, which he termed as the "Suicide Green." Basu went to the said location and found Bhattacharya sitting on top of a
tree branch. He then visited
Shantiniketan for a short time. In 1941, before he engaged with
politics, he wrote "Ekok Prithibi Bheshe Gelo Jonotar Probol Joware" and "1941 Saal." In 1940, he had written the poem "Bhabishyate" which indicated his
passionateness for politics, especially for the
freedom. He was emotionally related to politics, but did not yet consider
communism. From 1941, he became active in engaging in
political movements. He was not keen to stay or visit his own house. His father stayed busy in his
work all day. His brother Sushil was involved with his
college studies. An old woman was the
cook in their house. The house was involved in an old-fashioned
atmospheric and ideas. He sought most of his time in his elder brother Manomohan's house. When Tagore died in 1941, he recited a live poem on Tagore from the
Calcutta [
radio]
station. He wrote many
songs based on Tagore. Sukanta's best interest in outdoor games was in
badminton. His other
hobbies included playing
chess, reading books and
coaching. Before he opted for the
sacred thread ceremony, he photographed himself. The
photograph is the most common association of him. Bhattacharya commonly appeared in
radio programs. According to contemporaries of his time, an
elder member of his family gave him one
rupee as a gift on his
birthday. He used this money to pay for his photo in a
photo studio. According to Ashok Bhattacharya, his boudi gave him some money for food. His friend Bhupen advised him to take photos. He took four
passport-sized photos, of which one was with his palm on his
cheek. At this time, he recited a poem on radio titled "Golpodadur Asore" written by Rabindranath.
Pankaj Kumar Mullick, a singer, sang three songs live on radio, after the arrangement for singers to appear on that radio was done; the first song was written and
composed by Sukanta. He also listened to songs on radio besides reciting the
ones made by Rabindranath. In his neighborhood, he only had made one or two friends, among them was Robin Ghosh. He, Ghosh and others worked on activities such as
cleaning a dirty field and forming a badminton
club there. Bhattacharya along with his friends opened a free
coaching center for young boys on the
veranda of their house. It remained active for two or three weeks. Sukanta was one of the
founders of the Students' Library in Beliaghata; giving books by going through his house
cupboards and asking from friends and
relatives. He composed a letter to his friend Basu about his "
girlfriend" who lived close by. She was 9 years old when Bhattacharya was 11.
World War II: Liberative works and involvement in politics Sukanta Bhattacharya's early writings focused on nature and personal feelings, but the aspect of the period before
World War II started (pre-war period) made changes to his writing styles and mind, which were first visible in his notebook. The impact of the War and protests for the independence of India impacted Kalighat, where Bhattacharya lived at the moment. The
Second World War influenced Bhattacharya's poetry majorly. Of the actions of the war, he got used to Air Raid Precaution squad, "black out" and "siren." The activities and casualties caused by
Adolf Hitler's army in Europe and Asia, made him depressed. Soon, he got out of depression and worked into the liberation of India. By the start of the war, he was aged fourteen or fifteen. Among the wars and activities that influenced his poetry were the deaths and casualties of the Second World War, the
oppressions conducted by Japanese army on China, and invasions of countries by Hitler's army in Europe. At this time, the war had not reached India. From his early life and writings on his feelings and sorrow, he became inspired by Rabindranath Tagore, who he already knew from childhood. In his life, he composed four poems and a ballad dedicated to Tagore. He kept an eye at the works of him. Tagore's declarations on anti-war appealed to him and gave him hope. His poem "Jagbar Din Aaj" or "Today is the day to wake up" was the first to demonstrate this. He came into contact with politics in about 1941. He studied books at home but did not like going to school. According to Sarashu Devi, he had developed a sense of disgust from school. He particularly did not like the school rules and regulations and discipline of the teachers. She also said he was inexperienced in history and mathematics, often failing in the two. His first poem centering the freedom movement, laborers and farmers is believed to be "Bhabishyate," written in about 1940. In November 1941, he wrote in a letter to Arunachal describing his love for Calcutta, remarking that Calcutta was approaching the year 1942. From 1941, the people of Calcutta shifted away in millions because of the Japanese bombers that flew above the city. At day, there were not many people, and there were no lights at night. Military vehicles and soldiers occasionally came to the city. This was the subject of Sukanta's letter to Basu. On the day he wrote the letter, his brothers had went to Murshidabad. He was supposed to go, but chose to stay at home "in an adventurous and thrilling desire to face death." At the same time, Sarala Devi wrote to him from
Jessore to go there. The Marxist movement, which was not then popular in Calcutta, got his attention. Many students would come into his house hosting discussions with his brother Sushil. From these discussions, he came to know of the Soviet Union, from when afterwards he took the ideology of Marxism. He read the collection titled "Modern Bengali Poetry" written by Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay and Abu Sayeed Ayub. He also read various poetry books authored by Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Sudhindranath Dutta, Bishnu Dey and Samar Sen, which highlighted grievances of common people. Acceptance of Marxism was Bhattacharya's first transition into modern poetry. After reading a poetry anthology, he got the concept of liberation themed-poems. In 1942, he organized students' strikes in schools. Later, he became a member of the Communist Party in Beliaghata. There were few members in the communist party of Beliaghata, and every member had to work hard to meet the working demands. Sukanta was tasked with selling
Janayuddha, a party paper. He and his friends spent their hours in writing political posters, often being late in returning home. In December 1942, he sent another letter to Arunachal Basu portraying his steps towards politics and new environment. Because of Sukanta's neglect to his studies, the elders in his house would get angry. He developed a habit of hiding from the elders of his house. In return of his hard work for the communists, he acquired official membership of the
Communist Party of India, becoming its youngest member at the time. He still continued writing in literature. He then wrote a sarcastic poem based on
autocratic Japan. Sukanta's home environment was not conductive to his poetic works. His clothes, shirt and bed sheets were dirty while he was in his house. In the house, arrangement was made for food serving two times a day. His eating was uncared for. He would go to the homes of other people. Sukanta's father heard from local elders of his son's involvement with communists. The paid cook of their house showed a lack of care for the food. At the time Bhattacharya ate cold food at irregular times of the day, which caused harm to his health. Sukanta’s cousin Manoj Bhattacharya was a friend of Subhas Mukhopadhyay who Sukanta regarded as his "
Guru." As he wrote in a letter, after a long time from a university meeting, he went to Mukhopadhyay with poems that would be featured in a collection. He stayed with him for two hours and had a conversation. Mukhopadhyay asked him to publish a book. His poems in this time were published in magazines like
Arani,
Porichoy and
Janajuddha. According to Chakravorty, Sukanta was a national poet much different from others and became the voice of the people. He emerged as an
anti-Fascist poet. At the time, he had written the poem "To Rabindranath." In 1943, he went to "Rabindra Smoron," organized by the Indian Life Saving Society, where he narrated the poem "To Rabindranath," in it the poet
Buddhadeb Bose was present. Parul Bose remarked that Bhattacharya was wearing a half-dirty shirt and had no shoes, looking different from others in the meeting. The brothers of Bhattacharya's father's brother had been associated with the society for some time. The lake of the society was captured by the military; and he wrote a poem as condolence to one of them, parodying Subhas's poem "Swagata." Bhattacharya became upset with the air raids on
Chittagong by the
Japanese army. The sufferings demonstrated on the people of
Masterda Surya Sen's city prompted him to write a poem on Chittagong. Japanese air raids also occurred in Calcutta, and he wrote a letter describing them on 28 December 1942. In this letter, he mentioned going to a lecture of
P. C. Joshi. In the meeting, Subhas Mukhopadhyay met him and praised him for his poem "To Which Friend." He expressed sadly that the poem had been lost from pocket and he would had sent it for printing. Saroj Mohan Mitra stated that this was not the first time that Mukhopadhyay and Bhattacharya met, and they had been introduced before. The poem was already in his pocket for several days. His poems were being published in "Parichoy" and his stories in "Arani." On 10 April 1943, his letter to Basu stated a "Kalboishaki storm to have come in his personal life." His parents had stopped caring about his education then. On the same day, he wrote another letter to Basu saying that he was late by twenty or twenty two days and that financial hardship alongside family turmoil had severely attacked him, for which he stated the Kalboishaki storm to have come. When Calcutta was bombed, he was in his brother's house and later went to his boudi Sarayu Devi's house. He went back three days later. In another poem, he depicted the progress of the Japanese army into India, fixed in the state of
Manipur. He wrote many anti-Fascist poems and propaganda dramas. Bhattacharya worked with the jute mill workers in Narkeldanga, and made anti-Fascist posters for them. With the ink from the jute mills he also wrote poems on the back of the posters, such as "Shatru Ak" and "Udvikhon." He went around cities and villages, writing several propaganda dramas. He wrote for the Gananatya Shangha. On the death of
Somen Chanda, he wrote "Knife" or "Chhuri" in Bengali. He was at the time deeply upset with the misery of the people during the
Bengal famine of 1943. He volunteered and helped the people in getting their weekly rations from ration shops in his locality. Vigilance during the rations was to prevent corruption in the system. In addition, he was engaged in relief works. He accustomed in service work for the "Jonorokkha Samiti." He looked after people to ensure they were standing in lines to collect items like rice, sugar and kerosene. He volunteered to maintain the system in running smooth, and along with others helped keep the system corruption-free. Bhattacharya saw the deaths of peasants and their deteriorating skeletons being carried through the rural areas. The peasants and farmers affected by the famine came to the city for food and primarily to stay alive. With the deaths of the farmers, laborers were not present in numbers for harvesting the crops whenever the harvest season came. Founded on these real-life events, he wrote the poem known as "The Call Of The Harvest" or "Phasaler Dak." He was sent to various places as a reporter for printing news for Janayuddha, such as Chittagong, which gave him more experience on the famine. The previous famine had influenced modern poets. A collection of poems on the famines were written by different poets of the contemporary literary organization "Anti-Fascist Writers and Artist's Association," and Bhattacharya was given the task to edit the collection. This was named
Famine or
Akal, published in about 1944. Sukanta was against the use of pessimism in his poems, which was shown through the poem "During This New Harvest" or "Nabanner Dak." According to Chakravorty, Bhattacharya brought together the rural and urban sides of the famine in literature and poetry and founded himself as a national poet and the people's poet. The poem "The Peasant's Song" or "Krishaker Gan" was composed by him. His compositions written on the famine include "Bibroti", "Rabindranather Prati", "Bodhon", "Phasaler Dak", "Ei Nobanno. Many people say "Bodhon" to be his best poem including professor Jagadish Chandra Bhattacharya, as said by Ashok Bhattacharya. Afterwards, Sukanta Bhattacharya worked towards the formation of "Kishore Bahini", an organization of about thirty thousand young people in Bengal. This was created to protect the young people from environments that prevailed in Bengal such as of wars and famine. Contemporary writers Khagendranath Mitra, Jogendranath Gupta, and others who wrote for young people endorsed him in forming the Bahini. He became the editor of "Kishore Sabha," a youth wing by daily paper
Swadhinata. The Bahini was established on 15 April 1943, and Bhattacharya became the organization's chief one year later. His verses during this time were published in the book
Sweet and Sour or
Mitha Kada. He wrote the drama
Abhijan on demands from the young members of the Sabha for a writing based on the famine. The drama focus on Sankalita, and is based on children's literature. Bhattacharya would often go to visit his homes in Beliaghata and Shyambazar. He and his family moved out of the house on Haramohan Street Lane and resided in the rented second floor of house number 20 in Narkeldanga Main Road, at the end of 1942. His room was located by the side of the road. For various work purposes, he would wander around the city the whole day. His triangular route consisted of his home in Narkeldanga, the office of "Kishore Bahini" in Bhanani Dutta Lane, College Street, the house of his jethima in Shyambazar, and Bhupen's house in Baghbazar. The Kishore Bahini office destination of Bhattacharya was changed a year later, when the office of the newspaper "Swadhinata" was opened in Deckers Lane in Esplanade. In his room, he had hung two pictures, one was of a farmer painted by Debabrata Mukhopadhyay and another one of a laborer. He later hung a painting of the universe and a Japanese picture borrowed from Arunachal Basu. On the drawer of the desk he wrote were pictures of
P. C. Joshi and
Joseph Stalin. At the time, Bhattacharya started writing a twelve-part novel centering Arunachal, Bhupen and Bimal. Every Saturday, one of the four narrated their part for inclusion and the other three hosted the person. But the novel was not finished because of upcoming riots. Bhupen had made him write several poems. In a notebook, Sukanta wrote nineteen songs for Bhupen. Instead of using transport such as buses and trams, he walked through the entire distance in the city. He would take trips to places such as Santhal Parganas, Chittagong and Varanasi. He went to a trip in Ranchi and wrote his experience in a letter to Basu. According to A. Bhattacharya, natural beauty without human appeal was meaningless to him. In 1944, Bhattacharya was mainly focused on the activities of the "Kishore Bahini" and young people. The people in the organization were interested in dramas and plays. But at the time, there was no drama for them to act in. With discussion, it was concluded that he would write a drama based on the Famine of 1943. Annadashankar Bhattacharya, the student leader, sent him to watch "
Bindur Chele" in a theater. He came back into the dormitory. The dance-drama
Abhijan was finished in the Annadashankar's house. In December 1942, "Eksutre" was published by the Anti-Fascist Writers, in which his poem "Moddhobritta, 42" was featured. According to Saroj Mohan Mitra,
Abhijan was first performed in Indian Association Hall on 14 April 1943. On 28 April 1943, his article "Daradi Kishore" was published in
Janajuddha as a Kishore Bahini Member. And on 6 October his short story "Kishorer Swapna" was printed. Janajuddha announced under the headline "Kishore Bahini Shon[o]" on 1 May 1944 that the music and dramatical book "Aporajeyo" written by Sukanta and Annadashankar would be published soon. Sukanta wrote the poems "Khudha" and "Durboddho" similar to
Abhijan, and were published in Arani on 2 April and 8 April 1943 respectively. In 1943, he went to Ranchi with his uncles. In his letter to Basu on 15 February, he said that he was wasting time on politics without any change. He described to him that publishing a hand written would be a waste of paper and time. Fifteen days later, he confirmed in a letter to proceed publishing his magazine "Tridiv." In response, he sent a letter saying it would one day be worked on by writers and artists and be made better. His poem "Ahnik" he had written during this trip was lost. But he wrote a description of his visit. He saw
Gomoh station and Barakar River, and remarked that no other river could spread such greatness in his eyes. His family then lived in Doranda, near Ranchi. He liked Jonha Falls the most, which he saw on a Sunday. In 1943, his poems included "Bibriti", "Chattagram: 1943", "Manipur", "Rome: 1943", "Udvikkhon" and others. At the end of the year, he fell ill. This is stated in his letter to Basu on 22 December. In the letter he asked why Basu doesn't inquire about him and asked him to bring a rented car to visit an exhibition in a school. His elder brother Sushil Bhattacharya got married in June 1944. Sukanta wrote a letter to Arunachal explaining why he couldn't visit for a few reasons. In the same letter, he described the conditions after marriage and his works in it. He went to Varanasi (Kashi) in October with the family of Rakhal (Chandra) Bhattacharya and on the fifth day he was struck by malaria. He wrote to Arunachal that he was very weak and had a hard time writing. He became tired from his illnesses and remarked that Beliaghata was a malaria-empire and was apprehensive to return. Sukanta suffered from malaria frequently and at the end of 1944, during the same stay at the city of Varanasi (Kashi). During this visit, he suffered from Malaria twice, according to Ashok Bhattacharya. He returned to Shyambazar in Calcutta, where his aunt took care of him. He return was also for the preparation in 1945 for his university
Matriculation exams. His body was not taken through a procession because of the occurrence of communal riots on the day of his death. According to Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, his body was carried on a truck (lorry) to the Kashi Mitra crematorium (burning ghat), accompanied by one or two relatives and some of his friends. His body was cremated. His death was sorrowed by his family, friends and Communists. == Poetry and style ==