michael madhusudan dutta translated the play neel darpan into english.
michael madhusudan dutta translated the play neel darpan into english.
who translated the play neel darpan into english?
michael madhusudan dutta
james long believed that the british mercantile community and even the government unjustly and oppressively treated the indigo cultivators. his view concurred that of with dinabandhu mitra, who expressed his sentiments in a play entitled "nil darpan" (the original bengali play was written by him) and published anonymously in dhaka in 1860. mitra sent long a copy of the play as early as 1861. long brought it to the notice of w.s. seton-karr, secretary to the governor of bengal and ex-president of the indigo commission. seton-karr, sensing its importance, mentioned "nil durpan" in conversation with lieutenant governor grant. grant expressed a wish to see a translation of it and to print a few copies to be circulated privately among friends. after the discussion, seton-karr asked long to arrange for a translation of the play in english. michael madhusudan dutta translated it under the supervision of long. long, as the editor, cut out some coarse passages and wrote a short prefatory note for the play. when the translation was complete, seton-karr ordered the printing of five hundred copies in lieu of grant's wish of a few copies. then long sent the translated manuscripts to clement henry manuel, the proprietor of the calcutta printing and publishing press, to print five hundred copies, and the cost came to around rs. 300. it was published in april or may 1861. unknown to the lieutenant governor, long began sending out the copies in official government envelopes that had the heading: "on her majesty's service". the translation revealed the nature of the oppression against the indigo workers. it naturally offended the establishment so much that the anglo-indian press started raising propaganda against the publisher and the translator. one of the leading newspapers named "the englishman" and some indigo planters instituted a libel suit against long and the printer c. h. manuel. the words mentioned in long's introduction to the play stated that what was presented in it was "plain but true". this was subsequently used by the planters in their prosecution of long for publishing defamatory statements.
nil darpan
in 1861, at the height of the indigo revolt by the ryots in bengal, long received a copy of the bengali play "nil darpan" (also transcribed as "neel darpan" or "nil durpan") from its author dinabandhu mitra, who had been one of long's students at the cms school on amherst street. the play, published anonymously the previous year in dacca, was sympathetic to the abject condition of the ryots or labourers on indigo plantations and critical of the british land-holding class who kept the ryots in slave-like conditions. long brought it to the notice of walter scott seton-karr, secretary to the governor of bengal and ex-president of the indigo commission. seton-karr, sensing its importance, mentioned "nil durpan" in conversation with the lieutenant governor, john peter grant. grant then expressed a wish to see a translation of it and print a few copies to be circulated privately amongst friends. long had it anonymously translated into english "by a native" (long refused to divulge the name of the translator to the trial court; bankim chandra chattopadhyay later attributed the translation to michael madhusudan dutt, although this attribution remains contentious) and printed in either april or may 1861. in his introduction to the play, he wrote that "[i]t is the earnest wish of the writer of these lines that harmony may be speedily established between the planter and the ryot..." long sent the translated manuscript to clement henry manuel, the proprietor of the calcutta printing and publishing press, to print five hundred copies at the cost of some three hundred rupees. unknown to the lieutenant governor, long began sending out copies in official government envelopes to prominent europeans both in india and abroad that had the heading: "on her majesty’s service."
james long (anglican priest)