Manohar Mouli Biswas

Manohar Mouli Biswas^[1][2] is the pseudo-name of Manohar Biswas, a popular and most likely the best known bilingual poet, essayist and writer^[3][4][5] of Dalit Literature from Bengal.

Life and career

Manohar Mouli Biswas was born at Dakshin Matiargati in Khulna in Purba Banga (East Bengal: erstwhile Undivided Bengal in British India) in 1943; belonging to an untouchable Namashudra caste. Having suffered from dire poverty since his childhood he struggled and beaten up all the obstacles in his route and became educated and finally established himself as an acclaimed Dalit writer in India. None of his forefathers had the privilege of going to school. He saw the pains suffered by his illiterate masses and the humiliation faced by them. He has no shame to acknowledge that he is a first generation learner in his family. It is all this pain pent up within his heart that has forced him to become a writer. It was during his stay in Nagpur in 1968–1969 that he came in close contact with Dalit people and the Dalit literary movement in Maharashtra that changed the course of his life as a litterateur.

Manohar Mouli Biswas is a legend in his own right. He is the current President of Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha. He has been editing the pioneering bi-monthly literary magazine Dalit Mirror in English for more than a decade. The magazine upholds the cause of the Dalits in Bengal. He has written four volumes of poems, one collection of short story, seven books of essays and an autobiography entitled Amar Bhubaney Ami Benche Thaki (2013) which is later translated by Angana Dutta and Jaydeep Sarangi and published as Surviving in My World : Growing Up Dalit in Bengal^[6] (2015). This translated autobiography has earned national and global reputation and has been enlisted into the syllabus of different universities.

Poems in Translation

His poems are translated widely from Bangla into English and into other languages. His translated poems are gradually attracted by the wide-readers, and have come into the scholastic discussions. A Rose of Revolt: Two Poems in Bengali by: Manohar Mouli Biswas ^[7] –

                                              - translated by Jaydeep Sarangi

List of works

Poetry collections

Vivikto Uthaney Ghar

• Ora Amar Kabita (8 May 1985), Dipali Book House, Kolkata, West Bengal
• Tarer Kanna : Titiksha (31 December 1987), J/3 Tangra Govt. Housing Estate; distributed by Aditya Prakashalaya,Kolkata, West Bengal
• Vivikto Uthaney Ghar (June 1991),J/3 Tangra Housing Estate; distributed by Dipali Book House, Kolkata, West Bengal
• Poetic Rendering As Yet Unborn, (Translation of Bangla poetry in English) (2010),published by Shubhra Biswas in Calcutta Book Fair 2010, Kolkata, West Bengal, ISBN 978-81-926702-1-8
• Bikshata Kaler Banshi (16 August 2013), Chaturtha Dunia, Stall22 Bhabani Dutta Lane, Kolkata, West Bengal, ISBN 978-81-926702-5-6
• The Wheel Will Turn (Translation of Bangla poetry in English) (2014), Cyberwit.net, Allahabad, India, ISBN 978-81-928187-3-3

Short story

• Krishna Mrittikar Manoosh(8 May 1988),published by Satyabrata Majumdar; distributed by Nirmal Book Agency, Kolkata, West Bengal

Autobiography

• Amar Bhubaney Ami Benche Thaki (13 June 2013),Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata ISBN 978-81-926702-4-9
• Surviving in My World : Growing Up Dalit in Bengal (2015), Stree ISBN 978-81-926702-4-9

Essays

• Dalit Sahityer Digboloy (1992), J/3 Tangra Govt. Housing Estate; distributed by Dr. Ambedkar Prakashani, Dalua, Garia, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal
• Yuktivadi Bharatbarsha : Ekti Aitihyer Sandhan (1998), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata, ISBN 81-86551-13-1
• Vonnochokhe Prabandha Mala (14 April 2003), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata ISBN 978-81-926702-6-3
• Dalit Sahityer Ruparekha (February 2007), Bani Silpa, Kolkata
• Prabandhe Prantajan Authoba Asprisher Diary (January 2010), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata, ISBN 978-81-926702-2-5
• An Interpretation of Dalit Literature, Aesthetic, Theory and Movements : Through the Lens of Ambedkarism (January 2017), published by Shubhra Biswas on behalf of Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha,and Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata, ISBN 978-81-926702-7-0

Edited books

• Adwaita Malla Barman : Ekti Sahityik Pratishrot (1995), Chaturtha Duniua, Kolkata
• Shatobarsher Bangla Dalit Sahitya: Bangla Dalit Writings from 1911–2010 (26 January 2011), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata, ISBN 978-81-926702-3-2
• Chaturtha Duniar Galpa (2005), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata
• Krishna Chandra Thakur (Kesto Sadhu): Smriti Sambhar (1999), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata
• Anya Bhashar Dalit Kabita (September 1994), Chaturtha Dunia, Kolkata

Magazine/editorial

• Dalit Mirror (Govt. of India Registration no 71031/97), ISBN 978-81-926702-0-1

See Also

• Dalit Literature

References