Ekramuddin Ahmad

Ekramuddin Ahmad (1872 – 1940) was a Bengali litterateur.

Childhood and Education

He was born in 1872 in the village of Kulia under Raina thana in Burdwan district. His father Mahtabuddin Ahmad was a village physician. Ekramuddin passed the Entrance exams from Burdwan High School in 1892 and the FA exams from Burdwan Raj College in 1894. He also studied at Hooghly College for the BA degree, but there are conflicting reports on whether he completed his graduation.

Career

In 1896, he entered government service as a surveyor. He was later promoted to the post of sub-deputy magistrate. In 1918, he wrote an important report on the oppression of the indigenous Santhal population by a zamindar of Birbhum district which drew the attention of the government. In 1927, he retired from government service and moved permanently to his in-laws' residence in the village of Kaitha in Birbhum.

Significance

Ekramuddin Ahmad gained renown as a literary critic and author. He was one of the leading Muslim commentators on the work of Tagore, and his 1914 book Robindro-Protibha (or The Genius of Tagore) was widely praised. He also wrote volumes of literary criticism on Michael Madhusudan Dutt and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. He wrote several novels, among them the romantic novel Kaanch o Moni (1919). His novels were serialized in Saogat and Mohammadi, both of which were important Bengali Muslim literary journals of the period. He was also a humorist, essayist and short story writer, and one of his stories "Bhikkhuk" (or "The Beggar") was a set text in secondary schools in East Pakistan.

Death

Ekramuddin Ahmad died in Kaitha village on 20 November, 1940.