Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treaties in Bengali.
Background
Bankim Chandra was born in the village Kanthalpara in the district of North 24 Parganas, Near Naihati,in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family, the youngest of three brothers, to Yadav (or Jadab) Chandra Chattopadhyaya and Durgadebi. His family was orthodox, and his father, a government official who went on to become the Deputy Collector of Midnapur. One of his brothers, Sanjeeb Chandra Chattopadhyay, was also a novelist and he is known for his famous book "Palamau".
Education
He was educated at the Hooghly Collegiate School in Hugli-Chinsura.
After school he studied at the Presidency College, graduating with a degree in Arts [Law] in 1857. He was one of the first two graduates of the University of Calcutta. He later obtained a degree in Law as well, in 1869.
Career
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wanted to bring about a cultural revival of Bengal by stimulating the intellect of the Bengali speaking people through literary campaign. With this end in view he brought out monthly magazine called Bangadarshan in 1872. Bankim Chandra's humorous sketches are his best known works other than his novels. Kamalakanter Daptar (From the Desk of Kamalakanta, 1875; enlarged as Kamalakanta, 1885) contains half humorous and half serious sketches.
Religion
Through this work, he attempted to reassure Hindus who were increasingly being exposed to Western ideas. His belief was, that there was "No serious hope of progress in India except in Hinduism-reformed,regenerated and purified".
Politics
He was a moralist. He was one of the first intellectuals who wrote in a British colony, accepting and rejecting the status at the same time.
Views
Quotations:
Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, playing on the meaning of Bankim (Bent A Little), asked him what it was that had bent him. Bankim Chandra jokingly replied that it was the kick from the Englishman's shoe for he was a well known critic of the British and he used his excellent sense of humour and comedy to do so.