Rangalal Bandyopadhyay

Rangalal Bandyopadhyay was born on 21 December 1827, in Bakulia Village, Hooghly District in the Indian State of West Bengal. He was a Bengali poet, journalist, and author.

After studying at a local school at Bakulia and a missionary school, he entered Hooghly Mohsin College. He was fluent in Bangla, English, and Sanskrit as well as Oriya.

Bandyopadhyay’s poems were first published in Sangbad Prabhakar, the magazine of Ishwar Chandra Gupta. He served as editor in both the monthly Sangbad Sagar in 1852 and the weekly Bartavaha published in 1856.

For some time in 1860, he taught Bangla Literature at Presidency College Calcutta. He joined government service and served variously as Income Tax Assessor, Deputy Collector, and Deputy Magistrate.

Bandyopadhyay’s first, and perhaps most important, literary achievement is Padmini Upakhyan (1858), a historical romance of Rajput Rani Padmini based on Todd’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.

His important poetical works include Karmadevi (1862), Shurasundari (1868), and Kanchi Kaveri (1879), recreated from the same name in the odia of poet Purushottama Dasa.