Narayan Gangopadhyay

Narayan Gangopadhyay (4 February 1918 – 8 November 1970), also known as Narayan Ganguly, was an Indian novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer, and one of the leading writers of modern Bengali literature. He introduced the endearing character of Tenida in his famous stories of children's literature. He took up "Narayan" as his pen name. He married his brother in law's niece Renuka Devi, with whom he had his only daughter Basabi (Bani). His wife Renuka Ganguly and daughter Basabi Roy Chowdhury were also eminent writers and teachers. Renuka Ganguly died on 10 February 2010 whereas, Basabi Roy Chowdhury recently died on 17 December 2021, and was survived by 6 children, and grandchildren. He was awarded the literary awards Basumati Literary Prize (1968). Narayan Gangopadhyay was born as Taraknath Gangopadhyay in Baliadingi in Dinjapur district of Bengal in 1918. His paternal side had their roots in the village of Basudebpara, Nalchira in Gournadi thana of Barisal district. His father, Pramathnath Gangopadhyay, was a police officer. Because his father was transferred often, he studied in Dinajpur, Faridpur, Barisal and Kolkata. Narayan Gangopadhyay matriculated from Dinajpur Zila School in 1933. He then took admission at Rajendra College in Faridpur but had to leave the town on 1 May 1935 on political grounds. He was interned as a 'revolutionary suspect' and could not appear in the college examinations. Later he took admission in the second year at B M College in Barisal and passed Intermediate Arts (IA) as a non-collegiate candidate in 1936. He passed the Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the same college in 1938. Famous poet Jibanananda Das was his teacher there. In 1941, he completed the MA from the University of Calcutta, receiving the Brahmamayee Gold Medal for his outstanding results. He earned DPhil from the same university in 1960, for his research in the field of short stories in Bengali literature.