Online Sources edit
Nil Darpan is a Bengali play with major politico-historical significance, based on the Indigo Revolt of 1859 and was the first play of the commercial stage in Bengal.
The English translation of this play caused widespread sensation in India and abroad, and because of its effect, the play was compared by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the founder of the Bengali novel, with Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The identity of the author, although given as "A Traveller" in the first Bengali edition, was later confirmed as Dinabandhu Mitra. The identity of the translator is more problematic. The first English edition gives the identity as "A Native". Popular legend has it that, the play was translated, in a single night, by Michael Madhusudan Dutt, the then doyen of Bengali poetry and drama. Modern researchers of Bengali literature, however, have cast doubt on it. For detailed discussion of this aspect, vide Bangla Sahityer Itibritta (History of Bengali Literature), vol. 8, by Asit Kumar Banerjee, Kolkata, 3rd ed., 2007, pp. 420-26.
For Encyclopædia Britannica article on this play, see here.
For additional Wikisource material on this play, see here.
The following online sources are available for the English version:
- 1st English (1st Indian) Edition, 1861: Internet Archive
- 4th English (3rd Indian) Edition, 1924 (edited by Sudhi Pradhan): West Bengal Public Library Network
- 5th English (4th Indian) Edition, 1972 (edited by Sankar Sen Gupta): Digital Library of India