Sarat Chandra Pandit

Sarat Chandra Pandit (Bengali: শরতচন্দ্র পন্ডিত) (1881–1968), better known as ‘Dada Thakur’ (দাদাঠাকুর), was a well-known composer of humorous rhymes, writer, publisher and social critic. He had his ancestral house at Dafarpur in Jangipur Sub-division of West Bengal, India. Most of his life he resided at Jangipur town.

He singly-handedly published the newspaper, 'Jungipore Sangbad' playing the roles of author, press-compositor, proof-reader and printer. Initially he was assisted by his wife and temporary workers in running the press, a wooden hand-press which was run in his bedroom. He also published 'Bidushak' [বিদূষক] (Jester), a pamphlet of satire, humor and social commentary and used it as his weapon for social change and to bring public awareness against corruption.

He was known for his phenomenal ability to commit things to memory, ability to compose at will rhymes and songs full of puns and wit. Sarat Chandra Chatterjee gave him the name 'Bidushak Sarat Chandra' in recognition of his very popular humorous compositions. His keen knowledge of both the Bengali, Hindi and English languages made him a unique composer of multilingual rhymes and witticisms. He created lots of Bengali Palindrome. The local British administrators also became aware of him and his criticism.

The Bengali film Dada Thakur (1962) was made in his lifetime commemorating his life, with Chhabi Biswas playing the titular role of Dadathakur.