Noted Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh passed away on Wednesday morning, days after testing positive for Covid-19. The poet's family has confirmed his death, news agency PTI reported on this day. Ghosh, a flagbearer of Bengali intelligentsia, was often regarded as one of the greatest littérateurs in the post-Jibanananda Das cultural landscape of West Bengal.
Shankha Ghosh, at the time of his death, was aged 89. After he tested positive for coronavirus disease on April 14 (Wednesday), the poet was being nursed at his own residence in home isolation on the advice of his doctors, as per health department sources cited by PTI. Ghosh was also suffering from several age-related medical complications, comorbidities which took a turn for the worse after he contracted Covid-19. He was hospitalised a few months ago due to the deterioration of his health condition.
Shankha Ghosh was born on February 6, 1932, at Chandpur in present-day Bangladesh. A prolific poet, critic, and academician, he was considered an authority on Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Among the poet's noted works include 'Adim Lata - Gulmomay' , 'Murkha Baro Samajik Nay', and other books. Translators have made available Ghosh's work in several other languages, including English and Hindi. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and was conferred the prestigious Jnanpith Award later in 2016. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977 for his book'Babarer Prarthana'.
A stalwart of the Bengali intelligentsia, Shankha Ghosh was also vocal on various social and political issues, ideals he instilled in his students at the Bangabasi College and the City College under the Calcutta University and at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata. He also taught at Delhi University, the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla, and at the Visva-Bharati University, and participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in the United States in 1967.
{{/usCountry}}A stalwart of the Bengali intelligentsia, Shankha Ghosh was also vocal on various social and political issues, ideals he instilled in his students at the Bangabasi College and the City College under the Calcutta University and at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata. He also taught at Delhi University, the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla, and at the Visva-Bharati University, and participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in the United States in 1967.
{{/usCountry}}Shankha Ghosh is survived by his daughters Semanti and Srabanti, and wife Pratima.