Kshirod Prasad Vidyavinod

Kshirod Prasad Vidyavinod (1863-1927) dramatist, was born on 12 April 1863 in Khardah in the district of 24-Parganas, west bengal. In 1889 he passed MA in Chemistry from presidency college, Kolkata, and taught at the General Assembly';s Institution from 1892 to 1903.

Kshirod Prasad was interested in literature from his boyhood. He published a two-volume collection of stories, R'a'jnaitik Sanny'a's'i (1885), when he was only twenty-two. Later he gave up teaching for drama and devoted himself to writing plays. He was a voluminous writer with fifty-eight publications to his credit. He wrote mythological and historical plays as well as operas and farces. He was conferred the title of Vidyavinod for his play Babhrub'a'han (1899). His plays include Raghub'i'r (1903), a romantic drama, a number of plays in verse, such as the popular A'l'i'b'a'b'a (1897) and Kinnar'i (1918). He also wrote historical plays inspired by a feeling of patriotism of which two, Pal'a'sh'i'r Pr'a'yashchitta (1906) and Nandakum'a'r (1908), were banned by the government. He also composed many songs to entertain theatre audiences and a number of novels and short stories. He translated Shr'i'madbhagavadg'i'ta and edited a monthly magazine, Alaukik Rahasya (1909-1915). He died on 4 July 1927 at Bankura. [Nazmul Ahsan] [Ahsan, Nazmul  Drama and cultural activist, Khulna]