Dilipkumar Roy Biography 
Dilipkumar Roy was a Bengali musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist. In 1965, the Sangeet Natak Akademi honoured him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship as lifetime achievement. He was the son of Dwijendralal Ray, a Bengali poet, composer and playwright. His mother Surabala Devi was the daughter of distinguished homeopath physician Pratap Chandra Majumdar. He lost his mother at a younger age.
From early childhood he was attracted to music, mathematics and Sanskrit. So he couldn’t score high marks in the Matriculation examination. With a scholarship, joined the Presidency College of Kolkata where he came close with freedom fighter - Subhas Chandra Bose. With a first class honours in mathematics, he went to Cambridge in 1919 for a tripos. Before that he had a short spell of interaction with musicologist Bhatkhande. While in Cambridge, he learnt Western music and piano and became fluent in the languages - French, German and Italian. In the International Peace and Freedom Society, he translated lectures of Indian classic music to French.
Through his studies, he understood that other languages can provide more adequate lyrics for the classical models than Sanskrit. Once he returned to India, he set on a tour travelling different parts of the country collecting and publishing serial notes on raga-variants from regional masters. He took lessons from musicians like Abdul Karim, Faiyaz Khan and Hafiz Ali Khan. He demonstrated how Indian classical music could be taught on a purely academic basis, with a syllabus. As an outspoken music critic, he attained considerable fame, especially in his analysis of the sacrosanct Gurus.
From 2000 compositions done by Tagore in his language, he sought Tagore's permission to interpret the latter's songs as he wished. Thus he composed in different languages, not only Indian, but also foreign languages like Russian, German, Italian and French. He has also contributed an Indian opera based on the traditional model of the kirtana. In 1928 Roy settled at the Ashram of Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. He went to a world tour in 1953 and once returned, he founded the Hari Krishna Mandir in 1959 at Pune. Roy died in Hari Krishna Mandir, Pune on 6 January 1980.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 08, 2014
