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{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = The Slaying of Meghanada
| image =
| image_size =
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| alt =
| caption =
| author = Michael Madhusudan Dutt
| audio_read_by =
| title_orig = মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য
| orig_lang_code = bn
| title_working =
| translator = Clinton B. Seely
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = [[British Raj|British India]]
| language = Bengali
| series =
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| subject =
| genre = Epic poem
| set_in =
| publisher =
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = 1861
| english_pub_date =
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| pages =
| awards =
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| congress =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| native_wikisource = মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য
| wikisource =
| notes =
| exclude_cover =
| website =
}}
'''''Meghnad Badh Kavya''''' ({{lang-bn|মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য}}; English: The Slaying of Meghnada) is a [[Bengali poetry|Bengali epic poem]] by [[Michael Madhusudan Dutta]]. Regarded as a central work in [[Bengali literature]] and Dutta's greatest literary work as well as the finest epic in Bengali literature,<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Bangladesh 1704-1971|last=Azad|first=Humayun|publisher=The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh|year=2007|isbn=984 512 337 6|editor-last=Islam|editor-first=Sirajul|volume=3: Social and Cultural History|location=Dhaka|pages=239|chapter=Bangla Literature in the Nineteenth Century|author-link=Humayun Azad}}</ref> ''Meghnad Badh Kavya'' is based on the demise of [[Meghnad]] (a.k.a. Indrajit), son of [[Ravana]], the king of [[Lanka]] in the classic Sanskrit epic ''[[Ramayana]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://home.uchicago.edu/cbs2/Megha.html|title=The Slaying of Meghanada|website=home.uchicago.edu|access-date=2018-06-04}}</ref>

The poem is divided into 9 cantos.<ref name="bhattarchya">[http://www.iopb.res.in/~somen/Madhu/index.shtml Read the whole ballad in Bangla]</ref> Each part exhibits different incidents. Starting from the death of Beerbahu, son of Ravana, it is continued till the [[sati-daha]] (the ancient [[India]]n custom of burning the widows alive with the dead husband) of [[Sulochana (Ramayana)|Prameela]], Meghnad's beloved wife.

The poem starts with the lines:
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|
সম্মুখ সমরে পড়ি, বীর-চূড়ামণি
বীরবাহু, চলি যবে গেলা যমপুরে
অকালে...
|
The great hero, being defeated in a face-to-face battle,
Beerbahu, leaves to the dead man's world,
long before he should have ...}}

==Critical review==
[[Meghnad]] was the son of [[Ravana]]. who used Brahmastra to kill 670 Million [[Vanara|Vanaras]] in ''[[Ramayana]]''. He was slayed by [[Lakshmana]] , while he was worshiping Goddess Nikumvilā, in the royal temple of [[Lanka]], because of betrayal by [[Vibhishana]], who was an uncle of Meghnad. Meghnad asked Lakshmana not to fight with an unarmed person, rebuking him as a coward; but Lakshmana did not hear him. He could not survive himself in this battle. This is the central theme of this [[epic poetry|epic]].

Here are some comments of a few pioneers of [[Bengali language|Bengali]] literature:
#"...to [[Homer]] and [[John Milton|Milton]], as well as to [[Valmiki]], he is largely indebted, and his poem is on the whole the most valuable work in modern Bengali literature." -[[Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay]]<ref name=poetseers>[http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/in/dutt/ Read more about the poet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204152625/http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/in/dutt/ |date=2011-12-04 }}</ref>
#"The Epic Meghnad-Badh is really a rare treasure in Bengali literature. Through his writings, the richness of Bengali literature has been proclaimed to the wide world." -[[Rabindranath Tagore]]<ref name= poetseers />
#"MeghnadBadh is a supreme poem." -[[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]]<ref name= poetseers />

==Quotations from the poet==
[[Michael Madhusudan Dutta|Dutta]] had mentioned this [[ballad]] many times in his letters, of which a few are listed:
#"Perhaps the episode of [[Sita]]'s [[Kidnapping|abduction]] (Fourth Book) should not have been admitted since it is scarcely connected with the progress of the [[Fable]]. But would you willingly part with it? Many here look upon that Book as the best among the five ..." (1860)<ref name= bhattarchya />
#" ... I got a severe attack of fever and was laid up for six or seven days. It was a struggle whether [[Meghanad]] will finish me or I finish him. Thank Heaven. I have triumphed. He is dead, that is to say, I have finished the VI Books in about 750 lines. It cost me many a tear to kill him." (1860)<ref name= bhattarchya />

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Italic title}}

[[Category:Bengali-language literature]]
[[Category:Bengali poetry]]

Meghnad Badh Kavya - Revision history

imported>Gamer.173457 at 14:58, 28 April 2021