Dhan Gopal Mukerji facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dhan Gopal Mukerji
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| ধন গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায় | |
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| Born | 6 July 1890 |
| Died | 14 July 1936 (aged 46) New York City, United States
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| Alma mater | Stanford University |
| Spouse(s) | Ethel Ray Dugan |
| Children | 1 |
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Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Bengali: ধন গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায়; Dhan Gōpāl Mukhōpādhyāy) (born July 6, 1890 – died July 14, 1936) was a famous Indian writer. He was the first successful Indian author in the United States. In 1928, he won the important Newbery Medal for his book Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon.
Dhan Gopal Mukerji studied at several universities. He went to Duff School and Duff College in India. He also studied at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Later, he attended the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in the United States.
Contents
Biography
Early life in India
Dhan Gopal Mukerji was born on July 6, 1890. His family lived in a village near Calcutta, India. This village was close to a jungle called Kajangal. His father was a lawyer who later became a musician and a priest.
Dhan Gopal wrote about his childhood in his book, Caste and Outcast (1923). He described how he learned about his family's traditions. He also shared his experience of living as an ascetic for a year. This was a custom for boys in strict priestly families. An ascetic lives a simple life, often wandering and focusing on spiritual things.
However, Dhan Gopal felt that this traditional life was too old-fashioned. He wanted to study more, so he went to the University of Calcutta. There, he met friends of his brother, Jadugopal Mukherjee. These friends had ideas about India's fight for freedom. His brother, Jadu Gopal, was later jailed for his involvement. Dhan Gopal wrote a book about his brother called My Brother's Face.
In Japan
In 1910, Dhan Gopal's family sent him to Japan. He was supposed to study how factories made goods. But he did not like the factory system. He felt that the way things were made, especially on assembly lines, was unfair to workers. He was shocked that injured workers were quickly replaced without much care. After a short time in Japan, he decided to leave. He boarded a ship to San Francisco, USA.
In the San Francisco Bay Area
Dhan Gopal was still very young when he arrived in America. He had many ideas about changing society. He met other people in San Francisco and New York who shared similar thoughts. He wrote about these experiences in the second part of his autobiography, Outcast.
In 1910, he started studying at the University of California, Berkeley. He then moved to Stanford University. He earned his degree in Philosophy in 1914. To pay for his studies, he started writing. Around 1916, he published two poetry books: Sandhya, Songs of Twilight and Rajani or Songs of the Night. He also wrote a play called Laila Majnu.
In 1918, he married Ethel Ray Dugan. She was an American artist and teacher. They had a son, who they also named Dhan "Dan" Gopal Jr.
In New York City
In the 1920s, Mukerji moved to New York City. This was a very busy time for his writing. He published many books, especially for children.
His first children's book was Kari the Elephant, published in 1922. Two years later, Hari, the Jungle Lad came out. In 1927, he published Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon. This book was very popular. In 1928, it won the Newbery Medal. This award is given to the best American children's book of the year.
Gay Neck is about a carrier pigeon named Gay-Neck. The story tells how Gay-Neck is trained and cared for. He becomes a messenger pigeon for the Indian army during World War I in France. After the war, Gay-Neck and his handler return to India. They find peace in a quiet lamasery as they heal from their war experiences. A main idea in the book is that humans and animals can be like brothers.
Mukerji wrote many other children's books. These include Ghond, the Hunter (1928), The Chief of the Herd (1929), and Hindu Fables for Little Children (1929). He also wrote Rama, the Hero of India (1930) for students at Dalton School, where his wife taught. His last children's books were The Master Monkey (1932) and Fierce-Face, the Story of a Tiger (1936). Most of his children's books were about 200 pages long and had beautiful illustrations.
Many of his stories came from tales he heard as a child. Others were inspired by his own experiences growing up in the jungles of Bengal, India. Some also came from his time as a yogi in holy places.
Dhan Gopal Mukerji also wrote books for adults. These include A Son of Mother India Answers (1928) and Visit India with Me (1929). He also wrote My Brother's Face (1932). His book The Face of Silence (1926) was about a saint named Ramakrishna Paramhansa. This book greatly influenced another famous writer, Romain Rolland.
Dhan Gopal Mukerji always wanted to help India gain independence from foreign rule. He also wanted to share India's rich culture and ideas with the Western world. Because he could not return to India permanently, he put all his feelings into his writing. He wrote beautifully about the jungles and animals of his home country.
Death and legacy
Dhan Gopal Mukerji passed away on July 14, 1936. He is considered one of the first popular Indian writers to write in English. His works came out before many other well-known Indian English authors.
Dhan Gopal Mukerji's writing style was magical and convincing. He observed animals very carefully and wrote about them in a realistic way. He did not make animals act like humans or try to teach simple lessons from them, unlike some other writers. He believed that people from different backgrounds, like a Gond hunter and a Brahmin child, could be equals when traveling in the jungle. He saw his high caste as a responsibility to others, not a special privilege. He treated all people with respect.
Selected works
- Rajani, or Songs of the Night (Elder, 1922)
- Laila Majnu (Elder, 1922)
- Kari the Elephant (Dutton, 1922)
- Hari, the Jungle Lad (Dutton, 1924)
- My Brother's Face (Dutton, 1924)
- The Face of Silence (Dutton, 1926)
- Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon (Dutton, 1927), illus. Boris Artzybasheff
- Ghond, the Hunter (Dutton, 1928), illus. Boris Artzybasheff
- A Son of Mother India Answers (Dutton, 1928)
- The Chief of the Herd (Dutton, 1929), illus. Mahlon Blaine
- Devotional Passages from the Hindu Bible (Dutton, 1929)
- Hindu Fables for Little Children (Dutton, 1929), illus. Kurt Wiese
- Visit India With Me (Dutton, 1929)
- Disillusioned India (Dutton, 1930)
- Rama: The Hero of India (Dutton, 1930), illus. Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
- The Song of God: Translation of the Bhagavad-Gita (Dutton, 1931)
- The Master Monkey (Dutton, 1932), illus. Florence Weber
- Fierce-face, the Story of a Tiger (Dutton, 1936), illus. Dorothy P. Lathrop
