Hemendra Kumar Roy Bangla was a Bangali writer noted for his contribution to the early development of the genre of children s literature in the language He was a noted contributor to the early development of Bengali detective fiction with his Jayanta Manik stories dealing with the exploits of Jayanta his assistant Manik and police inspector Sunderbabu Roy also translated the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayy m into Bengali One of the best translations anywhere of Alice in Wonderland is Roy s Ajab Deshe Amala. He is best remembered as the creator of Bimal Kumar the adventurer duo and Jayanta Manik the detective duo It was Bimal Kumar s adventure story Jokher Dhan for which he is famous in Bengali literature for children He was a staunch believer in supernaturals and he used the supernatural element in several of his adventure and mystery stories He was also a painter and the choreographer for Shishirkumar Bhaduri s Seeta He created a comic series titled Tara Teen Bondhu which consists of seven short stories such as Kukur Kahini Nakuler Daon Mara Maharaja Chor Churamoni Bahadur Kamon Kore Totlami Sare Kartik Pujor Bhoot Der Dozon Jahagi and Madhureno Somapoyet The three main character of this series Atal Patol and Nakul won huge popularity among the children and youngsters Pinaki Roy who has offered post colonial interpretations of Bengali detective fiction gives primacy to Roy as a writer of sleuth narratives than of children s literature Pinaki Roy credits the litterateur for initiating a trend which would ultimately bring Bengali detective story writing from its colonial phase to its anti imperialistic one Jayanta the detective cum scientist is probably one of the earlier fictional Indian sleuths who use their Indian sensibilities to capture Indian criminals operating in what could be idenfied as an indigenous atmosphere 14
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