Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi unveils a portrait of Buddhadeva Bose at the programme at Rabindra Sadan. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Sometimes it takes a hundred years for a genius to be acknowledged as such. Buddhadeva Bose, perhaps the most versatile literary mind in Bengal after Rabindranath, might have been a larger-than-life figure for his contemporaries, but the “common reader” is yet to take the full measure of his intellect. Although extensively studied and revered by a niche audience, a definitive edition of his complete works — poems, plays, novels, stories, non-fiction and letters — is yet to appear.

An excellent poet himself, Bose is credited to be a pioneering force behind modern Bengali poetry. He brought to Bengal a serious and sustained legacy of adhunikata or modernity. As a student of English literature at Dhaka University, he co-edited Pragati and later the illustrious Kabita, magazines dedicated to the cause of modern Bengali poetry. He contributed to this adhunikata significantly as one of the Kallol-poets, a group of avant-garde young men trying to resist the overwhelming influence of Tagore.

Bose was a visionary who saw the brilliance of writers like Jibanananda Das, paving the way to their recognition as major poets in Bengali. He founded the department of comparative literature at Jadavpur University, lectured at several institutions in the West, and translated the works of Baudelaire and Rilke.

November 30, Bose’s 99th birthday, brought together some of his contemporaries at Rabindra Sadan in the first of a series of programmes commemorating his centenary year. “There will be drama festivals, book launches, centenary lectures and exhibitions. There are also plans of a road being renamed after my father and the launch of a postage stamp bearing his image,” said Damayanti Basu Singh, Bose’s younger daughter and secretary of Buddhadeva Bose Shatabarsha Committee.

Apart from Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Sibnarayan Roy (the president of the committee), Ashok Mitra, Naresh Guha and Sarat Mukhopadhyay spoke of Bose and the ways in which he had touched their lives. Roy pointed out that Bose, known for his philosophical mind, has become relevant again in this time of political unrest. Naresh Guha, a former student of Bose, recounted how Bose had scribbled a few lines of verse on Guha’s examination script. He also recited selections from Bose’s poetry, including 30 January, 1948, a sonnet written after the assassination of Gandhi, and an extract from a poem about his mother who had died giving birth to him.

Ashok Mitra spoke on Bose’s involvement in the kabita andolon and kabita adda, “These days we buy tickets to hear a poet. There was a time 60-70 years ago when a poet was considered to be unemployed and mad. If Buddhadeva Bose had not come up with a poetry magazine, things would not have been the same. There would have been no Jibanananda Das but for Buddhadeva Bose.”

The governor compared Bose with Faiz Ahmed Faiz, “I completely surrender to the captivating power of his poetry,” he said. Syed Shamsul Haq, Bangladeshi writer, paid tribute to his “guru”. “We still feel his presence whenever we visit old Dhaka University and Dhaka Collegiate School. He gave us our first lesson in modernism,” he said.

Singer Lopamudra Mitra and actor Goutam Halder set a few verses by Bose to music. Mitra’s rendition of Jonaki and Kalo Chokh were striking, while Halder enacted some of Bose’s poems, with Swatilekha Sengupta accompanying him on the synthesiser. The show concluded with Bose’s one-act play Pata Jhore Jai by Rudraprasad Sengupta and Swatilekha Sengupta. A black-and-white oil painting of the author by Shuvaprasanna was unveiled by the governor earlier in the evening. Sharbari Dutta, Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Sunil Gangopadhyay were among those present at this event.