Ishwar Gupta - The Poet, Author, Editor Of Nineteenth Century

In the year 1812, on this day, Ishwar Chandra Gupta was born at Kanchrapara of West Bengal in a Baidya family. He was brought up in his uncle's house after the death of his mother. Gupta spent most of his childhood in Kolkata. At that time, poets were named Kobiwala and the kobiwalas were not so civilized in language. Sexual words and clashes were common. But Ishwar Chandra Gupta created a different style of poetry.

He started the newspaper Samvad Prabhakar with Jogendra Mohan Tagore on January 28, 1831, which finally became a daily on June 4, 1839. Many Bengali writers of the 19th century started their careers with that magazine. He reintroduced into Bengali poetry the mediaeval style with double meaning (already seen in Sandhyakar Nandi and Bharatchandra):

কে বলে ঈশ্বর গুপ্ত, ব্যপ্ত চরাচর,

যাহার প্রভায় প্রভা পায় প্রভাকর।

Ke bole Ishwar Gupta, byapta charachar,

Jahar prabhaye prabha paye Prabhakar.

'Ishwar' means God, 'Gupta' means hidden and 'Prabhakar' is the sun. So a translation runs:

Who says God is hidden? He is omnipresent

From Him the Sun gets its luminescence.

Also, Ishwar (Chandra) Gupta ran the journal Prabhakar. So a second meaning of the poem, making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the author, runs:

Who says Ishwar (Gupta) is hidden? His reach touches the world

For his brilliance makes the Prabhakar

luminescent.

He brought modern era of poetry in Bengali. He did not describe the life of Gods and Goddesses, but the daily life of human beings. He also wrote biographies of many Bengali poets and musicians.

Ishwar Chandra Gupta often satirized the so-called modern class who blindly followed the colonial British power.

Tumi ma kalpataru

Amra shob posha goru

Shikhi ni shing bankano

Khai kebol khol-bichuli-ghash

Jano ranga amla

Tule mamla

Na bhange gamla

Ma!

Pele bhushi

Tatei kushi

Ghushi khele bachbo na!