Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay

2021-07-12T08:59:49Z

2401:4900:1048:AD42:FD8C:227F:F3E8:3EB0: /* Selected works */

{{Infobox author
| name = Trailokyanath Mukherjee
| image = Troilokkonath.jpg
| caption = Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay
| birth_date = {{birth date|1847|7|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = Rahuta Village, [[24 Parganas]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]<br/>(now in [[North 24 Parganas district|North 24 Parganas]], [[West Bengal]], India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1919|11|3|1847|7|22|df=y}}
| occupation = [[Indian Civil Service|Indian Civil Servant]], curator of the [[Indian Museum]], writer
| nationality =
| period = 1888–1919
| genre = [[Novel]], [[short story]]
| notable_works = ''Kankabati''<br />''Bhoot O Manush''<br />''Damru Charit''
| awards=
| relatives = Vishwambhar Mukherjee (father)
}}
'''Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay''' or '''T. N. Mukharji''' in British Indian Government records ({{lang-bn|ত্রৈলোক্যনাথ মুখোপাধ্যায়}}, ''[[Romanization of Bengali|Troilōkyanātha Mukhōpādhyāẏa]]'') (22 July 1847 – 03 November 1919) was an Indian civil servant who served as a curator of the Indian Museum at Calcutta and was a renowned author who wrote both in English and [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. He was in-charge of organizing exhibits for the Calcutta International Exhibition of 1883, the Amsterdam Exhibition in the same year, the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, and the 1888 Glasgow International Exhibition. His travels in Europe as part of this was published as a popular travelogue ''A Visit to Europe'' (1889).

==Life==
Trailokyanath was born in the village of Rahuta,<ref>[http://www.census2011.co.in/data/village/323099-rahuta-west-bengal.html 2011 Census: Rahuta Population - North 24 Parganas, West Bengal]</ref> near [[Shyamnagar, West Bengal|Shyamnagar]] in the [[North 24 Parganas district]] of [[West Bengal]]. Attending school in [[Hugli-Chuchura]] and [[Bhadreswar, Hooghly|Bhadreswar]] but largely self-taught, he became a school teacher in Daroka (Birbhum), [[Ukhra]], [[Raniganj (community development block)|Raniganj]] and in [[Sahajadpur]], [[Sirajganj District|Sirajganj]]. From 1868 he served as a police sub-inspector in [[Cuttack]] (1868). Having learned [[Oriya language|Oriya]], he joined Bhagavati Charan Das's ''Utkal Subhakari'' as editor. Later meeting [[William Wilson Hunter|Sir William Hunter]], the compiler of ''A Statistical Account of Bengal'' (which historically included modern Bangladesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa), he joined the Bengal Gazetteer Office as a clerk (1870). He became a chief clerk in the Agriculture Department and rose to become its assistant director, before joining the Government of India revenue department (1881). He helped in organizing the exhibits for the Calcutta International Exhibition of 1883. From 1886 he was assistant curator of the [[Indian Museum]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]. In 1896 he retired on a pension.

During India's [[Great Famine of 1876–78]], which had been aggravated by [[Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton|Viceroy Lytton]]'s policy of exporting Indian wheat and other cash crops, Troilokyanath advised the government that it could save many lives by promoting the cultivation of carrots; the policy was adopted in the [[Raebareli district|Raebareli]] and [[Sultanpur district|Sultanpur]] districts of [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref name="Admin-report">F. N. Wright, [https://books.google.ca/books?id=U6EIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25 Administration report by United provinces of Agra and Oudh], 1880, Department of Agriculture and Commerce, N.W. Provinces and Oudh, page 25.</ref> F. N. Wright notes: "How wonderfully life was preserved in our upper districts by the extension of carrot cultivation, and how important it is to introduce crops (1) which do not fail under the same conditions as the staple crops of the country, and (2) which give a substantial fodder supply in the cold and dry months. Our chief expectations this direction rest upon (1) [[alfalfa|lucerne]] in irrigated tracts, [[mangelwurzel]]" — a type of beet grown mainly for animal feed — and "(3) extension of the cultivation of carrots, potatoes and other root crops to districts where they are little known."<ref name="Admin-report"/>

==Literary career==
Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay was a famous writer, one of the pioneers of secular [[Bengali literature]]. One of his most famous works is ডমরু-চরিত (Damru Charit), a collection of humorous and satirical short stories published posthumously in 1923. The stories, set in [[colonial India]], recount the life and times of the [[antihero]] Damrudhar, portrayed as a dishonest man who rises from a lowly shop-assistant to a landowner.

Together with [[Nagendranath Basu]], Trailokyanath compiled the first volume of ''Bangla Bishwakosh'', a Bengali-language encyclopedia; Nagendranath completed the remaining 22 volumes.

Some of Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay’s short stories are translations/adaptations of English fictions. These include “Pithe Parbane Chine Bhut “ (adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s [[The Brown Hand]]), “Bhuter Bari” (adaptation of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s “The Haunted and the Haunters: or the House and the Brain”) and “Pujar Bhut” (adaptation of Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Old Nurse’s Story). <ref> ''Representations of Ghosts in Trailokyanath's Writings: A Reassessment'', by Biswajit Das and Ayusman Chakraborty, The Criterion: An International Journal in English, volume 11, issue IV, August 2020.</ref>

An English translation of several of his stories is published as ''Of Ghosts and Other Perils'' (Arnab Bhattacharya, trans., 2013: Orient Blackswan, 288 pages. {{ISBN|978-8125052340}}). That book includes ''Birbala'', ''Lullu'', ''Nayanchand’s Business'', ''The Pearl Necklace'', ''Smile on Madan Ghosh’s Face'', ''A Story by Damrudhar'' and ''Another Story by Damrudhar''.<ref name="review">Ketaki Datta, [http://rupkatha.com/book-review-ghosts-perils-troilokyanath-mukhopadhyay/ Book Review: Of Ghosts and Other Perils by Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay], ''Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities'' ({{ISSN|0975-2935}}), Vol. VI, No. 3, 2014.</ref>

==Selected works==
* [https://archive.org/details/artmanufactureso00mukhuoft Art-manufactures of India (1888)]
* [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.121324 A Visit To Europe (1902)]
* [https://archive.org/details/ahandbookindian00mukhgoog Hand-book of Indian Products (Art-manufactures and Raw Materials) (1883)]
* কঙ্কাবতী (''Kaṅkābatī'', 1892)
* ভুত ও মানুষ (Bhoot O Manush, 1896)
* ফোকলা দিগম্বর (Fokla Digombor 1900)
* মুক্তা-মালা (''Muktā-mālā'', The Pearl Necklace, 1901)
* [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.121324 A visit to Europe (1902)]
* ভারতবর্ষীয় বিজ্ঞান সভা (Bharatbarshio Bigyan Sobha 1903)
* ময়না কোথায় (Moina Kothai, 1904)
* মজার গল্প (Mojar Golpo, 1905)
* পাপের পরিনাম (Paper Porinam,1908)
* বীরবালা (''Bīrabālā'', Birbala)
* লুল্লু (''Lullu'', Lullu)
* নয়নচাঁদের ব্যবসা (''Naẏanacām̐dēra byabasā'', Nayanchand’s Business)
* রাজভক্তিসার (''Rajbhakti-shar'', The Quintessence of Devotion towards the Crown, 1918-19) <ref>''Trailokyanath and Rajbhakti: The Quintessence of Devotion towards the Crown'', by Ayusman Chakraborty, ''Appropriations'', volume 9, December 2013.</ref>
* ডমরু-চরিত (''Ḍamaru-carita'', Damru Charit, 1923)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{OL author|994467A}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070807050413/http://www.abasar.net/bk_main.asp?what=B01212 Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay Section in Abasar]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukhopadhyay, Trailokyanath}}
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]

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Troilokyanath Mukhopadhyay