As a lawyer Chitta Ranjan earned a good deal. For the last three years
his income was about fifty thousand rupees a month. Many are of
opinion that no lawyer of India had ever earned so much. More over
there is no doubt that his income would have been much enhanced if he
could exclusively engage all his time in the legal profession. He took
up the political cases almost without any fees and also served on the
Punjab Enquiry Committee for more than four months at a great personal
sacrifice. This unrivalled practice he has given up unhesitatingly at
the call of his mother country.
Such was the career of Chitta Ranjan at the Bar for about a quarter of
a century, rich in details, famous for acuteness and noble in
uprightness.
CHAPTER III.
Chitta Ranjan's Contributions to Bengali Literature.
Long before Chitta Ranjan was able to take an active part in politics
his genius was revealing itself in literature. In 1895 he published a
volume of lyrics, "Malancha", which introduced a new element of
freedom and realism into the modern literature of Bengal. Some poems
of Malancha support atheism and this made Chitta Ranjan very unpopular
in the Brahmo Samaj. Many Brahmos headed by the late Pandit Shivanath
Sastri did not even attend the marriage ceremony of Chitta Ranjan
which took place in 1897 shortly after the publication of "Malancha".
After this he published four more volumes of Lyrics__Mala, Antaryami,
Kishore-Kishori and Sagar Sangit. The first three volumes contain
poems inspired by the Vaishnava cult which is the special heritage of
Bengal. Chitta Ranjan's lyrical talent is sufficiently prominent in
these four volumes, some of the poems are in matter and form gems of
perfect beauty, the charm is much enhanced by the pathos with which
the poet describes his yearning for God whom he seeks with the
enthusiasm of a lover.
But most popular of Chitta Ranjan's lyrical volumes is his Sagar
Sangit (or songs of the sea). In this work the poet has woven in
lyrics the high sentiments which stole into his heart as they came
dancing on the waves of the sea. Here he has touched a new chord of
his musical lyre which sang out emotionally:--
Straining my ear
I listen to thy chanting
O sea, in the midst of this
Light--encircled dawn!
What words, what tune!
My heart is full even to over-flowing!
Yet do I not understand
What is it that sounds
Amidst this morning
So resonant with this music.
Enchanted by the sublime beauty playing upon the waves the poet
addresses the sea and sings:--
What hast thou made me to-day?
My mind is like a harp of hundred strings!
With the touch of thy finger it trembles and quivers
It bursts out in music in pride and in glory!
The closing song of Sagar Sangit is indeed very charming, full of
pathos and wrapt in high sentiment it leaves behind a serene harmony--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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