Madan Mohan Tarkalankar Biography 
Madan Mohan Tarkalankar is a noted Bengali writer and Sanskrit scholar who lived in the 19th century. He was quite popular as a poet. He along with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshay Kumar Datta played a significant role in giving a new dimension to modern Bengali literature without compromising with its quality. He played a significant role in formulating the academic syllabus of Bengali school education also. He also promoted education of girls, and worked along with Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, Ramgopal Ghosh etc for this purpose. He was a close friend of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. For his exceptional poetic talents, he was conferred the title of Kabyaratnakar by his teachers and professors during his college days.
He was born on 3 January 1817 in Bilwagram, Nadia. Ishwar Chandra Vidysagar was his classmate. Their friendship grew close and they worked together in the field of journalism and social work. They together started Sanskrit Press and Depository, a print shop and a bookstore. Madan Mohan is one among those intellectuals who formulated Bengali text-books for children. He supported girls’ education and his two daughters were among those girls who were initiated to school education. He wrote the first modern Bengali primer, Sishu Siksha – in three volumes, for the school.
Since college days he was able to gain attention from his teachers and college mates for his literary talents. Known by the name – Tarkalankar among his friends he published his anthology works on poetry - Rasatarangini and Vidyaratna during his college days. Basabdatta – is one among his best works. After studies he worked as a teacher at different colleges. In 1855 he worked as judge-pandit and was promoted to deputy magistrate. Madan Mohan Tarkalankar died on 9th March 1858 in the city of Kolkata.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 03, 2016
