Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Dhan Gopal Mukerji () (July 6, 1890 –July 14, 1936) was the first successful Indian man of letters in the United States and winner of Newbery Medal 1928 . He studied at Duff School (now known as Scottish Church Collegiate School, a constituent unit of Scottish Church College, Calcutta), the University of Calcutta, in India, Tokyo University in Japan and at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in the U.S.

Biography

Early life in India

Dhan Gopal Mukerji was born on 6 July in a village near Calcutta on the edge of a jungle called Kajangal. His father, whom he describes as ‘an Olympian who was lost in the world’ was a lawyer who gave up his practice due to ill health and studied music instead, while also officiating as priest at the village temple. Dhan Gopal describes his childhood and adolescence in the first part (‘Caste’) of his autobiography Caste and Outcast (1923). 'Caste' details Dhan Gopal's induction into the Brahminical tradition of his ancestors, and his experiences wandering for a year as an ascetic, as was the custom for boys in strict priestly households. However, disillusioned with the traditional role and impatient of the backward-looking element in strict Hindu society, he left the ascetic life to study at the University of Calcutta. Here, in the circle of his brother Jadugopal Mukherjee's friends, he came in contact with the ideas of the Bengal resistance. Jadu Gopal was subsequently jailed without trial...
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