Buddhadeva Bose, considered one of the most versatile and prolific creative geniuses after Rabindranath Tagore, was born on November 30, 1908 in Kimilla, now a part of Bangladesh. His multifaceted talent allowed him to move amongst different genres of literature-poetry, novels, short stories, plays, critical essays, travelogues and memoirs with equal ease and grace. He spent his whole life steeped in literature reading, writing, teaching, publishing and promoting it. He was a great scholar who pursued a serious academic career, eventually founded the new academic discipline, "Comparative Literature" for the first time in India at the newly established Jadavpur University in 1956.
A quintessential poet himself he pioneered the concept of a magazine devoted solely to the cause of poetry and poets, and established "Kavita" in the mid-thirties. The term "little magazine" was also first used by him for his poetry magzine. He became a great nurturer of modern poets through this path-breaking magazine which he published and edited for 25 long years from 1935 to 1961. The whole development of post- Tagore modernism can be traced through the issues of "Kavita". The long line of Bengali poets who enriched Bengali Poetry starting from Tagore found place in this magazine. Bose helped established his contemporaries like Jibananda Das, Amiya Chakraborty, Sudhindranath Dutta, Bishnu De, Samar Sen, Subhash Mukhopadhyay by continuously publishing their poems in "Kavita" and writing excellent reviews about their works himself. The young poets like Sunil Gangopadhaya, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Tarapada Roy, Pranabendu Dasgupta not only wanted to be recognized by Buddhadeva Bose by publishing their poems in his quarterly, they loved his company Sunil Ganngopadhyay called him "youngest among the youngs" as the older poet encouraged them to argue with him on issues relating to poetry and literature, over great "addas" for which his modest flat in Kolkata was famous. It is probably the only example in literary history of the world that a major poet had himself devoted a good part of his life nurturing and promoting his contemporaries as well as multiple generations of younger poets.
It is a well known fact that he spent most part of his life in financial hardship. In order to continue with his literary and creative commitments along with taking care of the need of his family, he had to work every hard for long hours, every day of his life, often undertaking assignments he never wanted to take. Reading his Biographies one meets a personality who followed his own path with determination and courage totally undeterred by all hardhips and mental agony. He had to face charges of obscenity and many other false accusations through out his life, but he had the great capability of simply ignoring them. He knew his calling from a very young age and believed in following what he called his "Swadharma"without feat. As a writer, he never looked back since "Bandir Bandana", his first major collection of powers written in late teens. He was hailed as an exceptionally talented and courageous poet when the book got published in 1930. His first novel "SaDa" also came out in the same year. He was 22.
Buddhadeva Bose will always be remembered for his immense contribution to Bengali literature. His continuous growth as a writer, going from strength to strength as long as he lived, is note worthy. From a gushing powerful mountain river he slowly became a sea of great depth. The last 15 years of his life were arguably his best creative years. After producing fascinating verse plays reinterpreting the Mahabharata stories, he reached his zenith with his great analytical study "Mahabharater Katha". Yet he had project lined up for the next 10 years when he suddenly succumbed to a massive stroke on the 17th March of 1974, at the age of 65.
The total number of his books today exceed 150, yet there are materials in both English and Bengali which still remain uncollected. Among many honours received in India and abroad, he got the Academy Award for his Mahabharat-based play "Tapasvi O Tarangini" in 1967 and "Padmabhushan" was conferred on him for his immense contribution as a literateur, scholar and academician in 1970.
India Post is proud to issue commemorative postage stamp on Buddhadeva Bose, an exceptional creative genius, on his 100th birth anniversary.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India