Mohitlal Majumdar (Bengali: মোহিতলাল মজুমদার; 26 October 1888 – 26 July 1952) was an Indian poet and essayist in the Bengali-language. He began his journey as a poet, but later became literary critic.[1][2][3]
Life
Majumder was born in a Baidya family on 26 October 1888 in the village of Kanchrapara in Nadia district, India at his maternal uncle's house[1](Kanchrapara is now in North 24 Parganas district). His native village was Balagarh in Hooghly District of present-day West Bengal.[4] He graduated in arts in 1908 from Ripon College (now Surendranath College), Kolkata. He began his career as a teacher at Calcutta High School in 1908 and continued in this profession until 1928. He also worked briefly as a kanungo (1914-1917) in the Settlement Department. He joined University of Dhaka, now in Bangladesh as a lecturer in the Bengali and Sanskrit Department in 1928 and retired from there in 1944.[1]
His present house is in a state of ruin at Chongarbon.
Writing career
Mohitlal Majumder made his literary debut through the journal "Manasi".[5] Later, he contributed regularly to journals such as the Bharati and Shanibarer Chithi. His early poems, written in pleasing rhythms, reflect the aspirations and sorrows of a dreaming youth. Acquainted with Arabic and Persian, he used Arabic and Persian words in his poems. In pre-Nazrul era, he was the user of Arabic and Persian words. His poems are inspired by both aestheticism and spiritualism.[1]
Mohitlal early poems reveal the influence of Rabindranath Tagore, but later, as a member of the Shanibarer Chithi group, he distanced himself from the older poet.
As a literary critic, Mohitlal attempted to set standards and reveal the problems of art and literature. His psychological and poet-like approach greatly elevated the status of criticism. In writing critiques he used a number of pseudonyms such as Krittivas Ojha, Sabyasachi and Sri Satyasundar Das.