Discuss the context of composing the play Nildarpan?
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Nil Darpan (Bengali: নীল দর্পণ, The Indigo Mirror) is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858–1859. The play was published in Dhaka in 1860, under a pseudonym of the author. The play was essential to Nil Vidroha, better known as the Indigo Revolt of February–March 1859 in Bengal, when farmers refused to sow indigo in their fields to protest against exploitative farming under the British Raj.[1] It was also essential to the development of theatre in Bengal and influenced Girish Chandra Ghosh, who in 1872 would establish the National Theatre in Calcutta (Kolkata), where the first play ever commercially staged was Nildarpan.
Answer:
Nil Darpan
Nil Darpan (Bengali: নীল দর্পণ, The Indigo Mirror) is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858–1859. The play was published in Dhaka in 1860, under a pseudonym of the author. The play was essential to Nil Vidroha, better known as the Indigo Revolt of February–March 1859 in Bengal, when farmers refused to sow indigo in their fields to protest against exploitative farming under the British Raj.[1] It was also essential to the development of theatre in Bengal and influenced Girish Chandra Ghosh, who in 1872 would establish the National Theatre in Calcutta (Kolkata), where the first play ever commercially staged was Nildarpan.
Nil Darpan
Critical summary
The play was received with mixed results upon its release. It was translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutta and published by Reverend James Long, for which he was sentenced to prison and charged with sedition.[2]
I present "The Indigo Planting Mirror" to the Indigo Planters' hands; now, let every one of them, having observed his face, erase the freckle of the stain of selfishness from his forehead, and, in its stead, place on it the sandal powder of beneficence, then shall I think my labour success...
It is evident from this wish that it was a piece meant to raise a voice among the elite intellectuals of Kolkata so that the farmers' revolt would be integrated with the urban thinkers. Unlike the Sepoy Revolt, the Indigo Revolt was effectively a revolt integrating the whole population of Bengalis with no distance kept between the several classes of society, which can be attributed to the effort by Mitra, Rev. James Long, and Michael Madhusudan Dutt.
Indian literature has a long-standing tradition of drama writing. For almost a millennium the only form of literature other than odes was drama. The distinction of Sanskrit drama by luminaries like Kalidasa was strong enough to keep audiences absorbed for centuries. But a dawn was coming by the mid-1800s in Bengal where the Bengal Renaissance saw the rise in western education and ideas, and therefore the styles of new forms of literature were seeping in.[3] For example, Ram Narayan Tarkaratna (1823–1885) had already left the Sanskrit tradition and started writing social realism
Characters
Male characters
Gokul Chunder Basu, a rich farmer. (গোলক চন্দ্র বসু, একজন সম্পন্ন চাষি)
Nobin Madhab, son of Gokul Chunder Basu. (নবীন মাধব, গোলক বসুর বড় ছেলে)
Bindu Madhab, son of Gokul Chunder Basu. (বিন্দু মাধব, গোলক বসুর ছোট ছেলে)
Sadhu Churn, a neighbouring Ryot. (সাধু চরণ, গোলকের প্রতিবেশি রাইয়ত)
Ray Churn, Sadhu's brother. (রাই চরণ, সাধু চরণের ছোট ভাই)
Gopi Nath, The Dewan. (গোপীনাথ, নীলকরের দেওয়ান)
Torap, A heroic figure.(তোরাপ, একজন প্রতিবাদী চরিত্র)
Indigo planters. (নীলকর) :
J. J. Wood. (জে জে ঊড, প্রধান নীলকর)
P. P. Rose J. (পি পি রোজ, উডের ছেলে)
The Amin or Land measurer. (জমির পরিমাপকারী)
A Khalasi, a Tent-pitcher. (আমিন খালাসী, নীল সংগ্রাহক)
Tadagir, Native Superintendent of Indigo Cultivation.
Magistrate, Amla, Attorney, Deputy Inspector, pundit, Keeper of the Gaol, Doctor, a Cow-keeper, a Native Doctor, Four Boys, a Latyal or Club-man, and a Herdsman.
The legacy of black humor in the play is well shared by contemporary dramatists like Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Girish Chandra Ghosh and Ardhendu Sekhar Mustafi. It was also important in development of the chalit bhasa, or colloquial dialect, which is free of the Sanskrit-influenced sadhu bhasa.
The trial of Nil Darpan
The proceedings of the trial of Reverend Mr. James Long first appeared in the second Edition (India) of the English version of the play, Nil Darpan (also transliterated as Neel Darpan or Nil Durpan). It included all the relevant documents and comments of the Indian and British newspapers. It was published in 1903 by Messrs A. N. Andini and Co., Calcutta. Mr. Kumud Bihari Bose compiled it under the title: "The Trial of the Rev.
Background of the trial of the play Nil Darpan
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.
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