Born: January 25, 1824, Sagordari, Keshabpur Upazila, Jessore District, Bengal Presidency, East Bengal (now Keshabpur [কেশবপুর], Khulna, Bangladesh).
Died: June 29, 1873, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency.
Buried: Lower Circular Road Cemetery (লোয়ার সার্কুলার রোড গোরস্থান), Kolkata, India.
Michael was the son of Rajnarayan Dutt, a prominent lawyer, and Jahnabi Devi.
He was a popular Bengali poet and dramatist. He came to Christ as a young man, and refused the marriage his father had arranged for him. Later, he married Rebecca McTavish, of English descent, with whom he had four children.
His spirit was born blind,
Long sunk in superstition’s night,
Till, through the darkness of his mind,
God said, Let there be light.
Then, with the secrecy of thought
A silent miracle was wrought;
Like hidden treasure, found unsought,
The blind received his sight.
Thus to the eye, in death-shade sealed,
Power from above was given to look
Upon the volume of that Book
Which hath the light of life revealed;
Then, from the eternal throne,
On every page such glory shone,
That line on line, as ray by ray,
Led upward into perfect day,
And his freed soul, from superstition’s night,
Rose like the morning-star in Gospel light.
Not from the lips of erring man
His knowledge of the truth began;
If, as the simple record saith,
He thus was saved by grace through faith.
By God himself God’s work was done,
To him the Father sent the Son.
James Montgomery (1771–1854)