Portal:West Bengal/Selected biography/5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (b.26 June 1838- d.8 April 1894), ('Chattopadhyay' in the original Bengali; 'Chatterjee' as spelt by the British) was a Bengali Indian poet, novelist, essayist and journalist, most famous as the author of Vande Mataram or Bande Mataram, that inspired the freedom fighters of India, and was later declared the National Song of India.
Chatterjee began his literary career as a writer of verse. He soon realized, however, that his talents lay in other directions, and turned to fiction. His first fiction to appear in print was Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English. Durgeshnondini, his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in 1865.
