The genesis of the Bengali drama is to be traced in the steris-records of English Morality plays and tragedies and comedies on the Gecko-Roman pattern. (The fruits and flowers of Midnapur garden are also the crops of plants and sapplings brought from other soils, and the ground having a mixed productive capacity—some where sterile and some where fertile, brought forth florid flowers of pink and pearl, but fruits of very insipid taste). In Midnapur originated not original in nature either in form or in matter, two types of plays-one very popular of the yatra type sponsored by the landlords or well-to-do persons for the purpose of amusement and recreation, and the other of the stage-fitting literary type on modern lines. History, mythology and puranic stories supplied subject matters to the playwrights of old type and in this group fall Golok Chandra Basu (Kacher Kanchan thal), Bhuban chandra Kar Mahapatra (Senkhachurh), Kalidas Datta (Bonge Chouhany Kadambari), Suresh chandra Roy (Durgam Sambar Natak, Bishnu Chakra, Devadatta, Lankaram, Ma Durga, Rishi kanya, Mathur), Bankjm Behari Pal (Meghdut) and Satkaripati Roy (Jayashree).
Rabindranath Tagore disliked the gorgeous stage and gaudy dresses of actors and actresses of the Bengali theatre of the nineteenth century. Ills innovation of a simple and undecorated dias only with some white wings, seemingly Producing abrupt shock to the traditionalists, opened the eyes of the Opera-goers again to a new but transparently veiled horizon. Of this district those who bailed the changed lookout are Su. Mo. Dey, Chittaranjan Roy, Rishi Das. Satyendra Nath Jana, Sarmaresh Chandra Rudra, Atanu Sarvadhikari. Srijib Goswami alias Basudeb Dasgupta and a few others. But mere form does not Constitute a successful drama. Su-Mo-Dey's . Udar Abhyuday sketched the .Undounted and uncompromising character of Vidyasagar with some bold line blocks but the finishing was unhappily and untrully drawn with Pious motivation. Rishi Das and Chitteraja Roy on the whole imitated the alien predecssnors (foreign authors) satisfactorily Satyendra Nath Jana's Ravi Tarpan , Panero August, Panchisey. Baishak, Swapne Dadu and Baishey Shravana were neither one-act plays nor full size dramas in the Current meaning. His selected men, matter and mailing of dialogues were not niecliy set in dramatic juztapositions Somaresh rudra is the first of this .locality to write a one-act play named ‘Durbar.' But Atanu Sarbadhikari and Srijib Goswami came nearer to the real life complex, leaving aside all escapist mentality or romantic rambling. In the plays “Sinri,' ‘Laghu Guru' and Sweta Chhaya Sarbadhikari shows his power of creating symbol and significance, where as Goswami's plays ‘Samuder Kanna, Dui Taranga, Rakta Golap, Alor Thikana, Sankha Chur, Surya Pratiksha, Shunewaya Kastey and Burtabaha give us an aspiring and progressive picture of social movements, though sometimes with a tinge of propagating motive for the proletarian. He has also produced two yatra plays, successfully staged on the public platforms.—those are Fulwali (Flower Girls—North Korean Story) and ‘ Telengana' (on the facts of the peasant struggle of Telengana). Another play from his pen is “Jowa” that gives us the thrilling experience of a revolutionary movement under Stalin against the Facist atrocities. Srijib Goswami's footsteps may inspire other play wrights to come to the forefront with new stocks of social experiences. A learned discussion on the subject of modern dramatic techniques has been done by Pabitra Sarkar in his critical book “Natya Mancha Natyarup” .
A line about juvenile literature wonid not ha out of place here. Jaminikanta Som, Prabhakar Majhi. Srutinath Chakravarti, Aloknath Chakravarti, Patitpaban Bandyopadhyay. Indranil Chattopadhyay, Prahlad Pramanik, Judhisthir Jana, Chittaranjan Maity and Haripada Manna have all been very favorite to the young people. With right earnestness some of them also have trsed juvenile dramas.
Numerous mag3zines, periodicals and news-papers were Published in the last century and in the present century also periodicals and magazines are being published every month in huge number& Regrettably most of these are short lived. But the race is relayed and the field is always full of players and never falls there a vaccum. Some prominent magazines are 1. Midnapur and Hijli Guardian (bilingual) 2. Tamoluk 3. Sangit Samalochani by the famous musician Kshetramohan Goswami 4. Medinipur Samachar 5. Utsab, 6. Madhabi 7. Medinibani 8. Prabhat 9. Panchajanea 10. Dwanda 11. Kalantar 12. Hijli Hitaishi, 13. Medinipur hitaishi 14. Nehar 15. Swaraj o Sangathan 16. Bijan Manisha 17. Sahitya Samprati 18. Chhaya Taru 19. Surya Desh.
The circulating journals of the district work silently as the nerves and arteries of body public and help collect and infuse vitality into white and red corpusles of culture and literature. They pave the ground for the Young pen-men of the locality and extend then, ample scope for bringing any success.
Literature of any living language can never be expected to be static. Dynamic forces always work in the society tending to change the old order. Literature produced by the People of Midnapur is not a negligible part of Bengal culture and there we may seek our satisfaction with all hope for further progress.
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