By travelling in various places Dinabandhu acquired an intimate knowledge of the tyranny of the Indigo planters, and then came out with his NIL DARPAN, and laid Bengal under an obligation.
Dinabandhu was perfectly aware that great harm would come to him if his authorship of Nil Darpan came to light, for, those Englishmen whom he served were great friends of Indigo planters. Further, in course of one's work at the Post office one had to come in constant touch with Indigo planters and other Englishmen. Their hostility might cause a man constant care and anxiety, if not injure his interests vitally. Dinabandhu knew all this, and yet he did not refrain from giving publicity to his Nil Darpan. True the book did not bear the name of the author, but Dinabandhu too was never anxious about keeping his authorship a secret. Immediately upon the publication of the book the people of Bengal—all of them—came to know by some means or other that the author of Nil Darpan was Dinabandhu Mitra.
Dinabandhu used to be deeply touched by the sufferings of others, and Nil Darpan was the product of this virtue of his character. It was because he could realize with full sympathy the suffering of the ryots of Bengal that Nil Darpan could have been written and published. Dinabandhu was the foremost of those who sorrowed in the sorrows of others. It was an uncommon virtue of his character that Dinabandhu used to feel more deeply the sufferings of a person then the sufferer himself. I myself had been once an eye-witness of a rare instance in this regard. Once he was staying with me in my house in Jessore. One night a friend of his developed the first symptoms of a serious illness. The person who did so woke up Dinabandhu and told him about his fears. Dinabandhu fell into a swoon at once. The person who woke up Dinabandhu for help was now engaged in nursing Dinabandhu himself. This I saw with my own eyes, and that day I came to realize that nobody, how great might be his virtues, would be as much moved as Dinabandhu would by the sufferings of others. Nil Darpan was but the product of this virtue of his character.
Nil Darpan was translated into English and was sent to England. For giving publicity to this book, Rev. Long was sent to gaol by the judgement of the Supreme Court, and Mr. Seton-Karr was put to humiliation. All this is known to us.
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