Rajanikanta Sen (1865-07-26-1910) was a Bengali (Indian) poet and composer, known for his devotional (bhakti) compositions, as well as his patriotic songs. Born in the village of Bhangabari, Pabna (present-day Bangladesh), his father Guruprasad was an LLB from Dhaka University and served as sub-judge in many parts of Bengal, during which period he published a collection of 400 Vaishnava brajabuli poems, padachintamAlA. His elder brother Govindanath was a successful advocate. However, much of the family wealth was unwisely invested, and Rajanikanta faced increasing poverty throughout his life. His mother Manomohini was a competent housewife, whose opinion was widely sought in culinary affairs[1].
Rajanikanta too graduated with a law degree (BL) from Calcutta City college[2] in 1891, and started practicing in Rajshahi. However, his passion lay in music, the love for which he had inherited from his father. In this he was supported by friends like the noted historian Akshay Kumar Maitreya[3], and also his wife[4].
His two successive collections of songs, vANI (1902) and kalyANI (1905) became popular for their devotional strain of music, set to a Hindustani classical style mixing tappa and kirtan. He also wrote in the nationalist cause, one of his songs, "mAyer deoyA moTA kApaR" urging the virtues of homespun clothes against Lancashire mill imports. He came to be known as the kAntakabi, and his songs as kAntagIti.
His songs like "tumi nirmala kara mangala kare" brought a touch of modernity into the Bengali devotional genre of KamalAkAnta and rAmprasAd. He also composed humourous and satirical songs.
In 1909, Rajanikanta was diagnosed with throat cancer. He was forced to move to Calcutta despite very stringent financial conditions; some poetry lovers among the students of the Calcutta Medical College tended after him[1], but he died in increasing pain in the winter of 1910.
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