Page:Bengal Celebrities.djvu/91

 t 9* ] it* people in the pursuit of his official duties, Thia was of great use in hia liteniry productions. His first and foremost work is Nil Darpan, which issued from a printing press at Dacca in 1860. Denobandhu had travelled much in these districts, where indigo was manufactured and ho was acquainted in all it* details with the oppression of the rayats by the planters of that time. By virtue of his mtunil sympathy, the misery of the oppressed ryot appealed to his heart and he was constrained to pour out the fueling* of his h?art through hi9 pen. In Nil-Darpan or the 'Indigo Planting Mirror,' the author held the mirror ap to nature. The drnma produced an electric sensation in Bengal It was translated into English 'and published by the Rev. James Long in 1861. This led to the celebrated trial in the supreme conrt is which Air. Long was sentenced to one month's imprisonment and* fine of Es. 1000. Apart from the high political significance of the drama its great literary excellence for ever established the re- putation of the author as a master-dramatist. This reputation was maintained by his other works, Nobift Tapaxivini, Lilabati, Saihabar Ekadati and Jam at fiurik. His last drama, Kamalay Kamini, is the fruit of his experience in the Lushie Expedition. When it. was publinhed he was in his death-bed. He died of Diabetes and Carbuncle on the 1st November, 1873. No description of Denobandhu Slitter, however short, could be complete without a reference to his power of conversa- tion. Bunkim Chandra said that his real power of humour appeared even more in his conversation than in his works. He was indeed a model of simplicity and meekness. He attacked viee and folly with a geniality which mafic even those who were the objects of his ridicule love and respect him. Thus h*> was a precious gem, not only in the world of letters, but also in the world of good men.