Munier Chowdhury
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Munier Chowdhury (Bangla:মুনীর চৌধুরী) (born 27 November 1925- died 14 December 1971) was a Bangladeshi educator, playwright, literary critic and political dissident.
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[edit] Education
Chowdhury graduated from Dhaka Collegiate School in 1941. He attended Aligarh Muslim University and later studied English literature for his Bachelors degree (with honors, 1946) and Masters (1947) at the Dhaka University. In 1954, he completed a second Masters degree, summa cum laude, in Bangla. In 1958, he obtained another Masters in Linguistics from Harvard University.
[edit] Career in Education
Munier Chowdhury started his career in teaching at Brojolal College in Khulna and worked there between 1947 and 1950. Later he worked for some time at the Jagannath College in Dhaka in 1950. After that, he joined the Dhaka University in 1950 and taught both in English and Bengali language departments between 1950 and 1971.
[edit] Political movements
Munier Chowdhury actively participated in the Language Movement of 1952, and was imprisoned by the Pakistan government. He wrote his famous symbolic drama, Kabar (The Grave) during his imprisonment. He also fought against any type of cultural repression during the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1967, he protested against the Pakistan government's directive to ban Tagore songs on Radio and Television. In the late 1960s there was a movement in Pakistan to replace the Bengali language alphabet with the Roman alphabet. As a linguist and writer, Munier Chowdhury protested this move to undermine the native language of East Pakistan. He actively participated in the non-cooperation movement during the early part of 1971 and renounced his award Sitara-e-Imtiaz (awarded by Pakistan Govt in 1966).
[edit] Important works
- Kabar (The grave), 1952 - a one act play about the Language Movement
- Raktakta Prantar (The bloody meadow), 1959 - play about the Third Battle of Panipat
- Mir-Manas, 1965 - literary critique of Mir Mosharraf Hossain's literature
- Munier Optima, 1965 - a Bangla keyboard layout design
- Dandakaranya, 1966
- Chithi (The letter), 1966
- Palashi Barrack O Anyanya, 1969
- Tulanamulak Samalochana (Comparative critique), 1969
- Bangla Gadyariti (Bengali literary style),1970
[edit] Awards
- Bangla Academy Prize, 1962
- Daud Prize, 1965
- Sitara-e-Imtiaz, 1966, awarded by Govt. of Pakistan
[edit] Death
On 14 December 1971 Munier Chowdhury, along with a large number of Bengali intellectuals, educators, doctors and engineers, was kidnapped and later executed by the Pakistan Army and its Bengali collaborators, only 2 days before the end of the Bangladesh War.
