Girish Chandra Ghosh: A Bohemian Devotee of Sri Ramakrishna

by Chetanananda

Girish Chandra Ghosh (1844 1912) was the father of Bengali theatre, Calcutta s own Goethe, as brilliant and prolific as Shakespeare. A massively successful playwright, composer, actor and director, he virtually single-handedly created the modern performing arts in northeastern India. But that s just a small part of his story. On 21 September 1884, a priest from the nearby Kali temple arrived at Girish s Star Theatre to watch his play, Chaitanya Lila. It was Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of the greatest saints of the nineteenth century. The meeting of these two giants one a star of the stage, the other a star of spirit would prove portentous. At the feet of the spiritual master, Girish would claim his most celebrated role, as Ramakrishna s beloved and exuberantly unconventional devotee. I am a sinner, Girish told Ramakrishna frankly when the two met; he was a drunkard and a debauchee, but never a hypocrite. Their remarkable relationship is a classic story of redemption, as Ramakrishna s unconditional acceptance and gentle guidance transformed Girish from a committed atheist into a passionate lover of God. Girish Ghosh s genius was rooted in his pervasive experience of death. He lost his parents early in life, and at various times most of his siblings, both his wives, and even some of his young children. Unrelenting tragedy drove the famous writer to alcoholism, but also gave depth and power to his enormous body of work. Ramakrishna helped Girish see beyond his personal tragedies into the beauty and subtle purpose of the Divine Mother s will. Ramakrishna s part in the history of religions is well he modeled religious tolerance and respect for all traditions during his life; after his death, his disciple Swami Vivekananda was among the first to bring the wisdom of yoga and Vedanta to the West. Few of his Western admirers realize however, that Ramakrishna was and remains even today the patron saint of the stage in his native Bengal, a testament to his enduring impact on Girish Ghosh and the artists and actors of India. Swami Chetanananda s authoritative biography provides a fascinating introduction to Ramakrishna s most colourful and least orthodox devotee. Details of numerous encounters between master and disciple have been preserved; we actually see Ramakrishna teaching and reshaping this difficult student. Chetanananda also describes Girish Ghosh s contributions to the development of modern Bengali theatre and summarizes some of his most influential plays, revealing Ramakrishna s direct influence. The sparkling arts and vibrant spirituality of nineteenth century Calcutta at that time a cultural centre of British India comes to life in this vivid portrait of that magical era. The readers are grateful to Swami Chetanananda for preparing this exhaustively documented account of Girish Chandra Ghosh for the English-speaking world. Till now Ghosh has remained a charming and intriguing shadow figure to those of us who do not read Bengali. Now at last this brilliant artist and humanitarian will receive the worldwide attention he has always deserved. This is an important book for everyone who has been touched by the extraordinary life of Ramakrishna, and for anyone who wonders if a sinner truly can become a saint

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

495 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Aditya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book about one of the greatest devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. Must read book for every Ramakrishna devotee. Although most people know Swami Vivekananda very few people know about Girish Chandra Ghosh(GC). An amazing personality - A Playwright, dramatist, poet, thinker etc His devotion to Sri Ramakrishna is nothing short of Puranic! And the love that Sri Thakur showers on him is also unparalleled.

Though the writing style is bit repetitive, the book covers many aspects of Sri GC's life and surely inspires everyone!

[The Conch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this book is about biography of Shri Girish Chandra Ghosh, however, it covers spiritual, devotional and historical aspect too. Girish Ghosh was one of the disciple of Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsha. He was a bohemian devotee and lived an adventurous youth. Due to lack of guidance and loss of parental care, he became atheist, alcoholic and debauchery. However, by the grace of Shri Ramakrishna he became so pure that at later stage of life he proclaimed himself as "miracle of Ramakrishna". He used to say transformation of himself was the proof of existence of God and advent of Avatar for salvation of human.

This book also gives an account of social history of Bengal of end of nineteenth century. A vivid account of the struggle of Bengal to regain its cultural, political and religious identity. In that time, Bengal was heavily dominated by British. Girish turned Bengali theater into a medium for promoting Indian tradition and spiritual life. Many dramas for e.g. Rana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji, Nildarpan etc. , written by him, were censured and blocked by British Govt. as it awakened patriotism.

Girish Ghosh can be called pioneer of Indian movie and theater. This book brings about Girish's influence of early history Indian drama and theater.