Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Biography

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was a very famous and popular Bengali writer who wrote the immortal love story of Parvati and Devdas – Devdas. This masterpiece work has been made to feature films in almost all Indian languages and this great writer is described as one of the greatest Indian novelists ever. Devdas has been made in Bollywood three times. Dev D is a modern take of Devdas. Devdas was written in 1901 and published in 1917. He wrote Devdas when he was only seventeen years of age. His second noted work is Parineeta, published in 1917 and this book too has been made to films in Bollywood and Bengali cinema. Both these works have made Bengali culture familiar to other parts of India and regarded as all-time classic works. Both these works have played a significant role in popularizing Bengali culture. Devdas can be compared to the classic unsuccessful tragic love stories of Shakespeare.    

He was born in 1876 in Debanandapur, Hooghly in a middle class family. Though he completed his school studies, he discontinued graduation due to his state of poverty and loss of parents. He spent 20 years of his life in Bhagalpur, which has influenced his works a lot. His works were often related to rural Bengali society and often describes social customs and evils, prevailed in the society during early 1900’s. Devdas is the best instance. His first published story was "Mandir".

He led the life of a wandering monk for a short period and after the death of his parents he went to Burma in 1903 where he took a clerical job. He submitted a poem for a competition before he moved back to India and the poem won first prize in 1904. He wrote the poem under his uncle's name, Surendranath Ganguli. After returning to India he travelled and stayed at many places for collecting data and spent his rest life as a novelist. He has married twice. He lost his first wife and one son in a plague spread in Burma.

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Updated: June 05, 2014