প্রিয়নাথ মুখোপাধ্যায় ও বাংলা গোয়েন্দা গল্প/ Priyonath Mukhopadhay and Bengali Detective Story

Abstract

Curiosity is an esential part of human life. From birth, a human child seeks to satisfy its curiosity. Gradually, it gains knowledge, and from the desire to understand various things, it discovers the fundamental principle of survival in this world. The same is largely true in the field of literature. Almost every author wishes that readers would receive their literary creations with love and a desire to understand them. This idea is even more applicable to those who deal with the genre of detective stories. When discussing detective stories in Bengali literature, the first name that comes to mind is Priyonath Mukhopadhyay (1855-1947). At a time when Bengali readers were not very familiar with detective stories, Priyonath Mukhopadhyay began publishing a magazine called 'Darogar Daptar' (The Inspector's Office), documenting his personal experiences from his professional life. This was primarily a monthly magazine. Regarding the content of this magazine, Priyonath himself said, "I often publish in 'Darogar Daptar' the cases that I have been able to solve or sometimes failed to solve during my long career in the detective police." Each issue of this magazine contained twelve stories. Samples of advertisements for this magazine have also been found in various contemporary newspapers. The entire credit for the fact that Bengali readers at that time began to show their taste and interest not only in social or romantic stories but also in detective stories goes to people like Priyonath Mukhopadhyay, who dedicated their lives to promoting this type of magazine.

             We find further evidence of Priyonath Mukhopadhyay's personal life in his autobiography, 'Thirty-Three Years of Police Stories or Priyonath's Biography'. In this book, he describes his upbringing from childhood to adulthood, especially mentioning his parents, reminiscing about them, and describing the social and political environment in Bengal at that time. He candidly expresses in his autobiography what his life's struggle was like after his father's death and how he deal with all those situations. Due to his simple and straightforward style of expression, Priyonath quickly became popular among readers. His objective was very simple. He strived to ensure that ordinary people in rural and urban Bengal could read his stories and protect themselves from criminals or confront them when necessary.

There is some debate regarding Priyonath's year of death. The Sansad Bengali Biographical Dictionary states the year of death as 1907. However, according to Sukumar Sen, the year was 1947. But regardless of the debate surrounding the year, there is no doubt in the minds of critics or readers about his importance and contribution. He paved the way for the popularity of Bengali detective literature, and for this reason, he is forever revered by us.