Who wrote the famous drama Neel Darpan, which depicted the agony of the indigo cultivators and brutality of the planters ?

The famous drama 'Neel Darpan' (The Indigo Mirror) was written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858–1859 [t5][t7]. The play is a seminal work of social realism that depicted the gruesome atrocities and brutality of British indigo planters against Bengali cultivators during the Indigo Revolt [t5][t8]. Published in 1860, it highlighted the lamentable condition of village society and the exploitative working conditions imposed by the planters [t6][t7]. The play was later translated into English, allegedly by Michael Madhusudan Dutta, and published by Reverend James Long, who was subsequently sentenced to prison for libel [t7][t8]. While Harish Chandra Mukherjee and Sisir Kumar Ghose were prominent journalists who also championed the cause of indigo farmers through their writings in 'The Hindoo Patriot' and 'Amrita Bazar Patrika' respectively, the authorship of the drama itself belongs to Dinabandhu Mitra [c2][t3][t5].

Sources

1. [1] https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/engp09/chapter/dinabandhu-moitra-neel-darpan/
2. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nil_Darpan
3. [3] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 29: Development of Indian Press > Development of Indian Press ✫ 559 > p. 559