Baral, Akshay Kumar

Baral, Akshay Kumar (1860-1919) Bangali poet, born in 1860 at Chorbagan, Kolkata. Apart from a brief stint at Hare School, Kolkata, he had no formal education at all.

He worked initially as an accounts clerk at the Delhi and London Bank. Subsequently, he joined the North-British Life Insurance Company as accounts secretary and retired from there.

While still a boy, Akshay Kumar was inspired by his reading of biharilal chakravarty to write poems. Like rabindranath tagore, Akshay Kumar, whose poetic themes include nature, love, grief and humanism, was also called a 'direct spiritual disciple of Biharilal'. In addition to writing poetry, Akshay Kumar also wrote plays, including Pradip (1884), Kanakanjali (1885), Bhul (1887), Shankha (1910), Esa (1912) and Chandidas (1917). He also edited some books such as Rajkrsna Rayer Kavita (1887) and Girindramohini Dasi's Ashrumala (1887). [Biswajit Ghosh]