Jibanananda Das, one of the greatest poets of the Bengali language, was born on this day in Barisal, now in Bangladesh, in a Brahmo family. His grandfather had abridged the family surname Dasgupta to Das to remove the caste privilege it implied.
After finishing his early education at Barisal, Jibanananda studied English at Presidency College, Calcutta, and obtained his MA degree from Calcutta University.
Jibanananda’s was a powerful, original voice. The poet Allen Ginsberg said about him, “(He)…did introduce what for India would be ‘the modern spirit’ — bitterness, self-doubt, sex, street diction, personal confession, frankness, Calcutta beggars…”
Jibanananda took Bengali poetry to an unknown place: a primordial darkness and nature, which is our common past. But this place, often rural Bengal, could shine with an describable beauty, lyricism and melancholy.
Jibananda was published in Kallol, the leading magazine of the new wave in Bengali literature that was trying to turn away from the overwhelming influence of Tagore, and in many other such publications.
Some of his volumes of poetry are Dhusar Pandulipi, Banalata Sen, Mahaprithivi and Ruposi Bangla. His poem Banalata Sen is one of the most quotes poems in the Bengali language. He also wrote fiction.
His professional life as a college teacher was marked with instability and anxiety. He taught at several colleges in the city for short stints but was often jobless.
He passed away on October 22, 1954, eight days after he was hit by a tram car near Deshapriya Park.