Toru Dutt : Keats of India

   Toru Dutt:  Keats of India 

Toru Dutt or Tarulatha Dutt was an Indian poet born in the Bengal province in 1856 to the well-known Rambagan Dutt family. Her short life and unparalleled literary work earned her fame, postumously, to be compared with John Keats, the English poet. 

Short lived Toru Dutt although, started with prose in very early age,but later on it is her poetry that gave her worldwide recognition.

Toru was born in a unorthodox Hindu Bengali family. As the youngest child of Govind Chandra Dutt and Khestramoni Mitter, she belonged to a family of writers. The father worked for government Was a linguist and published some poems of his own. Mother Khestramoni Mitter loved Hindu mythology and translated the book Blood of Christ in Bengali.

The family later converted into Christianity in the year in 1862 and baptized. At the age of six it was a major event in her life. Although from that onwards she was a devout Christian till her doomsday, but faith on her Hindu origin diprooted inside and that has reflected many of her works. 

Her literary genius first blossomed after 1869 when she shifted to France with her parents and other siblings. 

Toru Dutt was a natural linguist. Barring her mother tongue Bengali, she was proficient in English, French and later on Sanskrit. In 

France, she was educated in language, history, and the arts. Toru, along with her sister Aru, mastered the French language during their short stay in France. This fascination with the French language and culture would be sustained through Toru's life, and her favorite authors were the French writers Victor Hugo and Pierre-Jean de Béranger.

Toru started publishing her work when she was only 18.Her first published work, an essay on Henry Derozio and leconte de lstle in Bengal Magazine on 1874.

Her first novel Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers (The Diary of Mademoiselle D’Arvers) was written in French. She also started to write another novel, Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden, which remains incomplete due to her young and untimely death. Both these novels were set outside of India with non-Indian protagonists. 

Despite of working on prose ab initio, she soon switched to the world of poetry and Her first collection, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, was a volume of French poems that she and her deceased sister Aru translated into English. The first edition of her book was published in 1876 by the Saptahik Sambad Press, located in Bhowanipore, Calcutta. Although first her collection was not a hit, because it lacked a preface, was printed on low-quality paper, and the publisher was little known. However, in 1877 the poetry collection gained publicity after it was favorably reviewed in The Examiner by Edmund Gosse.

Sadly, Toru Dutt did not live to see her success. She, like her siblings, died from consumption in 1877, at the age of 21. Her book of poetry named Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, a collection of translations and adaptations from Sanskrit literature, was published posthumously in 1882. Edmund Gosse wrote the introductory memoir for the collection. He said, describing Toru, "She brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufficed to make an English or French girl seem learned, but which in her case was simply miraculous." Her more popular poems include "Sîta," "The Lotus," "Lakshman," "Our Casuarina Tree," "The Tree of Life," and "Buttoo."

The story of Toru does not end after her untimely mortal death. She became immortal in twentieth century.

In the early twentieth century, author Harihar Das came across "Buttoo." He was so taken with the poem that he set out to find out more about Toru. After failing to discover much information about her, he decided to write a Toru Dutt biography himself. He got in touch with her remaining family, and with Mary Martin, who provided him with her letters from Toru. In 1921 he published her biography, "Life And Letters Of Toru Dutt."

In spite of her untimely death, Toru Dutt remains an exemplary poet, and her works are widely regarded as being among the best of Indian-English writings. She was a powerhouse of knowledge in French , English and also. Sanskrit. In particular, critics have paid much attention to Toru Dutt's lyric focus on the complexity of individual emotions, especially in light of her mixed religious heritage and her encounters with death from a young age. Much critical attention has also been paid to Toru Dutt's successful combination of European and Indian cultural influences, linking her identity as a cosmopolitan and multicultural figure to her poetic synthesis of English verse forms (such as the ballad) with Indian inspirations and legends.

Toru had made immence contribution in  Anglo French literature during her short stay in this world, that is truly compared with English poet of nineteenth century John Keats. Both has many similarities common. First, both are best known for their poetry. Work of both was not acclaimed during their life time. Both lived and worked in nineteenth century. Both received recognition after their death. And last the sad part both died in very tender age. Toru died at the age of 21 while Keats died at 25. Surprising similarity that both died of consumption.

Every Indian must read Toru's work parallel to John Keats. Hope, one day both name will be spelt in same bracket.