Noted poet Samudra Gupta passed away yesterday morning at the Narayana Hridayalaya Hospital in Bangalore, India, at the age of 62. He was suffering from gallbladder cancer and had been taken to India for treatment on July 3.
The poet was born on June 23 in 1946 at Hashil village in Sirajganj. Gupta, whose real name was Abdul Mannan took the pen name of Samudra Gupta in the 60s and is now widely known by his pen name.
Through his writings, Gupta created a strong voice against communalism and fundamentalism, and created his own following.
During his long writing career, Gupta who was a journalist by profession — penned 13 poetry books, one fiction and a poetry book with another writer. He also translated a number of other writers’ works and edited several books while a large number of his short stories and articles were published.
His poems have been translated into different languages including English, Chinese, French, Hindi, Nepali, Sinhalese, Japanese, Urdu and Norwegian.
Gupta’s famous works include Rode Jholshano Mukh, Swapnamongol Kabyo, Ekhono Utthan Achhey, Chokhey Chokh Rekhey, Ekaki Roudrer Dike, Shekorer Shokey etc.
The noted poet was honoured with different awards including the Humayun Kabir Award and Jessore Literature Award. He was also awarded the Poet Vishnu Dey Award and Language Day Honour by the government of Tripura state of India.
Gupta took part in mass upsurge in 1969 and was also a freedom fighter. In his professional life Gupta worked in different dailies and weeklies of the country. He was also a general secretary of National Poetry Council.
Beyond Languages 
July 20, 2008 at 6:44 pm |
We express deep shock at the death of the poet.
We pray for the salvation of the departed soul
and
convey sympathy to poet’s daughter Swapna Samudra and the bereaved family members