Dwijendralal Ray

Dwijendralal Ray (19 July 1863 – 17 May 1913), also known as D. L. Ray, was an Indian poet, playwright, and musician. He was known for his Hindu mythological and nationalist historical plays and songs known as Dwijendrageeti or the Songs of Dwijendralal, which number over 500, create a separate subgenre of Bengali music. Dwijendralal Ray was born in Krishnanagar, Nadia, in the modern-day Indian state of West Bengal, on 19 July 1863. He was the seventh child of Kartikeyachandra Ray, Dewan (Chief Officer) of Krishnanagar palace. From his mother's side, he was a descendant of Vaishnava ascetic Advaita Acharya, one of the apostles of the medieval Bengali saint Shri Chaitanya. Ray had six elder brothers and a younger sister. As a child, Ray was temperamental, introverted, thoughtful and a lover of nature, although he possessed the gift of the gab. He passed the Entrance Examination in 1878 and the First Arts Examination in 1880 at the Krishnanagar Collegiate School. Later, he received a B.A. from Hooghly College and subsequently an M.A. in English in 1884 from Presidency College, Calcutta, as a graduating student of the University of Calcutta. Being a brilliant student, he received a scholarship owing to his performance in the Entrance and First Arts examinations, and was second among all students receiving M.A. degrees from the University of Calcutta in 1884. Aryagatha Part I, a collection of Ray's songs written between the ages of twelve and seventeen, was published in 1882. It was his first publication. In 1884, Ray got a state scholarship for study of agriculture in England. "His description of the sea-voyage and his keen observation on the manners, customs, food-habits and dresses of British people" was serialised in a weekly named Pataka and later published by his brothers as Bileter Patra (Letters from England).While in England, he received the news of his beloved parents' death. In 1886, he published The Lyrics of Ind, a collection of English lyrical poems written in England.