Sukumar Ray’s 116th birth anniversary
Born at a time that was the pinnacle of the Bengal Renaissance, Sukumar Ray grew up in an environment that fostered his literary talents. His father, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, was a talented writer of stories and popular science; painter and illustrator extraordinaire; musician and composer of songs; a pioneering technologist and astronomer. Upendrakishore was also a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore, who directly influenced Sukumar. Among other noted family friends were Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy.
Poet-storywriter-playwright Sukumar Ray (1887-1923) is perhaps the most famous practitioner of ‘literary nonsense’ in the subcontinent till date, often compared to Lewis Carroll of the West. His works, like collection of poems “Aboltabol”, novella “HaJaBaRaLa”, short story collection “Pagla Dashu” and play “Chalachittachanchari” are considered nonsense masterpieces equal in stature to “Alice in Wonderland”, and are regarded as some of the greatest treasures of Bangla literature.
Tomorrow marks the 116th birth anniversary of Ray.
Sukumar was trained in photography and printing technology in England and was a pioneer of photography and lithography in undivided India. While in England, he also delivered lectures about the songs of Rabindranath before he [Tagore] won the Nobel Prize. Sukumar had also drawn acclaim as an illustrator. As a technologist, he also developed new methods of halftone block-making, and technical articles about this were published in journals in England.
He took helm of the children’s magazine “Sandesh”, soon after his return from England, when Upendrakishore passed away. He ran the printing and publishing businesses that his father set up, and the magazine for about eight years.
Apart from cultural and creative activities, Sukumar Ray was also a leader of the reformist wing in the Brahmo Samaj.
About Ray, noted poet and rhymester Asad Chowdhury said, “Sukumar was an unparalleled genius. He lived a short life but created many valuable literary pieces. It is very significant that Rabindranath Tagore was a great admirer of Ray. He introduced an innovative style and his approach was ground-breaking. His use of language, structure and technique gave a distinct aspect to Bengali literature. His writings are not only popular among the young, but also among adults.”
According to well-known poet Shihab Sarkar — “Ray’s brilliant rhymes still remain unparalleled. He is still unique. It is very disheartening that he did not live long. But if he had, he could have given a new dimension to our Bengali literature.”
Ray died in 1923 of severe infectious fever, Leishmaniasis, for which there was no cure at the time. His son Satyajit Ray — who himself went on to become a literary and filmmaking icon — shot a documentary on Sukumar Ray in 1987, five years before his own death.
Close to a century after his death at the very young age of 36, Ray remains one of the most popular among children’s writers in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.
-With The Daily Star input
