Michael Madhusudan Dutt: Bengal’s Literary Rebel

The year 1861 saw the publication of a Bengali epic poem that perplexed readers by going against traditional norms, but soon became one of the greatest works in Indian literature. Meghanadavadha Kavya (The Slaying of Meghnad), written by Michael Madhusudan Dutt, upturned the Hindu hierarchy by making a rakshasa his protagonist and the unfair slaying of Ravan’s son, Meghanad, by Lakshman his central theme.

Teary-eyed, Ravana, the love of Mandodari, spoke

again, “Speak, news bearer, I must hear; how did the son of

Dasaratha slay Dasanana’s champion scion?”

“How, O world’s sovereign,” began once more the bearer of bad

tidings, “how, O wealth of Raksasas, can I bear to speak

of that, or you to listen? Ramacandra pounced upon

your son in battle, as the lion, yellow-eyed, with gaze

afire, gnashing wrathfully awful fangs, leaps upon the

nape of a bull’s neck! Then all about swelled the waves of war,

like a raucous ocean dueling with the winds! Sabers

flashed, like tips of flames, from amidst ten thousand aligned shields

which resembled smoky billows! Conch shells blared with a roar

like the ocean! What more shall I say, my lord?

(Translated by Clinton B Seely)

In a letter to his friend, Rajnarayan Basu, Dutt admits that “People here grumble that the sympathy of the poet in Meghanad is with the Rakshasas. And that is the real truth. I despise Ram and his rabble but the idea of Ravana elevates and kindles my imagination; he was a grand fellow.”