Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Bengali: ধন গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায় Dhan Gopal Mukhopaddhae) (July 6, 1890 –July 14, 1936) was the first successful Indian man of letters in the United States. He studied at Duff School (now known as Scottish Church Collegiate School, a constituent unit of Scottish Church College, Calcutta), the University of Calcutta, in India, Tokyo University in Japan and at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in the U.S. Bangla redirects here. ... is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... is the 195th day of the year (196th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. ... Scottish Church College at 175 The Scottish Church College, which is located at 1 & 3 Urquhart Square, Calcutta 700006 is the oldest continuing Missionary administered liberal arts and sciences academy in India. ... Formally established on the 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta (also known as Calcutta University) (Bengali: কলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়), located in the city of Kolkata (previously Calcutta), India, is the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent. ... The Yasuda Auditorium on the University of Tokyos Hongo Campus. ... Sather Tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ... Stanford redirects here. ...

Biography

Early life in India

Dhan Gopal Mukerji was born on 6 July in a village near Calcutta on the edge of a jungle called Kajangal. His father, whom he describes as ‘an Olympian who was lost in the world’ was a lawyer who gave up his practice due to ill health and studied music instead, while also officiating as priest at the village's temple. Dhan Gopal describes his childhood and adolescence in the first part (‘Caste’) of his autobiography Caste and Outcast (1923). 'Caste' details Dhan Gopal's induction into the Brahminical tradition of his ancestors, and his experiences wandering for a year as an ascetic, as was the custom for boys in strict priestly households. However, disillusioned with the traditional role and impatient of the backward-looking element in strict Hindu society, he left the ascetic life to study at the University of Calcutta. Here, in the circle of his brother Jadugopal Mukherjee's friends, he came in contact with the ideas of the Bengal resistance. Jadu Gopal was subsequently jailed without trial from 1923 to 1927. Dhan Gopal later wrote a memoir about Jadu Gopal, titled My Brother's Face. Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In Japan

In 1910, hoping to save the younger brother from police action, Dhan Gopal's family sent him to Japan to study industrial machinery. Although he was initially fascinated with the positivistic spirit of industrialization, later he became deeply disillusioned by the assembly line method of production and proclivity towards sheer efficiency which he viewed as dehumanizing, degrading and debasing. He was particularly shocked by how assembly line workers who had suffered fatal accidents were quickly replaced by other workers, without consideration by the factory owners or employers for either their medical recovery, health benefits or adequate compensation. After a short stay in Japan, he boarded a ship for San Francisco. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Experiences in America

Barely out of his teens, Dhan Gopal had absorbed enough revolutionary ideology from his peers to have been well on the way to following in his brother's footsteps, and may not have left India entirely willingly. Dhan Gopal took his ideology with him to America where he fell in with a number of dirt-poor 'anarchists' like himself. His experiences among them, in San Francisco and New York, are detailed in ‘Outcast’, the second section of his autobiography. Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ...

In San Francisco he looked about for a way to support himself and pay for his college education, and soon lit upon writing. Around 1916 he wrote Rajani or Songs of the Night a book of poems, and Laila Majnu a musical play in three acts, both published by Paul Elder and Co. of San Francisco. At this time, he was a student at the University of California at Berkeley for three years. Financial constraints and his political radicalism made him move on to Stanford University, from where he earned a graduate degree in metaphysics in 1914. He socialized with leftists, anarchists and freethinkers and became aware of the plight of the underclass, the white middle class, Negroes and other East Asian immigrant groups. He married Ethel Ray Dugan, an American artist and painter, in 1918, and they had a son, also called Dhan Gopal. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Stanford redirects here. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ... The word freethinker has different meanings: A freethinker is a proponent of the philosophical practice known as Freethinking, thus being a practitioner of Freethought. ... A social class is, at its most basic, a group of people that have similar social status. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Negro is a term referring to people of Black African ancestry. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

In the 1920s, Mukerji moved to New York and began his most prolific period of writing, published mainly by E.P. Dutton and Co.. Of his many children's books, Kari the Elephant was the first to see publication, in 1922. The most successful such title was Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon (1927) for which the American Library Association presented him with the Newbery Medal in 1928. This book is about a carrier pigeon ('Gay Neck') and his growing up with the flock owned by the narrator, then his (the pigeon's) drafting as a messenger for the Indian army in France during World War I and finally how the pigeon and his handler return to India and deal with the wounds and memories of war in the seclusion of a lamasery. Mukerji's other children's books include Ghond, the Hunter (1928), The Chief of the Herd (1929), Hindu Fables for Little Children (1929), Rama, the Hero of India (1930, produced for the children of Dalton School where his wife taught), and The Master Monkey (1932). Many of his works were reworkings of stories he had heard as a child. Others were inspired by his own experiences in India as a child among the jungles of Bengal, or as a yogi in various holy places. The 1920s they were sexy referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon is a book by Dhan Gopal Mukerji that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American childrens literature in 1928. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... ALA Logo The American Library Association (ALA) is a group based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. ... The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the outstanding American book for children. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Among Mukerji's writings for adults are A Son of Mother India Answers (1928) (partly in response to Katherine Mayo's Mother India), Devotional Passages from the Hindu Bible and Visit India with Me (1929), Disillusioned India (1930) and My Brother's Face (1932). The Face of Silence (1926) is about the nineteenth century saint and visionary Ramakrishna Paramhansa and is said to have deeply influenced Romain Rolland (See Swami Tathagatananda, 'Dhan Gopal Mukerji and The Face of Silence ', Prabuddha Bharati, January and February 2006 (two part article).) Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa (February 18, 1836 - August 16, 1886) was a Bengali religious leader. ... Romain Rolland. ...

The details of his later life are hazy, but there is some evidence to believe that relations with his wife entered a difficult phase at the end of his life. In spite of his many friends he felt deeply isolated and marginalized in America, as he could do very little, beyond raising funds and entertaining visiting celebrities, to further the cause of Indian liberty. The choices he had made in life prevented him from ever returning permanently to India, and it is possible to see his urge to write of the jungles and animals of his native land as a means of compensating for their absence. The unhappiness of his final years drove him further into spirituality, fueled his interest in the spiritual heritage of his motherland and gave urgency to his desire to interpret and explain India to the West. Finally, in 1936, he hanged himself on July 14, shortly after his forty-sixth birthday, in New York City. Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Legacy

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Dhan Gopal Mukerji is probably the first popular Indian writer in English. He pre-dates G.V. Desani and Mulk Raj Anand by some ten or twenty years. Krupabai Satthianadhan, the woman who wrote the novels Kamala and Saguna in the late nineteenth century, was certainly an accomplished writer, but her works did not reach a mass audience until she was rediscovered in the twentieth century. Scattered writings in English by Indians are encountered throughout the nineteenth century, such as the famous Rajmohan's Wife, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's first novel, written in English after the manner of Scott. There was also notable work by figures such as Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, writer of Sultana's Dream (1905), the first science fiction piece in English by an Indian, comparable to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland. But usually these are byproducts of Indian language work, and Dhan Gopal Mukerji is the first to write seriously and consistently in English. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Govindas Vishnoodas Desani (1909-2000) was a Kenyan-born, British-educated Indian writer and Buddhist philosopher. ... Mulk Raj Anand (December 12, 1905 - September 28, 2004) was an Indian English language author, who depicted the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. ... Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Chattopadhyay in the original Bengali; Chatterjee as spelt by the British) was an Indian poet and author, most famous as the composer of Vande Mataram. ... Begum Rokeya Statue of Begum Roquia in Begum Rokeya Memorial Centre,Pairabondh, Rangpur Roquia Sakhawat Hussain,Bengali: (বেগম রোকেয়া), (1880-1932) was a prolific writer, feminist and social worker in the undivided Bangladesh in early 20th century. ... Sultanas Dream is classic work of South Asian Muslim literature, written in 1905 by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain, a Bengali Muslim novelist and social reformer. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935) was a prominent American poet, non-fiction writer, short story writer, novelist, lecturer, and social reformer. ... Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ...

This was not by choice, but was a product of his unfortunate situation. Dhan Gopal never lost the sense of mission which he shared with his brother, and throughout his life strove to complete the task he had set himself: to emancipate India from foreign rule and win for her culture and philosophy the respect he felt it deserved. In America he associated with fellow exiles like M.N. Roy, the founder of the Communist Party of India, to whom he is said to have suggested the adoption of the pseudonym 'Manabendra'. Categories: Stub | Indian politicians | 1887 births | 1954 deaths ... The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. ...

Forbidden the more satisfying outlet of activism, he poured his feelings into his writing. Consequently, his language is magical and persuasive, and his observation of animals and their ways is accurate and unsentimental. In his work the Gond hunter and the Brahmin child are equals in their travels in the jungle, and Dhan Gopal Mukerji never (unlike Kipling) anthropomorphises the animals or draws a facile moral from them. Although he was acutely conscious of his high caste, he saw it more as a responsibility than a privilege, and neither patronized nor denigrated the so-called 'lower' castes and communities. He was, however, less sound on the subject of women. He writes movingly of child prostitutes in America in the 1910s and 1920s, especially of their plight during the Depression, but he also romanticizes the life of Rangini, a 'tawaif' (courtesan) encountered in Caste and Outcast. He also praises his mother's and sisters' strict asceticism, all the more so since his mother is at that time a widow, performing all the hard penances prescribed to Hindu widows of her caste. Gondi refers to a people and their language in Central India. ... This article is about the British author. ... Historically, a tawaif was a courtesan who catered to the Muslim nobility of South Asia, particularly during the Mughal era. ...

Bibliography

• Rajani, or Songs of the Night (San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1922)
• Laila Majnu (San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1922)
• Kari the Elephant (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1922)
• Caste and Outcaste (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1923)
• The Face of Silence (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1926)
• Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1927)
• Ghond, the Hunter (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1928)
• Devotional Passages from the Hindu Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1929)
• Visit India With Me (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1929)
• Disillusioned India (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1930)
• My Brother's Face (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1932)

External links

• From Time magazine