Atul Prasad Sen (; 20 October 1871 – 26 August 1934) was a Bengali composer, lyricist and singer, and also a lawyer, philanthropist, social worker, educationist and writer.
Early life
Atul Prasad Sen was born as the eldest child of Ram Prasad Sen and Hemanta Shashi, in a Vaidya family from the village Magor in South Bikrampur, Faridpur District, presently located in Bangladesh.
Atul was born in his maternal uncle's house in Dhaka, following the custom at that time. His maternal grandfather Kali Narayan Gupta initiated Atul Prasad into music and devotional songs. Atul Prasad's mother later married Brahmo Samaj reformer Durga Mohan Das in June 1890.
Initially Atul Prasad could not accept this marriage. In due course of time his relationship became very congenial with Durga Mohan and Hemanta Shashi. Sarala Devi recounted in her diary জীবনের ঝরাপাতা (fallen leaves of life) that Durga Mohan, after the death of his wife Brahmoamoyee, in spite of his busy outward life, took great care of his children. It was his elder daughter Abala, whose eager and consistent effort towards the wellbeing of her aging father convinced Durga Mohan to marry Hemanta Shashi. Durga Mohan extended every possible care to his step children too, and treated them as his own children.
Education
After passing the Entrance examination in 1890, Atul Prasad was admitted to Presidency College in Kolkata, and in the same year in the month of November took a voyage to England to study law.
In London he befriended Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Chittaranjan Das, Sarojini Naidu and Dwijendralal Ray.
Profession - Phase One, Calcutta
After becoming a Barrister, he returned to Bengal in 1894 and joined with Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, (Lord Sinha), as a Bar-at-Law. Successively he opened up law practice in Kolkata in a rented apartment in 82, Circular Road. When his step-father Durgamohan died on 19 December 1897, he opened practice in Rangpur court.
The High Court at Calcutta, which used to be known as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, was established and formally opened on 1 July 1862. Atul Prasad was called to the Bar in Calcutta High Court in 1895. He was a member of the Bar Library Club of Calcutta High Court.
It was mentioned in The High Court of Calcutta - 125th Anniversary Souvenir 1862-1987:
The High Court at Calcutta - 150 Years: An Overview remembered Atul Prasad in this fashion:
Marriage
Atul Prasad married his cousin sister Hem Kusum, daughter of Krishna Govinda Gupta, ICS and Prasanna Tara Gupta. The marriage was disapproved by their family members. The couple wedded at Gretna Old Parish Church, Gretna Green, Scotland, under the Scottish Law in the year 1900. However, Atul Prasad had a troubled married life. The emotional sufferings he experienced in his life found their ways into his lyrics; and this has made many of his songs full of pathos.
His twin sons, born in 1901, were Dilip Kumar and Nilip Kumar. Nilip died after six month of his birth.
Profession - Phase Two, Lucknow
After his marriage Atul Prasad started practicing law at Old Baily, London and continued for a very short duration. Then with the help of Bipin Bihari Basu and upon advised by his friend Mumtaj Hussain, an advocate in Lucknow, he came back to India in 1902. He chose the province of Oudh as his field of activity and moved to Lucknow.
Activities in Lucknow
Literary activities
In 1922 the first conference of Bengali literary personages outside Bengal (Prabasi Banga-Sahitya Sammelan, presently known as Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan) was organised at Benaras with patronage from distinguished 'Bengalis living outside Bengal' (Prabasis) like Atul Prasad Sen, Radha Kamal Mukherjee, Kedar Nath Bandyopadhyay and Mahendra Chandra Roy, which was presided over by Rabindranath Tagore. Atul Prasad initiated and edited Uttara, the Bengali magazine of the organisation, to keep alive the Bengali culture among the Bengali Diaspora. Later, he presided over its Kanpur and Gorakhpur conventions. He was also editor of Allahabad Law Journal and Awadh Weekly Notes.
Bengali Club of Lucknow
Since 1903 Atul Prasad served the Bengali Club of Lucknow, which was founded by Atul Krishna Singh, as the President. In 1929, he initiated the idea of merging of the Bengali Club and the Young Men's Association of Lucknow, and thus emerged a new organisation to be known as Bengali Club and Young Men's Association. A photograph of Atul Prasad is uploaded in the website of the club.