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{{Infobox person
|pre-nominals = Kābya Sarasbatī
|name = Bani Kumar
|native_name = Baidyonath Bhattacharya
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|11|23}}
|birth_place = Kanpur Village, [[Howrah]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|08|15|1907|11|23}}
|death_place = [[Kolkata]]
|other_names = Bani Kumar (in radio station) ‘Ānandabardhana’, ‘Biṣṇu-gupta’ (in literature)
|known_for = ''[[Mahisasuramardini (radio programme)|Mahisasuramardini]]'' (1931–present)
|occupation = [[radio broadcaster]], [[Lyricist]], Producers, composer
|nationality = [[Indian people|India]]
|mother = Aparna Bhattacharya
|father = Bidhu Bhushan Bhattacharya
}}

'''Baidyonath Bhattacharya''' (23 November 1907 – 15 August 1978) popularly known as '''Bani Kumar'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/inquizzitive/cid/369882|title=Inquizzitive|website=www.telegraphindia.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> was a [[radio]] [[broadcasting|broadcaster]], [[playwright]], [[composer]], radio script writer from [[Kolkata]], [[India]] and a contemporary of [[Pankaj Mallick]] and [[Birendra Krishna Bhadra]]. He worked for the [[All India Radio]], India's National Radio broadcaster for several years during its early, starting 1930s, and during this period he produced and adapted several plays songs etc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/india/mahalaya-2018-know-brains-behind-timeless-classic-composition-mahishasuramardini-1502694063.html|title=Mahalaya 2018 {{!}} Know the brains behind Mahishasuramardini recital — a timeless classic|date=2018-10-08|website=The Statesman|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref>

He is most known for his script writing and composition of India's oldest radio programme, ''[[Mahisasuramardini (radio programme)|Mahishashura Mardini]]'' (1931), a collection of [[shloka]]s and songs broadcast by [[All India Radio]] [[Calcutta]] (now Kolkata) at 4:00 am, in the dawn of [[Mahalaya]].<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/delhi/Mahalaya-ushers-in-the-Puja-spirit/articleshow/5028658.cms Mahalaya ushers in the Puja spirit] [[The Times of India]], TNN 19 September 2009.</ref><ref>''Hindustan year-book and who's who, Volume 60''. Publisher: M. C. Sarkar., 1992. ''pp 227'', ''Death date ref.''</ref>

==Early life==
Bani Kumar's original name is Baidyanath Bhattacharya. He was born on November 26, 1907 in Kanpur village of [[Howrah]]. His father, Bidhu Bhushan Bhattacharya was a [[sanskrit]] scholar and [[historian]] and mother Aparna Bhattacharya. Bani Kumar was the eldest son of their two sons and two daughters. Their ancestral house was at [[Antpur]] in [[Hooghly district]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.khaboronline.com/puja-trivia/bani-kumar-and-mahishasuramardini-programme-of-akashvani-kolkata/|title=বাণীকুমার ও মহালয়ার ভোরে 'মহিষাসুরমর্দিনী' {{!}} KhaborOnline|last=khabor2014|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

==Academic life==
Bani Kumar received his primary education at Howrah District School. There he concentrated on poetry with the influence of a teacher and poet Karunanidhan Bandyopadhyay. He then graduated in English from Presidency College. His father and grandfather had a knowledge of [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit]], so he studied Sanskrit and got the title ''Kābya Sarasbatī''.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==
He could not afford to study under the stress of the domestic life, he started working in the mint. He left the job and joined the radio station when the Calcutta Radio Station was established at 1 No. Garstin Place in the year 1927. At that time [[Raichand Boral]], [[Pankaj Mallick]], [[Birendra Krishna Bhadra]] and other artists joined there in the interest of Nripendranath Majumdar, the officer in charge of the Indian ceremonial division of the radio station.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyo.in/bangla/arts/mahisharuramardini-radio-akashvani-durga-puja-premankur-atarthi-birendrakrishna-bhadra-mahalaya/story/1/27111.html|title=আগে কী নামে সম্প্রচারিত হত প্রভাতী মহিষাসুরমর্দিনী?|website=www.dailyo.in|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> Baidyanath joined as a writer staff artist and began his radio career under the name of ''Bani Kumar''. He is best known as the creator and compositor of the [[Mahisasuramardini (radio programme)|Mahisasuramardini]] radio program.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sengupta|first=Debaleena|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-voice-carries-on-111092500040_1.html|title=The voice carries on|date=2011-09-25|work=Business Standard India|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

In the time of 1930s, some objected to [[Birendra Krishna Bhadra|Bhadra]] doing the ''Canḍīpāṭha'' as he wasn’t a Brahmin. But Bani Kumar strictly refused to replace [[Birendra Krishna Bhadra|Bhadra]] and the programme was going on as schedule.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/voice-from-nbsp-the-sky/cid/1470200|title=Voice from the sky|website=www.telegraphindia.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Male actors from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Indian male radio actors]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:All India Radio people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

Bani Kumar - Revision history

->Citation bot at 02:21, 20 March 2021