Post on 27-Feb-2023
SHORT STORIES OF
NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY :
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY
A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY IN BENGALI IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS
GAUHATI UNIVERSITY
SUBMITTED BY
SHRABANI BHADRA
2016
i
PREFACE
Those who have taken post-Tagorian creative literature to a new
height, Narayan Gangopadhyay is one amongst them. He has proved his
niche in almost every field of literature. The arrival of Narayan
Gangopadhyay in Bengali fiction literature has taken place in the 40’s.
The phase can be entitled as the period of transition of one age to
another– concerning the contemporary society of Bengal and totally of
India in particular. Those short-story writers who started writing stories in
Bengal during this phase, also experienced the manifestation of their
literary acumen, and were directly introduced to the agitated as well as
the topsy-turvy situation of the contemporary Age. The social environment
of that specific literary epoch was obviously an unquiet and tumultuous
one-and the veil of that restless surroundings had blurred the vision of the
contemporary writers to some extent; thus turning their view a bit
abstracted, a bit pungent and penetrating and also a bit turbid. So many
vicissitudes of time and chance, so many problems were there-both in the
individual as well as the social life at that time and yet so many distinctive
exceptions emerging amidst all odds-the mighty flow of metamorphosed
circumstances kindled the curiosity of the short-story writers and at the
same time made their perception more pungent than before. One of the
best short story writers of this age of transition was Narayan
Gangopadhyay. His works reveal his keen perception of history, his
socialist learning and his deep sympathy for the exploited marginalized
human beings. His writings are animated by the variety of the prime and
absolute perception of human life-the novelty of the content, an
unrestrained yet simply arrayed style textured with a tragic unison and
sensible niceties–all these aspects helped him to find an exclusive niche
for himself in the realm of Bengali short stories. The stories by Narayan
Gangopadhyay not only touch the right chord but also stir our cerebration.
In his book ‘Sahitye Chotogalpa’, he himself has defined the modern short
ii
stories as the sheer outcome of pain and affliction. He is one of the
renowned writers of the Bengali short-stories reigning in the post-Kallol
era. His pen was active in short-story writing, till his death. He is a class
apart with the power of emotion and clairvoyance in the dominion of
Bengali short-story. His stories are epitome of the fragmented pain and
pleasure of our life.
The content, form and language of his short stories obviously rouse
our curiosity. That is why this theme has captured my attention for a
befitting research work; through which I have ventured to trace the
distinctiveness of the author.
In conveying my research work, my Research Supervisor,
Professor Usharanjan Bhattacharya has tirelessly provided his sincere
illuminating advice, intellectual assistance, wise suggestions and
instructions. Without his co-operation and co-ordination it would not have
been possible for me to complete the research work. I sincerely and
humbly accord my respectful regards and reverence to him.
In preparation of this thesis, I have received ungrudging help and
precious advice from Prof. Amalendu Chakraborty, Head, Department of
Bengali, Gauhati University, who extended help and co-operation during
the entire work. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and
acknowledge my debt to him. I accord my sincere regards to the revered
Professors Dr. Dipak Sen, Gauhati University, Dr. Biswanath Roy,
Calcutta University, who helped me in many ways in my research work.
In the course of collectively primary and secondary materials, I
must cite the genuine help of quite a few libraries, such as the National
Library, Little Magazine Library and Research Centre, Central Library,
Calcutta University, Kolkata, and K. K. Handique Central Library, Library
of the Department of Bengali, Gauhati University, K.C. Das Commerce
College Library, Guwahati. I also got the chance to use State Library, Port
Blair. I am indebted to all these librarians and extend my genuine
iii
gratitude to them, without their assistance, my dissertation might not have
been as it stands now.
I express my thankful gratitude to Sri Bhaskarjyoti Deb who
rendered a valuable help in course of my work.
I would like to express gratitude and pay my homage to my mother,
Smt. Geeta Bhadra, without her blessings and encouragement, this
research work would not have been possible to complete.
I also take privilege to express my thankful gratitude to my
husband, Sri Nayan Roy Choudhury, and my only son, Rohit. Without
whose inspiration, co-operation and assistance, the work would not have
been possible. They provided strong moral support during the entire work.
Before ending off this prefatory note, I convey my gratitude to all
those who have directly or indirectly provided co-operation in materializing
the present work to whom I could not convey my thankfulness individually.
I beg pardon for all my errors and omission that may occur with or
without my knowledge.
Date: …………….
Place: Guwahati. (Shrabani Bhadra)
CONTENTS
PAGE NO.
INTRODUCTION 1-11
Chapter-I : Life and Vision of Life of
Narayan Gangopadhyay 12-63
Chapter-II : Contemporary Short Story Writers
and Narayan Gangopadhyay 64-103
Chapter-III : The Chronological Division and
Thematic Discussion of the Short Stories by
Narayan Gangopadhyay 104-152
Chapter-IV : Social Consciousness in the Short Stories
of Narayan Gangopadhyay 153-210
Chapter-V : The Stylistic Elements in the Short Stories
of Narayan Gangopadhyay 211-239
CONCLUSION 240-243
BIBLIOGRAPHY 244-266
1
INTRODUCTION
A real fiction-writer gives pleasure to the readers through his or her
creation with the fragmented or complete facts of happiness and misery of
human-life. The prose-fiction is divided into two— one is ‘Novel’ and other is
‘Short Story’. A critic has called the novel as ‘Pratima’ (Clay-idol), and the
short-story as ‘Puttalika’ (Puppett)1. But this ‘Puttalika’ is not an ordinary one;
it is that, which is made in Krishnanagar– a reflection of fine Arts.
Bengali literature is rich in fiction-writing— right from Bankimchandra,
till date, many writers has delineated their talent in fiction writing. This attire is
unopposed even today. In the procession of such writers, also includes the
name of Narayan Gangopadhyay. He is an expert in both the branches of
fiction-literature. The short stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay are the gems in
Bengali literature— and it is not a superfluous talk. Narayan Gangopadhyay
belongs to the class of 50’s, as younger one in Bengali short story writing. He
has given words to the expected in human feelings, standing upon it as a
legacy to the posterity as a rich rivers of literary wave. As a writer of short-
story he is a known figure to the readers, though he excels in more areas of
literature. Creation of literature belongs to Time, Space, and Society; one is
connected to the others. The flow of writing short stories belongs to the
causes of social situation, political movement, communal strife, the freedom
movement and many other problems, emerging out of post-independent India.
The age long socio-economic infrastructure of India, political or any other
2
turmoil, has played as special perspectives in many of his writings. Literature
is said as the mirror to society, though the saying has become afflicted with
abundant use yet its inherent ethos can’t be gainsaid. Many ups and downs in
time-space and society, is the roots of literature. The two decades, the early
parts, of twentieth-century, Rabindranath reigns supreme in the area of short
stories in Bengali literature. Before world war-II Bengali short-stories
accumulated elements from the divested country and its people. The period of
thirties and forties is the golden era for Bengali literature. After that partition
took place and as an aftermath came communal strife— the 50’s began with
this nightmare. Then began the cry of innumerable rootless people— the pale
face of the mother over the death of her children, the cry of maidens over the
death of their husbands. The writers of the forties have used the elements like
hunger, greed, utterly ruined people, in their own writings. The short stories of
the thirties were based, mostly upon psychology, the unfurling of perversion.
The plots too, were mono dimensioned. The writers of the forties came to
experience the war and the cry of famines and its crisis. The riots were
emerging out of it with the Imperialist rules of British Empire. Along with this
the man and soil of rural Bengal, the euphoria of regional fervor, the wretched
industrialization, the pale light of the suburb and the flaws in middle-class—all
these components were making the Art of short stories rich. The signs of the
40’s, the suggestive language in romanticism, and detachment, the dexterity
in the composition of short stories have given a right voice to the compositions
of literature. The writers of the fifties have placed their attention upon partition,
communal strife, and decay of the moral values. The wretch condition of
3
Bengal that has been witnessed was never before in the last century. As if the
Bengalese has taken a new birth in this decade. There emerged a group of
new breed of writers, as a legacy to the end of romanticism by Sharatchandra,
the end of Nature loving Bibhutibhushan. One of them who belong to that new
era of Bengali literature as posterity to Bibhutibhushan, Tarasankar and Manik
Bandyopadhyay is Narayan Gangopadhyay. A critic’s comment is quotable in
this respect :
‘‘˙¬ı˛»‰¬Àf¬ı˛ ‘Ó≈¬… [1938], ø¡ZÓ¬œ ˛ ø¬ıï ´¸˜À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸”‰¬Ú± [1939], ¬ı¬ıœfÚ±ÀÔ¬ı˛
˜‘Ó≈¬… [1941],.... ’±·©Ü ’±Àµ±˘Ú › Œ˜ø√Úœ¬Û≈À¬ı˛ ø¬ıÒ√ı—¸œ ¬ıÚ…± [1942],
¬Û=±À˙¬ı˛ ˜i§ôL¬ı˛ [1943],.....fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬±¬ı˛ √±e± [1946], Œ√˙ø¬ıˆ¬±·,
¬ı˛Mï √¬ı˛ø?Ó¬ ¶§±ÒœÚÓ¬± › ά◊¡Z±d Œ¶⁄±Ó¬ [1947-50]— ¤˝◊√√ ¸¬ı øfl¡Â≈√¬ı˛ ˜Ò…
ø√À ˛ ¬ıeÀ√˙ › ¬ıe¸˜±ÀÊ√ fl¡±˘±ôL¬ı˛ ‚Ȭ˘º ˙¬ı˛»‰¬fœ ˛ Œ¬ı˛±˜±øKI◊fl¡Ó¬± ›
¬ı˛¬ıœfÚ±ÀÔ¬ı ’Ȭ˘ ø¬ıï ´±¸ Ò”ø˘¸±» ˝√√À ˛ Œ·˘º fl¡À~±˘À·±á¬œ¬ı˛ Œ¬ı±À˝√√˜œ˚˛
¬Û±˘± › ø¬ıˆ¬”øÓ¬ˆ¬” ∏À̬ı˛ õ∂fl‘¡øÓ¬˜≈*Ó¬±¬ı˛ ’¬ı¸±Ú ˝√√˘º Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬Ûø¬ı˛¬ıøÓ«¬Ó¬
¬Ûø¬ı˛ø¶öøÓ¬ÀÓ¬ ¤À˘Ú ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¤fl¡√ Œ˘‡fl¡, ˚“±À√¬ı˛ Œ˚ìıÚfl¡±À˘ ‚Ȭ˘ ¤˝◊√√¸¬ı
≈·±ôLfl¡±¬ı˛œ ‚Ȭڱº Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì- ÚÀ¬ı˛f- ÚÀ¬ıµ≈- ŒÊ√…±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛f- ¸˜À¬ı˛ - ¬ı˛ ±¬Û√ -
ø¬ı˜˘ fl¡¬ı˛- ¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛-¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚± ∏-˜±øÚfl¡ ¬ı±—˘± ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ¬Û±˘±¬ı√˘
‚Ȭ±À˘Úºíí2
But all of them had their originalities. As soon as they entered into the
arena of Bengali literature, Bengal was witnessing decay and loss that gave
impetus to their own writings. When the deadly night of the world war-II
ended, they saw the decayed life, as dead leaves, communal strife and
4
partition, the rootless people that moved the humanity of the other bank and
the procession of evicted people. At such time came the folk of young writers.
Narayan Gangopadhyay was one of them. His collection of novel and short
stories are many. These many collections were embarked with variety of
subjects. No any single topic was excluded from his eye-sight. Though it can’t
be said whether his novels can withstand the taste of time, but his short
stories will remain immortal, it can be said without any second thought. His
short stories were characterized with the insight of social realities, the analysis
of complex process, on the other hand disdain against the cruelties of
exploiters. In this context Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay has said in an
appreciative note :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛±˚˛À̬ı˛ ‘√ø©Ü øÂ√˘ ø√·ôL ŒÔÀfl¡ ø√·ôL ¬Û «ôL õ∂¸±ø¬ı˛Ó¬º...........Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸
’ÀÚfl¡º ŒÂ√±È¬·ä Ó¬±¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡› ’ÀÚfl¡ Œ¬ı˙œº ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ø˙äœ ø˝√√¸±À¬ı
Œ¬ı±Òfl¡ø¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ ’øÓ¬ ¸≈øÚ¬Û≈̺ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ·ä õ∂øÓ¬À˚±ø·Ó¬±˚˛ ¤fl¡¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±˜¬ı˛±
¸fl¡À˘˝◊√√ ¬Û¬ı˛±øÊ√Ó¬ ˝√√À˚˛øÂ√ ±˜ºíí3
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories were not limited within any
specific time. Rather these have been passed over the elapsed time. He
added new dimension to the short stories. Narayan Gangopadhyay was
socially conscious, that is why social realities are delineated in his short
stories. He has been moved by the turmoil in the forties of enraged time as a
socially conscious writer. His short stories are full of personal exclusiveness,
his mind and his thought. He had tried to understand the truth of life as the
Rasa in literature; that is why he can be regarded as a successful writer who
5
has been stuck to realities. He has been driven deep, close to the realities of
life. Life is full of romance, imagination, emotion, love, and struggle. The
author has given thought to all these elements in a mere befitting manner. His
short stories can be regarded as a real literature in combined notes of
emotion and compassion. He has moved on his own into the chamber of
lights and shadows of human psyche. Sometimes he has played with words,
and sometimes a positive eloquence of conversation, sometimes he has
created life with work of painting. Human kindness, disdain over the cruelties
by man, the chaotic society— everything was caught in by him, in his short
stories in more subtle ways. This work of our research is aimed to understand
and look for his exclusiveness apart from others, his contribution and his
place in Bengali literature as well as world literature.
For this research work, we have chosen the collection of ‘Narayan
Gangopadhyay Rachanabali’ (all total 12 Volumes), and the Complete
Collection of Short Stories, ‘Galpasamagra’ (containing 133 short stories),
published by Mitra and Ghosh Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata-73. For the
convenience of discussion the entire content has been classified into five
specific chapters. The title of the dissertation is : Short Stories of Narayan
Gangopadhyay : An Analytical Study .
The sum and substance of the chapters are indicated below :
Chapter-I has been entitled as Life and Vision of Life of Narayan
Gangopadhyay . There are few writers, whose prognosis is tinged with the
absolute delight. Narayan Gangopadhyay is one amongst them. The creator
6
here is associated with the creativities. His personal life, is supposed to be
based on contextual creativities. We find the author’s life and personality in
his creativities. The life, mind and his personality gives him that status which
is based upon his clairvoyance. To understand the creativities, we have to
understand his personal life, too. Here the impact of time and space, acts as
coordinator of his conduct. No one can ignore his environment, the
perspective of his own writing. The mindset of a particular writer is built with
the things– like, his contemporary society, political, economical and cultural
environment. The war, famine, riots, partition and the processor of evicted
people brought a chaotic turmoil in forties. Its reflection also fallen on Bengali
literature of that time. The unpreventable influence of that society can be seen
in the then literature. We have tried to understand how Narayan
Gangopadhyay’s insight has been influenced by the broken life of Bengal, in
his writings.
Chapter –II has been entitled as Contemporary Short Story Writers
and Narayan Gangopadhyay . This chapter will dwell on the distinctive style
of Narayan Gangopadhyay that distinguishes him from his contemporaries.
The young writers observed the rapid change and transformation of Bengal
along with its busy time, violent environment and decay all over with its
putrefied enigma. It may be mentioned that five renowned short story writers
have been selected as the contemporaneous counterparts of Narayan
Gangopadhyay. Although the revelation of the literary acumen of these five
authors was not exactly a simultaneous one, yet the manifestation of their
creative genius almost contemporaneous. These fabulous five are Subodh
7
Ghosh(1910-1980), Jyotirindra Nandi (1912-1983), Narendranath Mitra (1917-
1975), Nabendu Ghosh (1917-2007), and Santoshkumar Ghosh (1920-
1985).This chapter aims to show the different viewpoint of Narayan
Gangopadhyay and of the five other authors in question towards their
contemporaneous time, distinctively woven into their diverse representation of
individual feelings. Narayan Gangopadhyay has both similarities and
dissimilarities with them. We have tried to show how all them have seen their
time and how they have given shape and colour to their own feelings.
Chapter-III is entitled as, The Chronological Division and Thematic
Discussion of the Short Stories by Narayan Gangopad hyay . During a
period nearly thirty five years, his proficiency has presented us a great
number of short stories compiled in the twelve volumes, published in between
1945 and 1971. The number of the complied stories is more or less one
hundred and fifty. On the basis of the variation in their content, the stories
have been classified into three distinct phases. The first phase contains the
stories written during the period 1945-1952 and points out depth of the
humanitarianism wedded to the keen social consciousness of Narayan
Gangopadhyay. Five of the collections of short stories authored by him
belong to this phase. The second phase includes four of his collection of short
stories written in between 1954-1960. And the third phase includes rest four of
the collections penned by Narayan Gangopadhyay which were published in
between the time of 1961-1971. We have undertaken a few main subject and
theme. In this chapter we have discussed the issues, subject-wise.
8
Chapter-IV has been entitled as Social Consciousness in the Short
Stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay . In fact, all the writers, writing short
stories have made their advent in this specific time-span, were socially
conscious to a great extent. The then social backdrop was tumultuous and
restless, backing peace and stability. During that time-span, the literati could
not help remaining aware of the contemporary society that kept changing
continuously and facing rift and deterioration. Narayan Gangopadhyay too
was no exception to this. A kaleidoscopic variety of short stories penned by
him reveal the society of his time. A writer is a representative of the society.
Narayan Gangopadhyay emerged as a writer in the 40’s as a socially
conscious person. Almost every social issue has been touched by him. New
elements due to the world war–II came to take place in the stream of Bengali
literature in the thirties, especially in fiction-literature based upon
contemporary tensed life. From the compositions of Narayan Gangopadhyay,
we come to know how he was affected by the socio-economic structure of that
period. In this chapter we have discussed how he has proved his niche as a
socially conscious-writer in his various short stories.
Chapter-V is entitled as The Stylistic Elements in the Short Stories
of Narayan Gangopadhyay . This chapter has dwelt on the author’s
awareness of the content of the stories authorized by him. He felt that the
narrative style of each of the short stories should be different, and this
realization made him represent different short stories by introducing varied
narrative style. The form of short stories determines the point of view of a
writer. It is not possible for a short story to depict perfectly fulfilled life within a
9
limited span. Narayan Gangopadhyay was aware of that. That is why he has
given us brief but deep fervor in his own writings. But it tastes all inclusive
elements. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories have an unprecedented
power with his linguistic excellence. We shall enter into the discussion about
his originality both in form and content, through the short stories written by
him.
After that comes Conclusion. Here the above mentioned five chapters’
subject-matter has been extended in brief. We have seen how the political,
economical, and social realities have stepped into his writings. Narayan
Gangopadhyay has captured these pictures into his own composition through
literature. Here he has been a realist with his kept-faith upon his soil, earth
and humanities through his short stories. The resolution will try to wind up the
above mentioned issues towards a pointed goal.
In my Notes and References, I have mentioned the names of the
authors, the titles of the books and the concerned page numbers only. Details,
such as, year of publication, place of publication etc. would be available in the
‘Bibliography’. Here, in the Notes and references, ‘Page number’ would be
abbreviated as ‘p.’, consecutive pages as ‘pp.’ ‘Published by’ as ‘Pub.’, ‘Edited
by’ as ‘ed.’, ‘Edition’ as ‘Edn.’, ‘Translated by’ as ‘Tr.’, ‘Volume’ as ‘Vol.’. In
keeping with current usage, Bengali year is written as ‘B.S.’ and ‘Ibid’ as used
to refer to the same work.
The extract from the original texts and criticism have been presented in
Bengali so as to retain the original resonance and spirit. I had to draw upon a
10
number of reference books and some journals and magazines in preparing
the thesis. The names of reference books, journal and magazines are given in
the portion titled as Bibliography at the end of this essay.
The life and vision of life of Narayan Gangopadhyay, his similarities
and dissimilarities with the contemporary short story writers, the chronological
division and subject-wise discussion of his short stories, his keen social
consciousness, the stylistic elements in the short stories written by him—all
these sides have been discussed in our dissertation. The main motto of our
research work is to highlight the various aspects found in the short stories of
Narayan Gangopadhyay.
11
NOTE & REFERENCE
1. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay, Kaler Puttalika, (1891-2010), p.
Introduction, 1st Edn., ¬‰¬/0
õ∂Ô˜ ¸—¶®¬ı˛À̬ı˛ ˆ¬”ø˜fl¡±˚ øÓ¬øÚ ¬ıÀ˘ÀÂ√Ú, ëë ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸Àfl¡ ˚ø√ ¬ıø˘ fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬˜±,
Ó¬À¬ı ŒÂ√±È¬·äÀfl¡ ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±ø¬ı˛ fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ¬Û≈Ó≈¬˘º ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ Œ√˙fl¡±˘ ’±ø˘øeÓ¬ ¬ı…±ø5 ›
ø¬ıô¶±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ˜ÀÚ Œ¬ıÀ‡ ¬ıø˘ fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬˜±, ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ øÚ¬ı«±ø‰¬Ó¬ ≈ √√”ÀÓ«¬¬ı˛
·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛Ó¬± › é¬Ì-ά◊æ√±À¸¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ˜ÀÚ Œ¬ı˛À‡ ¬ıø˘ fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ¬Û≈M√√ø˘fl¡±ºíí
2. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay, Madhyahna Theke Sayahne : Binsha
Shatabdir Bangla Upanyas, p.-218.
3. Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, “Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Shachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 4th year, Vol.-4,
p.-461.
12
CHAPTER – I
LIFE AND VISION OF LIFE OF
NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY
The impact of the pre-war and the post-war deterioration in life of the
contemporary Bengali people and the thorough change occured in the
contemporary society and it had influenced the writers’ philosophy and view
point towards humanlife. It may be said after a keen observation that some of
the authors write mere stories alone, while a handful of rare writers become
successful in creating spontaneous yet immaculate emanations—which exude
the diversified essence of the feelings of life. Narayan Gangopadhyay is one
of those rare writers. He is one of the prominent figures, amongst the post
world-war Bengali writers. Here, an exceptional talent like him is rare. He is a
different genius, especially in the field of short story. Like others, he did not
limit himself within the barriers of those writers, who only dealt in the lives of
middle class Bengali. He had enlarged his heart in a more extensive and
wider sense and sensibilities. The gamut of his writings, include the area from
the rented house of Calcutta to the Himalayan range, from the woods of the
Santal Pargana to the hilly regions of Assam is his space. Among these, there
are the rivers, fields, village and the rural-people. He had known the variety of
people and society with his experience. He had delineated the characters that
do not belong, directly to Bangladesh, neither in respect of space, which
remains open only to Bangladesh. That is why, if any one does not
13
understand his writings, which remains peculiar to the readers is not the fault
of the author, but to the readers. In the contemporary Bengali literature,
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a lone figure, who tries to understand the spirit of
humanity of his country and its people which is not limited n any particular
local. A big word to him is that even though, he is Bengali yet he had
searches the inns and outs of the people, who lived outside Bengal. We are
proceeding to understand such a literacy figure, through the studies on his life
and clairvoyance.
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a significant short story writer in this
century. His perspectives dealt with the fields of Bangladesh, its open horizon,
the paddy fields, the shrub of basil plants, the golden sky, the forests of
Duars, the moonlight, the grey past of history and the deep romanticism of
Bengal. These had laid an undeniable impact upon the rural Bengal’s life.
Rivers, forests and knoll and dells, the life and culture of North Bengal has
influenced him much as if the then natural perspective of these areas has got
life in his stories and fictions. In an essay, read in the Akasbani, on the 25th
November, 1945, he had gone down memory lane is this way :
ë댉¬±À‡¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ Œˆ¬À¸ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√ ά◊M√√¬ı˛ ¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡È¬± Ú·Ì… ¢∂±˜º ’±˜±À√¬ı˛
¬ı±¸±¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ ¬ı˛Mï ˜?¬ı˛œÀÓ¬ fl‘¡¯û‰”¬Î¬ˇ±¬ı˛ fl≈¡?Ȭ± ’±fl≈¡˘ ˝√√À˚ ’±ÀÂ√-- Ó¬±¬ı˛
›¬Û±À¬ı˛ ¬ıÀ˚ ˚±À26√√ ’±S±˝◊√√À ˛¬ı Úœ˘ Ò±¬ı˛±º Ó¬±¬ı˛ ›¬Û±À¬ı˛ ¢∂±˜ Â√±Î¬ˇ± ¬ı˛±„√√± ˜±øȬ¬ı˛
¬ÛÔ- ‚Ú ¬ı“±˙ ’±¬ı˛ ’±À‡¬ı˛ ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬¬ı˛ ø√À ˛ Œfl¡±Ô±˚˛ Œ˚ ø√fl¡ø‰¬˝ï ˝√√œÚ
ø√·ÀôL ø˜ø˘À˚˛ Œ·ÀÂ√ Ê√±ÚÓ¬±˜ Ú±ºíí1
14
This inner and outer life of the writer gets mingled with his creations.
Sometimes his personal life is associated with his creativities. We recognize
him in his writings. His life, mind, and personality intrude in his writings. We
have to understand his life, in order to get a clear vision of his writings. A
quote from a critic will make it clear :
ëë’À˘±fl¡¸±˜±Ú… õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬±¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛ ŒÓ¬± ’±˜¬ı˛± õ∂± ˛ ˝◊√√ Œ¬ÛÀ˚ Ô±øfl¡
¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…¸±Òfl¡À√¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…fl¡œøÓ«¬ÀÓ¬, øfl¡c ¬Û±Í¬fl¡À√¬ı ø¬Û¬Û±¸± øfl¡Â≈√ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ø˜È¬ÀÓ¬
‰¬± ˛ Ú±, ’±˜¬ı˛± Ù¬±“Àfl¡ Ù¬±“Àfl¡ Γ¡◊øfl¡ ø√À˚ ŒÊ√ÀÚ øÚÀÓ¬ ‰¬±˝◊√√ ¤˝◊√√ ¸±˜±Ú…
Œ˘±fl¡Ê√·ÀÓ¬ ›˝◊√√ ’À˘Ãøfl¡fl¡ õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬±¬ı˛ fl¡Ó¬‡±øÚ ’øÒfl¡±¬ıº ›˝◊√√ ø˙丱ÒÀfl¡¬ı˛
øÚ¬ı˛±˘±Àfl¡› ’¬ı±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ‰¬±˝◊√√ ’±˜¬ı˛±º ˚± øfl¡Â≈√ Œ·±¬ÛÚ ÒÚ- øfl¡Â≈√ÀÓ¬±
Œ·±¬ÛÚ˝◊√√ Ô±Àfl¡—Œ¸‡±ÀÚ› ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ Œ˘±ˆ¬±Ó≈¬¬ı˛ ˜Ú ‡±øÚfl¡È¬±
fl¡±„√√±˘¬ÛÚ±Àfl¡˝◊√√ õ∂| ˛ Œ√ ˛º Ú± ˝√√À˘, ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…ø˙Àä fl¡ø¬ı¬ı˛± ŒÓ¬± ˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ Â√ø¬ı˝◊√√
’±“Àfl¡Ú, ά◊¬Û˝√√±¬ı˛ Œ√Ú Ó¬±“À√¬ı˛ ˜À «¬ı˛ Œ·±¬ÛÚ fl¡Ô±&ø˘Àfl¡ºíí 2
Actually every story of his is the expression of his personality. We are
bearing the streams of multiple entities within ourselves. The tortures
existence that he wants to encode is none other than him. Undoubtedly, he is
the representative of such character. Be it a labour worker, farmer, a clerk, or
whatever he may be, is non other than him his creation of a charactrer.
Here, we have dealt with the personal life of Narayan Gangopadhyay
which had shaped his writings. We shall discuss, over the exclusiveness in
our analysis to come, in the subsequent chapter.
Narayan Gangopadhyay was born in February, 1918, 1325, B.S. in the
auspicious day of ‘Shri Panchami’. He said like that :
15
ëëÊ√ij 1325 ¸±À˘º øfl¡ ˆ¬±À¬ı ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…Àé¬ÀS ¤˘±˜—, Œfl¡ ’±˜±Àfl¡
’Ú≈õ∂±øÌÓ¬ fl¡¬ı˛À˘±, Ó¬±¬ı ά◊M√√À¬ı˛ ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±ø¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…õ∂œøӬȬ± ’±˜±¬ı˛ ∆¬ÛÓ‘¬fl¡
ά◊M√√¬ı˛±øÒfl¡±¬ı˛º ¬ı±¬ı± ’Ó¬…ôL ¬ÛάˇÀÓ¬ ˆ¬±˘¬ı±¸ÀÓ¬Úº ¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı √±À¬ı˛±·± ˝√√À˘›
Ó¬“±¬ı˛ Œ˘±ˆ¬Úœ˚˛ ˘±˝◊√√À¬ıˬı˛œ øÂ√˘º ¬Ûάˇ± Â√±Î¬ˇ± ’±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±Ú ŒÚ˙±˝◊√√ øÂ√˘ Ú± Ó“¡±¬ı˛ºíí 3
His father’s name was Pramathanath Gangopadhyay, and mother’s
name was Bindhyabasini Devi. But elsewhere some critic has mentioned his
mother’s name as Sarojbashini.4 He was born in Baliadingi of Dinajpur. He
was the eighth amongst all brothers and sisters. Another two brothers died
before Narayan Gangopadhyay and his elder brother, Shekhar
Gangopadhyay was born. These two brothers died at very early stage. So
nobody remembered their names in the family later.5 The names of all the
brothers and sisters were found like that – Satirani, Nikhilnath, Nanibala
(Neni), Puturani, Shekharnath, Taraknath, Dabu (Bina), and Anu (Kamala).6
The elder sister of Narayan Gangopadhyay, Satirani Gangopadhyay, was
married to the elder brother of Nemai Bandyopadhyay, Sharat Chandra
Bandyopadhyay in the year 1917. Nemai Bandyopadhyay was one of the
closest friends of Narayan from his childhood. He was about one year
younger than Narayan Gangopadhay. Nemai was born on 31st January, 1918.
In the book ‘Sahityasangi’, edited and compiled by Sisirkumar Das, the date of
birth of Narayan Gangopadhyay is written as 27.01.1917.7
The name Narayan Gangopadhyay is not his actual name, it was his
pseudonym. His original name is Taraknath8. But he is famous and known by
that pseudonym. He was admitted in school by that name. But, the name
Taraknath Gangopadhyay was there right from the matriculation certificate, to
16
a lecturer in the college and in the university documents. He altered this name
in his literary life. We see that the famous book ‘Svarnalata’, was also
published by the name Taraknath Gangopadhyay, who was another already
famous writer. But after that, this name Taraknath has been changed to the
name ‘Narayan’ so, from Shaiba to Baishnaba. As a follow up, the name
Narayan Gangopadhyay to the nickname, ‘Naran Ganguly’ came into reality.
When he was born, his father Pramathanath Gangopadhyay was the
officer in-charge of Nazipur Thana. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s childhood was
spent in that Nazipur. The boy Taraknath had been cruising in the bank of
Atrai River, and played around the field, repleate with the flowers of Bakul,
Krishnachura, Shimul, Palash. He was a lover of nature, from his very
childhood. This had paved the path of his growing-up as a poet. He himself
told about his father as :
ëë¬ı±¬ı± øÂ√À˘Ú ¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı˛ √±À¬ı˛±·±, ’±Ê √Ú ˛, øS˙ ÀÔÀfl¡ ø¬ı˙¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ ’±À· ¤¬ı—
Œ¸ ¸˜À ˛ ›˝◊√√ ¸•x√± ˛È¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ˚±¬ı˛ ‚øÚá¬Ó¬± øÂ√˘, Œ¸ Œ√¬ıœøȬ ’±¬ı˛ ø˚øÚ˝◊
Œ˝√√±Ú øÓ¬øÚ Œ˚ ¸¬ı˛¶§Ó¬œ ÚÚ Œ¸ ¸•§Àg Œ¬ı±Ò˝√√ ˛ ¸±é¬œ õ∂˜±À̬ı˛ √¬ı˛fl¡±¬ı˛ ˝√√À¬ı
Ú±º qÀÚøÂ√ Œ¸ ≈À· Œ¬ıø˙ ¬Ûάˇ±À˙±Ú± ¬ı± ˆ¬±À˘± ˝◊√√—¬ı˛±Ê√œ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ 鬘Ӭ±È¬±
¬Û≈ø˘˙ ø¬ıˆ¬±À· ’À˚±·…Ó¬±¬ı˛ øÚ√˙«Ú ø˝√√ ±À¬ı ·‘ √√œÓ¬ ˝√√íÓ¬º
øfl¡c ¬ı±¬ı± øÂ√À˘Ú ’±(˚« ¬ı…øÓ¬Sï ˜º fl¡À˘ÀÊ√ ¬Ûάˇ±qÀÚ± fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√À˘Ú, ˆ¬±˘ Â√±S
ø˝√√¸±À¬ı ‡…±øÓ¬› Ó“¬±¬ı˛ øÂ√˘ºíí 9
Narayan has admitted that his love to literature, were due to his father,
Pramathnath, who had a good library which has paved the way to his creative
works. According to the writer :
17
ëë ¬ı±¬ı±¬ı˛ ‰¬˜»fl¡±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ ˘±˝◊√√À¬ıËø¬ı˛ øÂ√˘ ¬ı±¬ı±Àfl¡ Œ√À‡øÂ√ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ ø√Ú¬ı˛±Ó¬
¬Ûάˇ±qÚ± fl¡¬ı˛Ó¬ ¤Àfl¡¬ı±À¬ı˛ øÚø¬ıᬠ˝√√À˚˛º ............. ¸¬ı¬ı˛fl¡˜ ¬ı˝◊√√À ˛¬ı˛ ›¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ◊√√
Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ’±¢∂˝√ √øÂ√˘ õ∂¬ı˘º Ó¬±“¬ı˛ ø¬ı¬ı˛±È¬ ˘±˝◊√√À¬ıËø¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ˜±À¸-˜±À¸ Ú±Ú± Ò¬ı˛À̬ı˛ ¬ı˝◊√√
’±¸Ó¬º ¬ı±—˘± Œ√À˙¬ı˛ ˚Ó¬ ¬ı˛fl¡À˜¬ı˛ ∆√øÚfl¡ ¸±5±ø˝√√fl¡ ’±¬ı ˜±ø¸fl¡ ¬ÛøSfl¡±
øÂ√˘, ¸¬ı fl¡È¬±¬ı˛ ◊√√ øÓ¬øÚ ¢∂±˝√√fl¡ øÂ√À˘Úº qÒ≈ ¢∂±˝√√fl¡˝◊√√ øÂ√À˘Ú Ú±, ¤fl¡øÚá¬
¬Û±Í¬fl¡› øÂ√À˘Úº ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ˜ÀÀÓ¬± ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ Ê√ÀÚ… ’±¸Ó¬ ’Ò≈Ú±˘≈5
Œ‡±fl¡±‡≈fl≈¡, ¸Àµ˙, Œ˜Ã‰¬±fl¡ ø˙q¸±Ôœº ........................... ¬Ûάˇ±qÚ± Â√±Î¬ˇ±
Œfl¡±Ú ˙‡˝◊√√ Ó¬±“¬ı˛ øÂ√ Ú±º ŒÚ˙± ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬› ›˝◊√√ ¬ı˝◊√√º ¬Û±Ú, Ó¬±˜±fl¡ ’¶Û‘ … Œ¬ı±Ò
fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬Ú ¤¬ı— Ê√Ú ©Ü≈ ˛±È«¬ ø˜˘ ŒÔÀfl¡ ø˜˘ƒÈ¬Ú, Œ˙'ø¬Û ˛¬ı˛, ›˚˛±Î«¬¸›√ ˛±ÀÔ«¬ı˛
øÚˆ¬«≈ ά◊X‘øÓ¬ ‘Ó≈¬…¬ı˛ ’±À·› Ó¬±“¬ı˛ ≈‡ ŒÔÀfl¡ qÀÚøÂ√√ºíí 10
He had a knack to write poetry from his very childhood. He arrived in
the literary arena of Bengal as a children’s book writer. About the inception of
his writing he has said :
ëë¬õ∂Ô˜ ˚‡Ú ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ qï fl¡ø¬ı˛, Ó¬‡Ú ’±˜¬ı˛± Œ˜±È¬±˜≈Ȭœˆ¬±À¬ı ¶ö±˚œ ¬ı±d
Œ¬ı“ÀÒøÂ√ ø√Ú±Ê√¬Û≈À¬ı˛ ¤À¸º ˝◊√√¶≈®À˘¬ı˛ Â√±S ¤¬ı— Úœ‰≈¬ flv¡±À¸¬ı˛ Â√±Sº õ∂Ô˜
¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…Àfl¡¬ı˛ ’±¸øMï √ Ê√…±ø˜øÓ¬fl¡ øÚ˚À˜ fl¡±¬ı…-‰¬‰«¬±¬ı˛ ›¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ø·À ˛ ¬Ûάˇ˘º
’±ø˜ ø‰¬¬ı˛fl¡±˘ øÚ¬ı±˘± ˜±Ú≈ ∏—fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬± Œ˘‡± ˛ ˝√√±Ó¬ ø√À˚˛ øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡ Œ˚Ú ’±À¬ı˛±
Œ¬ıø˙ ¸—fl≈¡ø‰¬Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÙ¬˘˘±˜º Œ˘‡± ¸•§Àg Œ˚˜Ú ¸—˙ ˛ øÂ√˘, ŒÓ¬˜øÚ øÂ√˘
˘7¡¡¡±º ’¬Û¬ı±ÒÀ¬ı±Ò ŒÓ¬± øÂ√˘˝◊√√º Œ‰¬±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬ ø˘‡Ó¬±˜–ø“√Àάˇ ŒÙ¬˘Ó¬±˜ ¸Àe
¸Àe˝◊√√º øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ ¤fl¡ø¬ıµ≈ √¬ı˛√ øÂ√˘Ú± ’±˜±¬ı˛ºíí 11
In an essay, Narayan Gangopadhyay has written about his boyhood
years’ poetic activities as :
18
ëëŒ˘‡±¬ı˛ Œõ∂¬ı˛Ì± Œ¬ı±Ò˝√√˚ ’±À¸ ∆˙˙À¬ı¬ı ø˙é¬fl¡ fl≈¡Î¬ˇÚ√±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ ¤fl¡‡±Ú±
ø¬ı¬ı±À˝√√¬ı˛ õ∂œøÓ¬ ά◊¬Û˝√√±¬ı˛ Œ√À‡º Œ¸È¬±Àfl¡ ˜Àά˘ fl¡À¬ı˛ ‡±ÚøÓ¬ÀÚfl¡ fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬± ø˘À‡
ŒÙ¬ø˘º õ∂Ô˜ Œ˘‡± Œ¬ıÀ¬ı˛±˚ ë똱¸¬Û ˛ ±íí ø˙q ˜±ø¸Àfl¡¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ ¸±ø¬ı˛¬ı˛
¢∂±˝√√fl¡À√¬ı˛ ¬Û±Ó¬± ˛º ˜ÀÚ ’±ÀÂ√ ¬ı±À¬ı˛± ’±Ú± ¬Û≈¬ı˛¶®±¬ı˛› Œ¬ÛÀ˚øÂ√˘±˜ºíí 12
At that time ‘Maspayla’ was a very famous magazine. The editor of this
magazine was Kshitish Bhattacharya and Akhil Neogi. The poem which was
known as the first published poem, according to Narayan Gangopadhyay, was
‘Dak’. In ‘Falgun Sankhya’, 1335 B.S., the poem was published.13
Narayan Gangopadhyay was a very good student at all times. But he
never had egoism in him. He never condemned anybody though there was
any matter of reproach. He was soft spoken, opposing to nobody, very polite
type of person from his childhood. We came to know from the remembrance
of his classmate, Haraprasad Shastri, that he got first class first position in
Master Degree examination in Bengali Language and Literature in new
syllabus in the year 1941.14
About his clairvoyance, a learned man has written :
ëëÓ“¬±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… é¬ÀÌ é¬ÀÌ ø¬ı≈√…»-Â√Ȭ± Œ√À‡øÂ√º√√ fl¡‡Ú› ¬Ûø(˜œ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… fl¡‡Ú›
˜Ò… ≈·œ ˛ ¸—¶‘®øÓ¬, fl¡‡Ú› ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ ¸˜±Ê√˜±Ú¸-˜ÚÀÚ¬ı˛ ¸¬ı˛ ¬ı“±fl¡± ¸˜ô¶
¬ÛÀÔ˝◊√√ øÓ¬øÚ ˘œ˘±26√À˘ ˚±Ó¬± ˛±Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº .............
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ ¤fl¡±Ò±À¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ ø˙äœ › ¬ı˛ õ∂˜±Ó¬±º ¤Àfl¡¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¤˝◊√√ ≈√˝◊√√
ø¬ı¬Û¬ı˛œÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ø˜˘Ú ¬ı±—˘±À√À˙ ‡≈¬ı ¸≈ ˆ¬ Ú˚º ¤fl¡Ê√ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±Ê√ ˆ¬±„√√±À‰¬±¬ı˛±
¤À˘±À˜À˘±Àfl¡ ‹Àfl¡…¬ı ˜ÀÒ… øÚÀ˚ ’±¸±, ’±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡Ê√ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±Ê√ Ó¬±˝◊√√ ø¬ıÀï - ∏Ì
19
fl¡¬ı˛±, ø¬ı‰¬±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛±º ¤˝◊√√ ≈√˝◊√√ ø¬ı- ∏ ø‰¬M√√¬ı‘øM√√ Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…
ˆ¬±˝◊√√À¬ı±ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ø˜À˘ø˜À˙ øÂ√˘ºíí 15
In his early age, he wrote only poetry. But after that he left this vogue.
Now, he is an inhabitant more upon this earth as a story-writer, than a poet,
as a direct correspondent between man to man. Now he is not a poet of
imagination, but a poet of humanity. On the other hand he has analytical
capability that is still a wonder, till date along with his memories. This
component of memories belongs to his manifold quotes innumerable
speeches came to crown in his writings. About his power to memory a critic
has said :
ëëø¬ı¶ú˚fl¡¬ı˛ ¶ú¬ı˛Ì˙øMï √ øÂ√˘º.......... ¤˜Ú ’¸±˜±Ú… ¶ú¬ı˛Ì˙øMï √¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈ ∏øȬ
’±¬ı±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡˝◊√√¸Àe Œ˜Ãø˘fl¡ ¸‘ø©Ü¬ı˛ ’øÒfl¡±¬ı˛œº Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ ¶ú‘øÓ¬˙øMï √ ¸fl¡˘Àfl
‰¬˜Àfl¡ ø√Ó¬- ¸¬ıÀ‰¬À˚˛ ‰¬˜Àfl¡ ø√À ˛øÂ√˘ ¤fl¡¬ı±¬ı˛ õ∂˜ÔÚ±Ô ø¬ı˙œ ˜˝√√±˙˚Àfl¡ ˚‡Ú
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈ õ∂˜Ô¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ ë˜ÚÊ≈√˚˛±Úí ŒÔÀfl¡ ·Î¬ˇ·Î¬ˇ fl¡À¬ı˛ ’±¬ı‘øM√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ·À˘Ú,
˚± ¶§˚— õ∂˜Ô¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ ˜Ú ŒÔÀfl¡› fl¡À¬ı ˝√√±ø¬ı˛À˚ Œ·ÀÂ√ºíí 16
Due to such strong memory-power Narayan Gangopadhyay brought
uniqueness as litterateur. Glory to his literature and glory to his lecturership
has gone side by side simultaneously, in equal measure. Both as lecturer, and
as a writer, he is unique.
This wonderful memory-power has been the cause of his manifold
capacity to his subjects and knowledge of his several languages. Besides his
forte in his own mother tongue, he knew Hindi and Oriya. Perhaps, Gujrati
and Marathi, he knew to some extent. He was an expert in Sanskrit, the
20
mother of many Indian languages. It is needless to say about his knowledge
in English language. He knew French too, a little knowledge of Russian, a
little Portuguese and perhaps a little bit of Spanish and Italian, at least a few
words of it.17
Such knowledge on languages has made other jealous to him. He used
to give lecture, without any preparation that other could not imagine. Perhaps,
nothing like this could be such in the years to come. Two things are there in
one, memory and the other is talent. Talking about his wonderful memory,
Gajendra Kumar Mitra, has said :
ëë¤˜Ú ’±( « ¶ú‘øÓ¬˙øMï √ ¤˜Ú ¸Ó¬…fl¡±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡ø¬ıõ∂±Ì ’±ø˜ ‡≈¬ı ’ä˝◊√√
Œ√À‡øÂ√ºíí 18
On another occasion, Achyut Goswami too, has said :
ëëÓ¬“±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¤fl¡øȬ ’±( « 鬘Ӭ± ˘é¬… fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√˘±˜º ¬ı˛¬ıœfÚ±ÀÔ¬ı˛ √œ‚«
fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±&À˘± ¤Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ’Ú·« ≈‡¶ö ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ıº ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¶ú¬ı˛Ì˙øMï √
ø‰¬¬ıfl¡±˘˝◊√√ ‡≈¬ı fl¡˜ ¬ıÀ˘ qÒ≈ ¤˝◊√√ fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ˝◊√√ Ó¬±¬ı˛fl¡Ú±Ô ’±˜±¬ı˛ ÷ ∏«±¬ı˛ ¬Û±S ˝√√À˚˛
ά◊ÀͬøÂ√˘º ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ fl¡À¬ı˛ ë¬ı˘±fl¡±í ¤¬ı— ë˜U ˛±¬ıí fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±&ø˘˝◊√√ Ó¬“±¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ øõ∂˚˛
øÂ√˘ºíí 19
His students knew the power of his memory. He could memorize many
poems and songs without looking at the text. But in this respect, only these
two things are not enough to justify his creative endeavour. The society,
around him, too, is responsible for that. His childhood, and youth were spent
among the liberal human culture. He has extracted the rasa of all into his mind
set. Though he had keen interest on Marxist philosophy yet, he could not
21
gainsay the civilization in India, under the spell of bubbling youth, he had
strived to talk louder but it did not stand on the his way to understand the
other values of Art and Life, in later years. He had been a keen devotee of
Rammohan, Bidyasagar and Rabindranath too, were his ideal.
He was a radical believer of class struggle. He had participated in any
type of struggle. Everything right from the politics, sociology and the barriers
of intellectual for last forty years, the personality crisis-- everything was the
subject in his creations. He was a socially committed writer. But to, whom
politics, is the main thing, its crude character has pained him much, in later
years. He observed that politics have made life less smooth, less plain. But
his artistics mind is optimistic. It is a sin to lose faith, in humanity, to him. That
is in his every novel, we see the bliss in action. Not everything is morbid. This
is a point of view of his life. His mind was full of variety. Once he told his friend
that he doesnot write any story twice. He had right to speak so, he never felt
tired in experimenting with various subjects, form and style of his novels and
short stories.
Mentioning his memory power, the critic has said more :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚˛¬ı˛ øÚ¬ı˛±ˆ¬¬ı˛Ì ø¬ı¬Û≈ ¬Û±øGÓ¬…- ¬ıU ø¬ı ∏À˚¬ı˛, ¶§À√˙œ ›
ø¬ıÀ√˙œ fl¡À ˛fl¡øȬ√ ˆ¬±¯∏±¬ı˛ :±ÀÚ ˚± øÂ√˘ ¸˜‘X, ’±( « ø¬ıÚ•⁄Ó¬± ˛ ¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ
¸˜ô¶ ¬ı˚À¸¬ı˛ øÊ√:±¸≈¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Ó¬± Reference Book ¤¬ı˛ fl¡±Ê√ fl¡¬ı˛Ó¬º
˜øô¶À¶®¬ı˛ ˙øMï √¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ’æ”√Ó¬ ¶£¬≈¬ı˛Ì, ¤˝◊√√ Ò±¬ı˛Ì › ¶ú¬ı˛Ì˙øMï √ øÂ√˘ ¸˜fl¡±À˘¬ı˛
ø¬ı¶ú ˛ºíí 20
22
The man, who is as a whole, cordial, humorous, erudite, always felt to
express himself, this has been expressed in his conversation with men from
different strata. That he dealt deeply in his class-room activities, in front of his
students. That Narayanbabu wanted to teach students came out, not only of
his sense of duty, but also from his will to express himself. He never bunked
his class, rather he regularly took special classes. These activities became his
obsession. Those who attended his lectures knew his eloquence and oratory.
Such an artistics way of talking, such usage of references is rare to find. In a
radical tone, both, his teaching and writing became one when he was in City
College. The twigs of lecture sprouted that became deep when he was
teaching in Calcutta University. He became a legendary figure in teaching.
Everybody, right from his compatriot to the students had admitted Narayan
Gangopadhyay’s, forte as teacher. A critic, while mentioning a humorous
incident, has said :
ëë’±√ « ø˙é¬fl¡ ˝√√›˚±¬ı˛ ø¬ÛÂ√ÀÚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¸:±Ú ¸±ÒÚ± øÂ√˘ øfl¡Ú± Ê√±øÚÚ±º Ó¬À¬ı
¤fl¡øȬ Œfl¡ÃÓ≈¬fl¡±¬ı˝√√ ‚Ȭڱ¬ı˛ ά◊À~‡ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±ø¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ õ∂¸Àeº Ó¬±“¬ı˛ Œ˜Ê√√ø√¬ı˛
˜≈À‡ Œ˙±Ú±º ŒÂ√À˘À¬ı˘± ˛ ˝√√±ÀÓ¬ ‡øάˇ ˝√√› ˛±¬ı˛ ø√Ú ‚À¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡±˘œ ”øÓ«¬¬ı ¸±˜ÀÚ
Ó“¬±Àfl¡ õ∂̱˜ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬ı˘± ˝√√ ˛º ............. õ∂̱˜ fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊ͬÀ˘ Ó“¬±Àfl¡ ˚‡Ú
øÊ√À·…¸ fl¡¬ı˛± ˝√√ ˛ – ëøfl¡À¬ı˛ ͬ±fl≈¡À¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ fl¡œ õ∂±Ô«Ú± fl¡¬ı˛ø˘∑í ά◊øÚ Ó¬‡Ú
¬ıÀ˘Ú, ë¬ı~≈ , ’±ø˜ Œ˚Ú ¬ıάˇ ˝√√À ˛ ¤fl¡Ê√Ú ˆ¬±˘ ˜±©Ü±¬ı˛ ˝√√ ◊√√, ’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ˚Ú ‡≈¬ı
Ú±˜ ˝√√ ˛ºíí 21
This prayer was heart-felt, which is well known to them, who have
come in contact with him. Be it in a college or in a university, everybody used
to be mesmerized in his lecture. His teaching was full of allusion, that has
23
added to the lecture, that he used to give instantly. Students amazed in post
graduate classes when he used to refer to the quotation from original French
language while teaching the translated verses of Satyendranath Dutta. These
references have made his lecture more enjoyable. His knowledge of world
literature was understandable when he used to refer these in his teaching on
Bengali short stories and novels.
As because he was a great short story-writer, so his lecturers on short
stories and fiction could reach the highest point of excellence. He was
associated with all kinds of progressive student-movement. Naturally, he
became popular among the students, with his pleasing personality. It is
natural that there would not be any chaos, inside the classroom. He would
take classes on short stories but the students of Drama and Theatre, too,
crowded in his classes. He opined that students, too, know many things. They
are not foolish or idiots. He never laid any contrardictory-view of the students.
Jagadish Bhattacharya has appreciated Narayan Gangopadhyay as :
ëë’Ò…±¬Ûfl¡À√¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ˚“±¬ı˛± ‡…±Ó¬Ú±˜± ¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡ ø˝√√¸±À¬ı ‡…±øÓ¬ ’Ê«√Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú
Ó“¬±¬ı˛±˝◊√√ Â√±S-Â√±Sœ ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ ’±fl¡ ∏«À̬ı˛ ¬Û±Sº Œ˚˜Ú ø‰¬M√√±fl¡ ∏«fl¡ ¬ı…øMï √Q
ŒÓ¬˜øÚ ’¸±Ò±¬ı˛Ì ¬ı±ø¢¨Ó¬±º Œ√‡ÀÓ¬› ¸≈¬Û≈ï ∏º ¶§ ¬±¬ıÓ¬˝◊√√ fl¡À˘ÀÊ√¬ı˛
ø˙é¬fl¡˜˝√√À˘ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ê√Úøõ∂ ˛Ó¬± øÂ√˘ ¸fl¡À˘¬ı˛ ÷ ∏«±¬ı˛ ø¬ı ∏˚ºíí 22
Students used to come to him, with scholarly curiosity or for any other
difficulties that he solved for them; he never refused to help the students
whether he felt illness or tiredness. In this regard, Shankariprasad Basu has
said, after his death, in a sorrow heart :
24
ëëά◊øÚ øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡ ˝◊√√À26√ fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ˜À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº ά◊øÚ ˙˝√√œ√ ˝√√¬ı±¬ı˛ Ò±µ±˚ øÂ√À˘Úº ÚÀ‰¬»
’Ó¬‡±øÚ ˙¬ı˛œ¬ı˛ ‡±¬ı˛±¬Û øÚÀ˚ Œfl¡Î¬◊ flv¡±¸ fl¡À¬ı˛, Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ fl¡Àά±¬Û±˝◊√√ø¬ı˛Ú ø·À˘
ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ¬ıÀ¸/ ά◊øÚ ø˙é¬fl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˙˝√√œ√, ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ ˙˝√√œ√ºíí 23
He is known at a time he used to toil hard lectureship, professional
writing, and kindness. He is expert also in lectureship. He is artistic not only in
philosophical bent of mind, but also as a spoken language expert, a rare man
as he is good in every way, such as in clairvoyance, knowledge and
creativities. He had actualized all these things in his artifact. That has been
added by the romantic bent of mind. The light that is not found in a sea, in soil
this unreached light has been subject of his creativities. Another quality of his
mind is that he had been very modest with sweet and polite behaviour. His
students do not gainsay his teachership. One of his students has said like
that :
ëë¤fl¡˜±S Ú±¬ı˛±˚̬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ flv¡±À¸ ’±˜¬ı˛± fl¡‡Ú› fl¡Ô± ¬ıø˘øÚº Œ·±˘˜±˘ fl¡¬ı˛± ŒÓ¬±
”√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡Ô±, Ó¬‡Ú ’±˜¬ı˛± ¸¬ı ’øÓ¬ ˙±ôL ø˙©Ü¬ ¸≈À¬ı±Ò ¸˝√√¬ıÓ¬ ø¬ıø˙©Ü ø¬ıڜӬ
Â√±ÀS¬ı˛ √˘, Ó¬‡Ú ¸ÀÓ¬…Ú √ÀM√√¬ı˛ fl¡œÈƒ¬À¸¬ı˛ ’Ú≈¬ı±√ Â√±Î¬ˇ± ’±˜¬ı± ’±¬ı˛ øfl¡Â≈√
Ê√±øÚÚ±, ’Ô‰¬ ’Ú… ¸˜ ˛ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ fl¡±À¬ı˛± flv¡±À¸ ’±˜¬ı˛± Ú±Ú± ’±À˘±‰¬Ú± ˛ ¬ı…ô¶
ŒÔÀfl¡øÂ√, Œfl¡Î¬◊ ¬ı± ‚≈ø˜À˚˛øÂ√ºíí 24
Narayan Gangopadhyay was certainly a good writer. It is not necessary
that a good writer would be a good man. But these two aspects of a good
character came to adore his life. Few such men came like him.
The things that were there behind his success as a lecturer, has been
quoted by Shankariprasad Basu. First, his attractive attire, sharp pointed
25
nose, a soft picture of smile in his face, secondly, it comes his deep voice,
where words rang, melodiously, thirdly, his easy excess to the world literature.
He has quoted things from world literature made easy to his students.
Fourthly, his power of memory, fifthly, his excellent oratory and lastly, a deep
sense of love to his students.25
As he loved his students by heart, he loved his country too. He was
born in undevided Bengal. His own words about this :
ëë¬ı±—˘±À√˙Àfl¡ ¤Ó¬ ˆ¬±˘¬ı±ø¸º Œ˚‡±ÀÚ˝◊√√ ˚±˝◊√√ ¬ı±—˘±À√˙Àfl¡ ˆ¬≈ ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±ø¬ı Ú±º
’±¬ı˛ Â√±S-Â√±Sœ¬ı˛±º ¤¬ı˛± ’±˜±¬ı ¸M√√±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ø˜À˙ ’±ÀÂ√º ¤¬ı˛± ’±˜±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√
’ÀÚfl¡ øfl¡Â≈√ºíí 26
That is why he could not forget his left over mother land, that is referred
his own writings. He felt, this partition, was due to politics. A critic has said in
another occasion.
ëë˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ Œfl¡±Úø√Ú˝◊√√ ¸•Û”Ì« ¸Ó¬… fl¡Ô± ¬ıÀ˘ Ú±º.... ά◊¡Z±dÀ√¬ı˛ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸›
Œfl¡±Ô±› ¬Û≈À¬ı˛±¬Û≈ø¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± ŒÚ˝◊√√º ˚‡Ú ÒÀÚ Ê√ÀÚ ˜±ÀÚ øÚ–À˙ ∏ ˝√√›˚±¬ı˛ ά◊¬ÛSï ˜
˝√√˚ Œ√˙ø¬ıˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ’±˝3√√±ÀÚ Ó¬‡Ú ά◊¡Z±d¬ı˛± ø√fl¡ø¬ıø√fl¡ :±Ú˙”Ú… ˝√√À˚˛
¬Û±ø˘À˚ÀÂ√º fl¡Ó¬ ˘é¬ Ò¬ı˛± ¬ÛÀάˇÀÂ√, fl¡Ó¬ ˘é¬ ¬Û±˘±ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±˘±ÀÓ¬ ¶§Ê√ÚÀ√¬ı˛
˝√√±ø¬ı˛À˚˛ÀÂ√ ’±¬ı˛ ˝√√“±¬Û±ÀÓ¬ ˝√√“±¬Û±ÀÓ¬ ¤¬Û±À¬ı˛ ά◊Àͬ ¤À¸ÀÂ√ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¸—‡…± Œfl¡Î¬◊ øfl¡
¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛∑ Œ˘‡± ’±ÀÂ√ øfl¡ Œfl¡±Ô±›∑ ’±¬ı˛ ¤À√À˙ ¬ı± ˝◊√√øG˚± ¤À¸˝◊√√ Œfl¡±Ú
¬Ûø¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ Œfl¡˜Ú øÂ√˘ ¬ı± ’±ÀÂ√ Ó¬±› Œ˘‡± ŒÚ˝◊√√ Œfl¡±Ô±›ºíí 27
Narayan Gangopadhyay has felt this in his every vein. We know of his love to
that country. He loved Bangladesh, that is why the perspective of his stories
and novel were about Bangladesh. Everything right from the Duars, Charai,
26
Arakan, Padma, Meghna, Kalabadar, Arialkha, Atrai, Mahaganga, along with
the streets of Neogi para, jostled side by side. In this respect, he is perhaps
unparallel. We get evidence of these, in his writings. But the novel ‘Lalmati’,
published in 1358 B.S., stands as a more perfect one. His experience in birth
place’s education, whole East Bengal and West Bengal, has laid impact upon
his writing.
Narayan Gangopadhyay joined politics, in his very childhood. Like
other students of that time he also plunged into the Swadeshi and Satyagraha
movement. He, himself told about this :
ëëŒÂ√±È¬À¬ı˘±ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ’±ø˜ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬ÀÓ¬ Œ˚±· ø√˝◊√√º õ∂Ô˜ õ∂Ô˜ √±√±À√¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√
Ú±Ú±¬ı˛fl¡˜ ¸±˝√√À¸¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛œé¬± Œ√›˚± , ¬ı±ÀÊ√ ˛±5 ¬ı˝◊√√ ˘≈øfl¡À˚˛ ¸¬ı˛¬ı¬ı˛±˝√√ fl¡¬ı˛± ¤¬ı—
øÚÀÊ√ ¬Ûάˇ±º ’Ú… ¬ı±Î¬ˇœ ˝√√À˘ ¤fl¡ fl¡Ô±º ¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı˛ √±À¬ı˛±·±¬ı˛ ¬ı±øάˇ¬ı˛ ŒÂ√À˘¬ı˛
¬ÛÀé¬ ¤¸¬ı fl¡±Ê√ fl¡¬ı˛± &ï Ó¬¬ı˛ ’¬Û¬ı˛±Ò ¬ı˝◊√√ fl¡œºíí 28
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s political life was shaped by his elder brother,
Shekhar Gangopadhyay. This young elder brother was his torch bearer to
politics in his adolescent period. With the Indian rebels of freedom Narayan
Gangopadhyay could lay faith upon this brother, in his talent and character.
His Sejda, was behind all types of communist activities in later life, in his
teaching profession, and in the progressive movement. A critic has said in this
regard:
ëëøÓ¬ø¬ı˛ -‰¬ø~À˙¬ı˛ Ê√±Ó¬œ˚˛ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ ’±¬ıÀ˝√√ ∆Ó¬ø¬ı˛ ø¬ıõ-¬ı¬ı±√, ø¬ıÀ˙¬ı˛
˜Ò…¬Û «±˚˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ é≈¬ø√¬ı˛±˜, fl¡±Ú±˝◊√√˘±˘, ¸”˚«À¸ÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ˚ ø¬ıõ-À¬ı¬ı˛ ’±&Ú ;À˘
ά◊ͬ˘, Ó¬± ≈¬ı¸•x√±À ˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… Â√øάˇÀ ˛ ¬Ûάˇ˘ Ó¬œ¬ıË ˆ¬±À¬ıº ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛±Àé¬ Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì
27
·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛› øÂ√À˘Ú Œ¸˝◊√√ ’±Àµ±˘ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¤fl¡Ê√Ú ˙ø¬ı˛fl¡º Ê√ø˜√±¬ı˛ õ∂Ô±¬ı˛
ø¬ıÀ˘±¬Û, Œ¬∏Cά˝◊√√ά◊øÚ˚˛Ú ’±Àµ±˘ÀÚ¬ı˛ ø¬ı ∏ ˛&À˘± ¤˝◊√√ øÓ¬ø¬ı˛À˙˝◊√√ Ê√±Ó¬œ ˛
’±Àµ±˘ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¸— ≈Mï √ ˝√√À˚ÀÂ√ Œ¸˝◊√√ ø¬ıõ-¬ı¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ¬ÛÀÔº Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¶ö± ˛œ õ∂ˆ¬±¬ı
Ó¬±˝◊√√ ’øÚ¬ı± « øÂ√ Œ¸fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ Ê√Ú˜±ÚÀ¸¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…º Ó¬ï Ì Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì
·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ¸—À¬ı√Ú˙œ˘ ˜±Úø¸fl¡Ó¬± ˛›º Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ › ˜ÚÀÚ ø¬ıõ-¬ıœ
Œ˙‡¬ı˛Ú±Ô ·±e≈˘œ˝◊√√ ŒÓ¬± Ó¬‡Ú Ó¬“±¬ı ¸¬ı«é¬À̬ı˛ ¸eœºíí 29
He was involved in political struggle while he was studying in Faridpur
College. Two of his nearest mate, at that time was Achyut Goswami, and
Narendranath Mitra. Narayan Gangopadhyay was spied upon by the then
policemen of the government. But, he had already joined in Jugantar Group
and under its spell he wrote a few political poems. The protagonist Ranjan, of
the novel, Shilalipi, (Jaistha, 1356 B.S.) came into contact with Jugantar
Group. As if the political thought of ‘Ranjan’ was the thought of Narayan
Gangopadhyay, too. This is proved when he used to talk to the leader of the
group, Benuda. Narayan Gangopadhyay got involved in politics in student-life
could be seen from view point of a critic :
ëë¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı˛ Ó¬±Î¬ˇ± Œ‡À˚ ¤fl¡ø√Ú ¬ı˛±Ó¬±¬ı˛±øÓ¬ ø˙äœ˘À= fl¡À¬ı˛ ¬Û±ø˘À ˛ ˚±Ú
¬ıø¬ı˛˙±À˘ ¤¬ı— Œ¸‡±Úfl¡±¬ı˛ ¬¬ıËÊ√À˜±˝√√Ú fl¡À˘ÀÊ√ ˆ¬øÓ«¬ ˝√√Úº ¬ıËÊ√À˜±˝√√Ú fl¡À˘Ê√
ŒÔÀfl¡˝◊√√ Ó¬±¬ı˛fl¡Ú±Ô ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ ˆ¬±˘ˆ¬±À¬ı ’±˝◊√√. ¤. ¤¬ı—. ø¬ı.¤. ¬Û±˙
fl¡¬ı˛À˘Úº 1933 ¤ õ∂À¬ıø˙fl¡± ¬Û¬ı˛œé¬±˚˛ ά◊M√√œÌ« ˝√√› ˛± Â√±S ¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡ˆ¬±À¬ı
1935 ¤ ’±˝◊√√.¤. ¬Û¬ı˛œé¬±˚˛ ¬ı¸±¬ı˛ ’øÒfl¡±¬ıœ–ø˝√√À¸¬ı ’Ú≈ ± ˛œ Ó¬±˝◊√√ 1935 ¤
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚¬ı˛ ¬ı±ÀÊ√f fl¡À˘Ê√ ŒÔÀfl¡ ’±˝◊√√.¤ ¬Û¬ıœé¬± Œ√¬ı±¬ı˛ fl¡Ô±º
28
øfl¡c øÓ¬øÚ ’±˝◊√√.¤.¬Û±˙ fl¡À¬ıÀÂ√Ú 1936 ¸±À˘º ¤¬ı fl¡±¬ı˛Ì 댬ı˛Àˆ¬±ø˘Î¬◊ Ú±¬ı˛œ
¸±¸ƒÀÛfl¡ƒÈ¬í ø˝√√À¸À¬ı ¤fl¡øȬ ¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ ’ôLø¬ı˛Ú øÂ√À˘Úºíí 30
If we study his life, it is known that all his political activities, was in his
student-life, before the independence movement. But this politics was
different, it can’t be said that Narayan Gangopadhyay’s had no political vision.
He did not plunge into the movement with flags and festoons. He took sides in
favour of exploited masses, it seems matured, to him. His readers know, the
liberation of his country, the right of common people, inspired his writing.
Many came under the umbrella of anti-fascist movement, many shed of the
paths, on their own. But Narayan could not. He never left anything against
humanity which was full of his ‘rasa chetana’ and logical understanding.
Narayan studied, understood, examined and tried to take life as a whole. He
laid faith upon this philosophy of life which proclaims to conquer evils, in
general. He felt, one has to take side in the crisis of civilization. To him the
politics, in India has to be directed towards every caste, every race, certainly
national freedom is one such endeavour. But the nationalist movement too, is
a part of resistance struggle in international arena. And nationalist movement
of India too, is also a way towards nationalist liberation. Not only the
exchange of power, not about in the administrative comfort, it was limited.
Had there been no such feelings, Narayan would have been diverted, after
1945. He would not have been committed to his comrades, even though there
were Chinese invasion in 1962. But Narayan was not an active political
worker, nor, he was a member of any political party. But politics, to him, was a
part of his life. To such the path of politics, is to gainsay the glory of life, and
29
humiliating, too, his writing entity. Without any love to humanity it is impossible
to take part in revolution.
A critic has said in this regard :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ¬Û±øÈ«¬·Ó¬ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬ÀÓ¬ ¸øSï ˛ øÂ√À˘Ú Ú±, øfl¡c øÂ√À˘Ú ’±˜±À√¬ı˛
¸¬ı«±eœÌ, ¸¬ı«Ê√ÚœÚ, ¸—¶‘®øÓ¬¬ı˛ ¶§Àõü › ¸±ÒÚ± ˛ ¸˝√√Œ˚±·œ, ¸Ó¬œÔ«ºíí 31
A critic has quoted from famous German poet and dramatist Bertolt
Brecht (10th Feb 1898-14th Aug, 1956) who has instructed to the writers of
new era that:
ëëFight through writing! Show that you are fighting vigorous realism!
Reality is on your side, be on the side of reality! Let life speak!íí 32
Again the critic has said that, Bertolt Brecht then wrote about the
necessity of taking the role of teachers by the writers as:
ëëThe writers will learn best by teachers at the same time.íí 33
If we look at his work, from Brechtian point of view, we see that
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s writing too is a voice of protest, the mouthpiece of
exploited masses. Here Narayan Gangopadhyay is consciously working to
imbibe the socialist feelings in the mind of his readers.
The author who was born a few months after Russian revolution and
died in the beginning of Naxalite movement could not remain silent. He had to
take the camp of reaction or progress. Narayan that is why joined in
progressive movement and till his death he had been there. A contemporary
critic, Susnata Das, has said :
30
ë븬ı«Ê√Úøõ∂ ˛ ¤˝◊√√ ˜±Ú≈ ∏øȬ fl¡‡ÀÚ±˝◊√√ øÂ√À˘Ú Ú± ¬Û±øÈ«¬ ¸√¸… ¬ı± ¸øSï ˚˛
¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ fl¡ «œº øfl¡c Œ√ Àõ∂˜, ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±, Œ˚ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
Œ˙± ∏Ì øڬۜάˇÀ̬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ó¬œ¬ıË ‚‘̱ Ó“¬±Àfl¡ ŒÈ¬ÀÚ ¤ÀÚøÂ√˘ fl¡ ≈…øÚ©Ü ¬Û±øÈ«¬¬ı˛
fl¡±ÀÂ√º’’ 34
Narayan Gangopadhyay was an antifascist writer and a compatriot to
the ‘Pragati Lekhak Sangha’. He frequently used to visit the cultural
pilgrimage of 46, Dharmatala Street. At times he used to visit the meetings, of
this cultural hub. He frequently went to the gathering of IPTA. He used to take
periods of the novoice, political worker to educate them in Marxist’s
philosophy. Narayan has performed this duty in a smiling face. He was honest
to portray his philosophical beliefs, when he was writing stories or novels or in
any other acts. As such he was a social realist, with a conscious pen. Though
he was not a direct member of any communist party, yet he was loyal
throughout his life, to its cause and endeavour.
Narayan Gangopadhyay was a curious political worker. He kept his
faith upon socialist. He was a supporter and critic to communist party. He
never was blind supporter to any communist party that is seen in any
uneducated political worker. He had taken what is good and gave up what is
bad. He could sustain his right to freedom. Though he was not a card-holder
to any political party, he had always searched for the meaning of politics,
sociology and equality. He never supported any prevented politics. He
believed that to reach any desired goal of human understanding one has to
battle hard. The battle in between the good and bad and love and hate that is
based upon difficult experience. He learnt this from Marx and his allied
31
socialist thoughts. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s power of imagination and mind
was based upon his belief, in romanticism, historical consciousness and
scientific materialism. His romanticism was associated with social realities. He
is a passer by of life, who is constantly searching the path to truth, path to
liberation and all round development. He had a rich store house of
experiences. He had witnessed the both non-violence philosophy of Gandhiji
and the violent arm struggle, but never, got any clear answer, the clear
absolute, with his realistic experiences; he understood that freedom can be
achieved neither by the Gandhiji’s way nor by killing few Britishers. To
achieve freedom the need of the hour is to unite all peasant and industrial
workers from all strata of life.
With these feelings, Narayan came under the umbrella of communist
party. He became as a compatriot to communist worker, with this feelings,
which shaped his short stories and novels. ‘Lalmati’ bears truth to this
concept. This novel was published in 1358 B.S. This novel is a chronicle of
political activities a voice of protest to restore the rights of the native from
Barendrabhumi. In this novel, we see that turio Santhal stands as a barrier to
the torture, along with Ranjan Alimuddin master, Kaloshashi, Uttama- Nagen-
Doctor, Parimal and Mita. In this novel, a few days, before partition, he
penned the protests of those tortured people who were united against the
censesonist. Revolution is a constant process. Revolution changes its colour
from age to age due to political situation from country to country. People,
irrespective of Hindus and Muslims, were united to protest against the Feudel
Lord that paved the way to Britisher’s colony.
32
‘Lalmati’, by Narayan Gangopadhyay, was an epitome of a class-
struggle. The central character of ‘Lalmati’ is Ranjan, he is a revolutionary
leader. He has been grown up as a political worker day by day. On one hand,
he grew up in age, and became acquainted to the people outside. Ranjan was
well known to Swadeshi movement, Gandhisim, Satyagraha, Revolution and
ultimately to Russian Revolution and Marxism. It seems that Ranjan, was a
picture bearing writings, all these concepts in his own writings. In this respect,
a critic’s comment is quotable :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ Œ˚ ¸¬ı˛±¸±ø¬ı˛ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬ÀÓ¬ √œé¬±¢∂˝√√À̬ı˛ Œ‰¬À ˛ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛
ø¬ı¬ıÓ«¬ÀÚ˝◊√√ ’øÒfl¡Ó¬¬ı˛ ’±¶ö±˙œ˘ øÂ√À˘Ú, ¬ı˛?Ú˝◊√√ Ó¬±¬ı˛ õ∂˜±Ìº Œ‰¬±À‡¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ
‚ÀȬ ˚±›˚˛± ¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ’±Àµ±˘Ú&ø˘ Ó¬±¬ı˛ øfl¡À˙±¬ı˛ø‰¬M√√Àfl¡ Œfl¡¬ı˘ ø¬ı‰¬ø˘Ó¬˝◊√√
fl¡À¬ı˛øÚ, Ó¬±Àfl¡ ˜ÀÚ ˜ÀÚ ∆Ó¬¬ı˛œ› fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√˘ºíí 35
As because, humanity is in politics, and not politics is in humanity, is to
be observed, so is the version of Ranjan’s character as a protagonist in the
novel. He could not succumb to any political credo, but stood beside the
human concern. This type of character is a known face to Narayan
Gangopadhyay’s own creative vision. India, the sub-continent, has come
through many ups and down. But communal and fundamental forces are still
active in this region. Struggle against them is to be sustained. For that matter
the unity amongst the farmers-labourers and middle class-people is essential.
About this novel, a critic has said :
ëë뢱˘˜±øȬí ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ Œ√˙ˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ¬Û”¬ı« ≈ √√”ÀÓ«¬ “√±øάˇÀ ˛ Ú±¬ı˛±˚˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚˛
Œ¸˝◊√√ ‹fl¡…¬ıX Ê√±¢∂Ó¬ Ê√Ú·ÀÚ¬ı˛ ≈√¬ı«±¬ı˛ ¸—¢∂±À˜¬ı˛ ◊√√ Ê√ ˛·±Ú Œ·À ˛ÀÂ√Úº Œ¸˝◊√√
33
fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ˝◊√√ 뢱˘˜±øÈ¬í ’±Ê√› ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ Ê√±Ó¬œ˚ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ õ∂±¸øefl¡Ó¬± ˝√√±¬ı˛± ˛øÚ,
¬ı¬ı˛— ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú ¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ¤¬ı— ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ’¬ı¶ö±¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛Àõ∂øé¬ÀÓ¬ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸øȬ¬ı˛
õ∂±¸øefl¡Ó¬± ¬ı‘øX Œ¬ÛÀ ˛ÀÂ√ºíí 36
He, in this way has used his pen, but not any sword, for the cause of
human liberation. In one occasion in Desh, 5th January, 1969 issue, he has
criticized the doctrine which uphelds the politics that is totally based upon
theoretical creed only. He never wanted to shun the path of Art in the name of
crude credo. That is why he said as :
ëë ’±˜±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Ó¬N˜≈‡… ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ¸±Ô«fl¡Ó¬± ŒÚ˝◊√√-- Ó¬±¬ı˛ Œ¬ÛÂ√ÀÚ Œ˚
Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ë˝◊√√√√Ê√˜í ˝◊√√ Ô±fl≈¡fl¡ Ú± Œfl¡Úº ’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ√À˙¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈ ∏Àfl¡ ’±ø˜ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±ø¸
|X± fl¡ø¬ı˛º............... ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…˝◊√√ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬, ¬ı±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ˜±Ú≈ ∏ Ú ˛º
Œ˚‡±ÀÚ Œ√‡¬ı Œ√À˙¬ı˛ fl¡˘…±Ì, Œ√‡¬ı qˆ¬-Œ‰¬Ó¬Ú±—Ó¬±Àfl¡ ¸±ÚÀµ ¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛
fl¡¬ı˛¬ıº øÚÂ√fl¡ ˜Ó¬¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ï X õ∂±‰¬œÀ¬ı˛ ø˙ä ¬ı…øMï √QÀfl¡ ’±ø˜ ø¬ı¸Ê«√Ú ø√ÀÓ¬
õ∂dÓ¬ Ú˝◊√√º ’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ√À˙¬ı˛ fl¡Ô±˝◊√√ ¸¬ı«±À¢∂ ¶ú¬ı˛Ì Œ¬ı˛À‡ ’±ø˜ ¸Ó¬…Àfl¡ ’±‰¬¬ı˛Ì
¤¬ı— ø˜Ô…±Àfl¡ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ √√±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛¬ıº ...............’±˜±¬ı˛ ø‰¬ôL±˚˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ’¶Û©ÜÓ¬±
ŒÚ˝◊√√º ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˚ø√ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± √˘ Ô±Àfl¡- Œ¸ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¶§À√˙ , ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˚ø√ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬ Ô±Àfl¡ Œ¸ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ı ∏« ¤¬ı— ˜±Ú¬ıÓ¬±º ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˚ø√ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
¬ıMï √¬ı… Ô±Àfl¡ Ó¬± ˝√√À˘ ¤À√¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… øÚÀ¬ıø√Ó¬ºíí 37
In his later life, Narayan came in contact with the Leftist ideology. That
is why the negative aspect of Indian religion could not find space in his
writings. Instead this became the subjects of humour in him. In this respect,
we can notice the words of a critic :
34
ë댸ø√Ú Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ’ÀÚfl¡é¬Ì ’±˘±¬Û ’±À˘±‰¬Ú± ˝√√À˚øÂ√˘º Ê√±ÚÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛ ±˜
Œ¸ ¤‡Ú ˜±fl«¡¸ƒ¬ı±À√¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ ’Ú≈¬ı˛Mï √º ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ıÀ ∏« Peoples War Ú±˜fl¡
¬ÛøSfl¡±øȬÀfl¡˝◊√√ Œ¸ ¤fl¡˜±S ¸≈¶ö ˜øô¶À¶®¬ı˛ ¬ÛøSfl¡± ¬ıÀ˘ ˜ÀÚ fl¡À¬ı˛º ¬Û”¬ı«Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛
Œ¸ ÷ï ´¬ı˛¬ı±√œ ø‰¬ôL±Ò±¬ı˛±Àfl¡ Ó¬…±· fl¡À¬ı øÚ¬ı˛œï ´¬ı˛¬ı±√œ ø‰¬ôL±Ò±¬ı˛± ¢∂˝√√Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√
¬ıÀ˘ ø¬ı¶úÀ˚˛¬ı˛ øfl¡Â≈√ ŒÚ˝◊√√º Œ¸ Ê√±Ú±À˘, Ó¬±¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Ò˜« ”˘fl¡ ø˙鬱
øÚ©£¬˘ ˝√√ ˛øÚº Œ¸˝◊√ ø˙鬱Ê√œ¬ıÚ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÚ Œ˚ øÚᬱ¬ı˛ Ê√ij ø√À ˛øÂ√˘
Œ¸˝◊√√ øÚᬱ˝◊√√ Ó¬±Àfl¡ ˜±fl«¡¸ƒ¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ø√Àfl¡ ŒÍ¬À˘ ø√À˚˛ÀÂ√ºíí 38
In Naxalbari movement, we don’t see him supporting the revolutionary
youth. But Professor Narayan Gangopadhyay did not stand beside the
students, who went on having tortures or their death in custody. This truth was
painful to those who wrote and stood beside the Naxal, in their own writings,
especially by those who were leftist. He had stood beside his own favour, in
an essay dated 7th Nov, 1970, in the Journal, titled “Sunandar Journal” :
ëë ¸ø¬ıÚÀ˚˛ ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ ¬ıø˘, ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ Œ‚±¬ı˛¬Û“…±À‰¬ ’±ø˜ ŒÚ˝◊√√º ’±Õ˙˙¬ı fl≈¡ø˙鬱¬ı˛
Ù¬À˘ øÚÓ¬±ôL˝◊√√ ø¬ı ”ÀϬˇ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ√˙Ȭ±Àfl¡ øfl¡ø=» ˆ¬±À˘±À¬ıÀ¸ ŒÙ¬À˘øÂ√–
Ó¬…±À· ≈√–À‡ ¸±ÒÚ± ˛ ˜Úœ ∏± ˛ “±¬ı˛± ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬˚ ’±¬ı˛ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ ·Àάˇ
Ó≈¬À˘ÀÂ√Ú, Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ ’±˜±¬ı˛ øfl¡Â≈√ |X± ’±ÀÂ√º ’±Ê√ øÚø¬ı«‰¬±À¬ı˛ Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛
Â√ø¬ı ’±¬ı˛ ˜”øÓ«¬¬ı˛ fl¡äÚ±Ó¬œÓ¬ ’¬ı˜±ÚÚ± Œ√À‡ Ò±¬ı˛Ì± Ê√ÀijøÂ√˘–¤ ¸˜ô¶ ά±˝√√±
¬Û±·À˘¬ı fl¡±G, Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ √ , ˚Ó¬ ø¬ıõ-¬ıœ˝◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛± Œ˝√√±Ú Ú± Œfl¡Ú, Œ˚
ά±À˘ ¬ıÀ¸ ’±ÀÂ√Ú, Œ¸˝◊√√ ά±À˘¬ı˛ Œ·±Î¬ˇ±˚ fl≈¡Î¬≈ ¬ı¸±À¬ıÚ- ¤˜Ú fl“¡±Í¬±À˘ ¬ı≈øX
Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ Ô±fl¡ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú±º Œfl¡±ÀÚ± Œ√À˙, Œfl¡±ÀÚ± fl¡±À˘ ¤˜Ú ¬Û¬ı˛ ±(˚«
∆¬ıõ-ø¬ıfl¡ fl¡˜«ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ ά◊√±˝√√¬ı˛Ì ¬Û±› ˛± ˚±À¬ı Ú±ºíí 39
35
Though he started with romantic vein, in his early writings, yet he has
penned the writings, with class-struggle concept. In his first novel Upanibesh
he had delineated a new type of code and with socialist expression.
No sign of a new life could be seen in such a book by him, who was
twenty four years old, but took a mature turn. In his works it still to come. But
Narayan Gangopadhyay wrote not only for the individual, but for a crowd, a
mass, as if he was on his way to unveil the truth behind mystery.
The children-literature that Narayan Gangopadhyay has written, too,
won recognition and immortality. Those writers who are great do not forget
their childhood. They always love children. With this, Bidyasagar has written
‘Barnaparichay’ for children, though he was great scholar of Bengali literature.
Narayan Gangopadhyay, too, was not exception. He loved children. In his
writing carrier he panned down children-literature, in his busy schedule. Here,
he is unparallel. Of this a critic has said as :
ëëŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ’±ø˜› fl¡˜ Œ¬ıø˙ ˝√√±ø¸¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± ø˘À‡øÂ√ ¬ıÀȬ øfl¡c Œ¸ ¸¬ı
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ √“±Î¬ˇ±ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ¬Û±À¬ı˛ Ú±–¤ fl¡Ô± ’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬À˚ Œ¬ıø˙ Œfl¡
’±¬ı˛ Ê√±ÀÚØ√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± qï ˝√√Ó¬ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ˜±¬ı˛ ¬Û“…±‰¬ Ú± fl¡À ∏ ◊√√, fl¡Ô±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
¬Û± ˛Ó¬±¬ı˛± Ú± Œˆ¬ÀÊ√˝◊√√-¬ı±˝√√±≈√ø¬ı˛ Œ√‡±¬ı±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬©Ü± øÂ√˘ Ú± Œ¸ ¸¬ı Œ˘‡±˚, fl¡± ˛√±
Œfl¡¬ı˛±˜øÓ¬ fl¡¸¬ı˛» Œ√‡±ÀÚ±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± õ∂ ˛±¸ Ú ˛º ’±¬ı˛ fl¡Ó¬ ¸˝√√ÀÊ√ Œfl¡˜Ú
’¬ı˘œ˘±˚˛ Œ˚ Œ˙ ∏ ˝√√À ˛ Œ˚Ó¬º ’±¬ı˛ fl¡œ¬ı˛fl¡˜ ˜Ê√± ˘±·Ó¬ Œ˚ ¬ÛάˇÀÓ¬, fl¡œ
¬ı˘¬ıºíí 40
At first, he began writing stories and novels for the grown-ups. After
that he came to write for children on request by Bishu Mukhopadhyay, the
36
editor of a children-magazine, Mouchak. In this regard Narayan
Gangopadhyay has said by himself :
ëë¬ıάˇÀ√¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ·ä ø˘‡øÂ√˘±˜º ˝√√ͬ±» ¤fl¡ø√Ú ø¬ıq ≈À‡±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ ¤À˘Úº
....¤À¸˝◊√√ Ù¬¬ı˛ ±¸ fl¡¬ı˛À˘Ú, 댘ɬ±Àfl¡í ·ä ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ı ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…º
ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ ·äº Œ¸ ŒÓ¬± ≈√¤fl¡øȬ ø˘À‡øÂ√ ∆fl¡À˙±À¬ı˛º.......... Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ’±¬ı˛› ¬ıάˇ
˝√√À ˛ ¬ıάˇÀ√¬ı˛ ¬ÛøSfl¡± ˛ ‰¬À˘ ¤À¸øÂ√√√º ¤‡Ú ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ ·ä Œ¸ ˜Ú
Œfl¡±Ô± ˛ ¬Û±¬ı-- ŒÂ√À˘À¬ı˘±¬ı˛ Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬‡≈ œ¬ı˛ Ê√·»È¬±Àfl¡ Œfl¡±Ô±˚ ¬Û±˝◊√√º..........
¤¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ø¬ıq√± qï fl¡À¬ı˛ ø√À˘Ú ’±¬ı˛ Ô±˜ÀÓ¬› ø√À˘Ú Ú±º Ù¬¬ı˛ ±˙ ø√À˘Ú,
˝√√±ø¸¬ı˛ ·ä Œ˘À‡± ¤fl¡È¬± ¬ı±ø¯∏«fl¡œ¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…º ’±¬ı˛› ≈ø¶®˘º Œ·±˜ƒ¬ı˛± ≈‡ fl¡À¬ı˛
˜±©Ü±ø¬ı˛ fl¡ø¬ı˛– ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ Œ·À˘ ŒÂ√À˘À√¬ı˛ ˝√√±ø¸ ¬ıg fl¡¬ı˛±˝◊√√ ’±˜±¬ı˛ fl¡±Ê√, ˝√√±ø¸¬ı˛
·ä Œfl¡±ÀOÀfl¡ ’±¸À¬ıº
Ó¬‡Ú øÚÀÊ√¬ı ŒÂ√±È¬À¬ı˘± ˛ øÙ¬À¬ı˛ ¤˘±˜º ¶ú‘øÓ¬¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ ‡“¬≈ÀÊ√
’±ÚÀÓ¬ ˘±·˘±˜ Œ¸˝◊√√ ¸¬ı ‚ȬڱÀfl¡- ˚±À√¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ˆ¬±¬ıÀ˘ ¤‡Ú› Ó¬¬ı˛ ˝√√±ø¸
Ù≈¬ÀȬ ›Àͬ ŒÍ¬±“ÀȬ¬ı˛ Œfl¡±Ì± ˛º ¤˜øÚ ¤fl¡øȬ ·ä ø√˘±˜ ø¬ıq√±Àfl¡º Œ¸˝◊√√ Œ˚
˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬¬ı˛ ˝√√±ø¸¬ı˛ Œ¶⁄±Ó¬ ¬ı˝◊√√√√˘, ’±Ê√› Ó¬± ’±¬ı˛ Ô±˜˘ Ú±ºíí 41
In fact, as a man Narayan Gangopadhyay was a man of good humour.
For that, no work to him was difficult. He was as simple as a child, with a tinge
of naughty affairs. He used to compose humorous stories with the name of his
friends. His smile was pure, the smile that is rare, No type of follies got in his
own writings.
It is very difficult to write for the children. Some people are there, who
are known for their children-writing. Though they are expert in this field, but
these are devoid of children psychology. That is why though these books are
37
taken by them in their hands, they don’t read those books or if they are forced
to read these by the dictate of the elders, yet, they don’t enjoy those books,
written by the grown-ups.
There are three characters, which has left an undeniable mark upon
writings of children-literature. They are ‘Ghanada’ by Premendra Mitra,
‘Harshabardhan’ by Shibram Chakraborty and after that ‘Tenida’ by Narayan
Gangopadhyay. ‘Tenida’ is his immortal creation. His neighbour in
Pataldanga, Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, was the inspiration to form the
perspective of his ‘Tenida’. About this, a critic has said :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ¬ı˛¸À¬ı±ÀÒ¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬˚ ¬ı˛À ˛ À·ÀÂ√ ŒÈ¬øÚ√±¬ı˛ fl¡±ø˝√√ÚœÀÓ¬º
øÚÂ√√fl¡ Â√…±¬ı˘±ø˜ÀÓ¬ Œ˚ ¬ı˛ ¸‘ø©Ü ˝√√˚ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ’±ø¬ı˘Ó¬± ’Àä˝◊√√ ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Ò¬ı˛±
¬ÛÀάˇº.......ŒÈ¬øÚ√±¬ı˛ Œ˚ ά± ˛±˘· qÀÚ qÀÚ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡ Œ˝√√À¸ ˘≈ÀȬ±¬Û≈øȬ ‡±˚ Ó¬±
Œfl¡±˘fl¡±Ó¬±¬ı˛ ‰¬˘ƒøÓ¬ ˆ¬± ∏± ˝√√À˘› Œfl¡±Úˆ¬±À¬ı fl¡˜øÓ¬ Ú ˛ºíí 42
A few words have got access to greater Bengali Literature with Tenida,
such as ‘Ek Gattai Chandi Chandpur-e’, ‘Kan Karnatak
Pradesh-e’, ‘Dant dantane’,‘Nak Nasike’ etc. Especially, ‘Mother-para’
(a short version of Motherland) slogan will remain immortal. With keen
observation of human life, he could understand the psyche of child. That is
why Tenida, appears to us as a hero of worship, in part of the children
readers. With the help of his keen inner eyesight, Narayan Gangopadhyay
could understand his younger readers’ mental state. So for them he has
created the famous character—‘Tenida’. In class X Tenida has been sitting fix
like the monument for several years, no body can scare him away from this
38
class. Because he has to manage the new boys and girls coming in class X.
About this man, Tenida, the writer has said :
ëë¤ Œ˝√√Ú ˜±Ú≈ ∏øȬ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛± ¬Û“±‰¬ ˝√√±Ó¬ ˘•§± ‡È¬‡ÀȬ ŒÊ√±˚±Úº ·Àάˇ¬ı˛ ˜±Àͬ Œ·±¬ı˛±
ŒÍ¬ø„√√À ˛ ¤¬ı— Œ‡˘±˚ Œ˜±˝√√Ú¬ı±·±Ú ˝√√±¬ı˛À˘ Œ¬ı˛Ù¬±ø¬ı˛ ø¬ÛøȬÀ ˛ ¶§Ú±˜ÒÚ…ºíí 43
It is a, all-permissible, truth that Narayan Gangopadhyay’s children-
literature is unique, of its own. But in respect of the characterization of Tenida
it has gone beyond the limit. So ‘Tenida’ is unparallel, one and only, Tenida is
comparable to Tenida only. His speech today is proverbial, the saga of the
Charmurti of Pataldanga’s, is legendery. Tenida’s permanent place is the
portico of Chatterjee’s. He defalcates from others’ pocket, out of which he
survives. He feels hungry even after any good meal, because, Tenida never
knows how to shut his mouth up. Though, at first sight he falls in danger with
Kabla, Habul and Pela, yet ultimately this situation turns into pleasure. With
utter expertise he shows us why we all, are the lover of Tenida. This can be
realized in the novel, ‘Charmurtir Abhiyan’. Charmurti went on excursion, in
times of Christmas vacation to Kuttimama’s house in Duars at the end of
examination. As soon as they arrived there, Mama took them to hunt leopard
which cruted horror. Then went Tenida rode upon a running elephant, cried by
telling that they all have lost their Tenida, adieu, adieu, Habul, Kabla, Pela. At
that time they all also started crying together. Because to them :
ëëŒÈ¬øÚ√± ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ˜±Ô± ˛ ˝√√±Ó¬ ¬ı≈ø˘À˚ ’ÀÚfl¡ ø˜ø©Ü ’±¬ı ø¬ıô¶¬ı˛ ά±˘ ≈Ȭ
Œ‡À˚ÀÂ√º ‰“¬±øȬ ·±A± ˘±ø·À˚ÀÂ√ ˚‡Ú Ó¬‡Úº øfl¡c ŒÈ¬øÚ√± Ú˝◊√√À˘ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ Œ˚
¤fl¡øȬ ø√Ú› ‰¬À˘Ú±º Œ˚˜Ú ‰¬›Î¬ˇ± ¬ı≈fl¡ ŒÓ¬˜øÚ ‰¬›Î¬ˇ± ˜Ú .......... ¬Û±Î¬ˇ±¬ı˛
39
fl¡±À¬ı˛± ø¬ı¬Û√-’±¬Û√ ˝√√À˘ ŒÈ¬øÚ√±˝◊√√ ø·À ˛ “√±øάˇÀ ˛ÀÂ√ ¸¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±À·º Œ˘±Àfl¡¬ı˛
ά◊¬Ûfl¡±À¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ˜≈ √√”ÀÓ«¬¬ı Ê√Ú… Ó¬±¬ı˛ flv¡±øôL ŒÚ˝◊√√- ˜≈À‡ ˝√√±ø¸ Ó¬±¬ı˛ Œ˘À·˝◊√√ ’±ÀÂ√º
Ù≈¬È¬¬ıÀ˘¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… Œ¸¬ı˛± Œ‡À˘±˚±Î¬ˇ, øSï Àfl¡ÀȬ¬ı˛ fl¡…±ÀõI◊Úº ’±¬ı˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ ¬ı˛±Ê√±º
¤˜Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ ·ä ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ Œfl¡Î¬◊ Ê√±ÀÚ Ú±ºíí 44
That children reader was entertained by Tenida’s world, it is due to the
ingenuity of Tenida’s articraft which they have become familiar laughter was
the way, with which he sketches the ins and outs of their psyche. This
laughter was spontenous. Tenida is the president in every meeting in the
portico of Chatterjee’s. This book became best seller among the list of Bengali
children-literature which is full of fun. It is true that Narayan Gangopadhyay,
wrote other type of books for children too, but it is in such of comedy which
gave him lasting popularity amongst children readers. Here, he is original. But
it was written in a classical vein, a kind of detachment could be seen here in
such type of writing. He was undoubtedly a good reader of human mind with a
sweet tongue, and untalkative. He had keen respect for his elder writers. He
was a naughty boy, the experience of childhood which shaped his own
writings, which is drawn in his characterization and incidents of the naughty
act of the troops in Pataldanga. In this regard he said as follows :
ëëŒ˘‡±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… Ú±Ú± ≈√©Ü≈¬ı≈øX Ó¬‡Ú ŒÔÀfl¡˝◊√√ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˜±Ô± ˛º ¬Û¬ı˛¬ıÓ«¬œfl¡±À˘
’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± ˛ ¤¬ı˛± ¤À¸ ˝√√±øÊ√¬ı˛ ˝√√À˚ÀÂ√–ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ Œ˘‡±˚˛ºíí 45
A remarkable piece of talent, is Narayan Gangopadhayay’s ‘Sunandar
Journal’, it was serialized in weekly ‘Desh’. It gained popularity by the readers
of ‘Desh’. It was published from the year 1963 till his death in 1970.
40
Apparently, it was written by a journalist, yet it has crossed the barrier of mere
dull reportage. Every reader was curious, before its appearance in the
subsequent issues. This period was a remarkable one in the political history of
West Bengal. People then went through the period of economic turmoil, at
that time the people of Bengal could not seat in peace.
The philosophy of stagnation loomed large over the psyche of the
Indian society. In this political age of turmoil West Bengal had to succumb.
The failure of congress government, the internal conflict within the left front
and the short lived Govt. and their whimsical decision left havoc upon the
shoulders of the common people of West Bengal. The failure to control the
sky high price of essential commodities left the people of West Bengal in front
of uncertainty. That is why any incident, got space in ‘Sunandar Journal’. Its
point of view, the humour and over and above its diction has won over the
mind and curiosity of the readers. If any one wants to portray the
contemporary social limbo, credibly then, one has to keep herself or himself
detached from his materials. Man comes near the subject of unconsciously,
into the treatment of the written the difficult task, and then is that the writer
has to face problems, being too much involved in his personal crisis that
comes from the turmoil of society. But ‘Sunandar Journal’ is a little bit
different. Here, though his subject of context embarks socio-economic crisis
and the contemporary problems yet the author never derailed from his comic
word at heart. In face with the touch of comic relief it has gained a character
of singularity. Added to this were his civilized taste sagacity and sometimes
the touch of foreign literature. This legendary teacher has taught and gave a
41
colour in his own writing in field of education as the saint ‘Dadhichi’. Here
Narayan Gangopadhyay could not conceal himself behind the act as a
Reporter, in ‘Sunandar Journal’. The spices, presented in palatable dishes of
‘Sunandar Journal’, were a matter of curiosities to the reader. Sunanda, as we
see him from in the journal is taken as one, victim of the contemporary
government and its whimsical activities at that age.
Nothing could escape from the eye of the author, in ‘Sunandar Journal’.
Even the decay of contemporary society, its values, could find spaces there.
The critic has said in this regard :
ë뤽◊√√ ¢∂Lö ¤fl¡±Ò±À¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ¸˜À˚¬ı˛ ¬ı±„√√±ø˘¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ-˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ ¤¬ı— ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛
√¬Û«Ìºíí 46
In fact, ‘Sunandar Journal’ is the history of an age. Those who were not
able to understand and feel that age, the author has made them understood
its spices. Week after week, month after month, ‘Sunandar Journal’ has
entertained its readers. It was never monotonous. Everybody was eager to
read this. In this respect, one of the critics of Narayan Gangopadhyay, Manas
Mazumdar’s statement is citable :
ëë ¸≈Úµ¬ı˛ Â√ΩÀ¬ıÀ˙ Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚˛ Œ¸ ¸˜ ˛ õ∂˜±Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ øÂ√À˘Ú Œ˚,
Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ fl¡˘˜ ¸Ó¬…¸Ó¬…˝◊√√ ˚±≈√√G ˝√√À ˛ ά◊ͬÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı , ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Œ˘‡fl¡
’±√±˚˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ øÚÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú Œ¬Ûìı±øÌfl¡ ¬ı˙…Ó¬±º õ∂˜±Ì fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√À˘Ú Œ˚, ŒÊ√±¬ı˛±À˘±
fl¡˘˜ Ê√ij Œ√ ˛ ¸» › ø¬ıÀ¬ıfl¡œ ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛º
¸≈Úµ¬ı˛ Ó”¬ÌœÀ¬ı˛ Ó”¬À̬ı˛ ’ˆ¬±¬ı øÂ√˘ Ú±º ˝√√5±-’ÀôL øÓ¬øÚ ’ÀÚfl¡Àfl¡˝◊√√
ø¬ıX fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº ¤˜Ú øfl¡ øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡›º ’±¬ı Œfl¡Î¬◊ Ó“¬±Àfl¡ Ó¬±˝◊√√ ˙Sn∏ ¬ıÀ˘ ˆ¬±¬ıÀÓ¬
42
¬Û±À¬ı˛øÚº ¸≈Úµ Œ˚ ¤fl¡ Ê√±¢∂Ó¬ ø¬ıÀ¬ıfl¡, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ê√±Ú«±˘ Œ˚ √¬Û«Ì-¸‘√˙–Œ˚‡±ÀÚ
Sï ˜±i§À ˛ ‰¬À˘ÀÂ√ ’±R¬ıœé¬Ì ŒÔÀfl¡ ø¬ıï ´¬ıœé¬À̬ı ¬Û±˘±ºíí 47
There is a difference between literature and journalism. Though by
name, it was journal, yet it is not so infact. His subject was of a chronicler, yet
it has never been a report. It has got its literary values. Report is short lived,
informative. But the institutional literature does not live in reporting. Its appeal
is upon its Rasa. Facts can be his shelter of writing but its main aim in its
Rasa. The aim of literature is to raise emotion. A classic literature is
permanent in its appeal. The demand, of the contemporary reader, is not its
aim only, rather one of the various aims, it can be said. The love and respect
of the reader forever is its aim. That is why the authorship is aimed at winning
the heart of the readers yet to come in future.
In literary, classification, ‘Sunandar Journal’ can be said a ‘Comedy’.
Many things, right from the gossiping environment, a clear vision, to move the
reader, correspondence among text and context, the primacy of emotion to
cerebral act are the moot point of Narayan Gangopadhyay’s articraft. It is
undoubtedly clear that to give pleasure, to the reader is the main aim of the
author. Here in this respect, Sunanda is successful. Week after week the text,
‘Sunandar Journal’ has given the Bengali reader a lasting space. He has
imbibed laughter and sprayed thorns into readership.
Narayan Gangopadyay is a two fold genious. Both as a teacher and as
a writer, he excelled himself. But first he is a writer, and then a teacher. But
there is no contradiction between a teacher and a writer. As a teacher he had
43
excessed to philosophy both eastern and western, his thinking was a
combination of Art and philosophy. In Sunandar Journal we get its clear
picture. On the one hand, it has a literary value and on the other hand it is a
document of social values. It is pedagogy of the people living in every social
stratum.
Actually Sunanda is not only a commentator or a poet; he is a
philosopher, too. That is why in his own composition of Sunanda, he has
forecasted his death in the following words :
ëë’¸≈¶ö ˙¬ı˛œÀ¬ı˛ Ê√±Ú«±˘ ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ˆ¬±¬ıøÂ√, ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸—‡…±˚ ¸≈Úµ¬ı˛ ¬Û±Ó¬±øȬ
˚ø√ Ú± Ô±Àfl¡, Ó¬±˝√√À˘ Ê√±ÚÀ¬ıÚ, ’±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ fl¡˜Ú˜…±Ú ¬ı±„√√±˘œ¬ı˛ ’¬ı˘≈ø5 ¬ı±
’±Rø¬ı¸Ê«√Ú ‚Ȭ˘ºíí 48
The journal was published in 7th November, entitled as ‘Asustha
Sharirer Bhabna’, the last journal, was published in 14th November, 1970.
Before that he had taken leave from this earth on 8th November. The last
writing of Sunandar Journal was published in Desh, along with an obituary.
Narayan Gangopadhyay was there extensively with the mind of whole
Bangladesh. Here, Narayan came with the creative appeal, long back in his
youth. It was seen at that very time, coming along with the literary quriosity
and clairvoyance. As a writer he was closed to everybody. Many came to be a
compatriot upon any type of meeting and gathering. Everybody used to be
entertained by him. His speeches were spontaneous, wonderful, but never
was a gimmick. As if his pointed nose, bright eyes are the emblem of his own
mind. His personalities and mindset helped him to release thing around him.
44
Sometimes referential, sometime in cases of recitation, sometimes in
companion added to the words he spoke about. Always he was easy, lifeful in
enthusiasm without any effort. He was a friend to everyone. Gopal Haldar has
said :
ëëŒ¶ß √√ ¶§26√µÓ¬±˚˛ ŒÂ√±È¬À√¬ı˛ ’±¬ÛÚ±¬ı˛ fl¡Àé¬ Ó≈¬À˘ ¤ÀÚ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛
’±Rõ∂fl¡±À˙ ¸±˝√√¸ Ê√±ø·À˚ ø√ÀÓ¬Úº ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ ¬ıάˇÀ√¬ı˛ ’fl‘¡øS˜ Œ¸Ã˝√√±À«√…
’±¬ÛÚ±¬ı˛ fl¡Àé¬ Ò±¬ı˛Ì fl¡À¬ı› ø¬ıÚ•⁄ ¸zÀ˜ Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ø¬ıø˙©Ü ˜˚±«√± ø√ÀÓ¬›
ˆ¬≈ ÀÓ¬Ú Ú±º Ú±¬ı˛±˚˛À̬ı˛ ¸±˝√√‰¬À « ¸fl¡À˘¬ı˛ ◊√√ õ∂fl¡±˙ ’¬ı…±˝√√Ó¬º Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√
¶§±26√µ… ŒÊ√±·±Ó¬ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛À̬ı˛ õ∂œøÓ¬, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ê√ij·Ó¬ ˙±˘œÚÓ¬±À¬ı±Ò, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛
˜Ò≈¬ı˛ ¶§ ¬±¬ıºíí 49
Though, there may be difference of opinion, yet, ultimately Narayan
Gangopadhyay has embarked upon a philosophy of life, that was his own.
Narayan Gangopadhyay was a seeker of life. He was an artist of life.
He went on conversation with many people, accumulated both sweet and sour
of life, which found spaces in his own writing. His writings were lifefull, and
active. He had added jewels to the Bengali literature. In his critical writing too,
he excelled much to the delight of the people. Even erudite thinking, has got
easy excess to his simplicity. The book ‘Sahitye Chotagalpa’ was a big work
to his credit. This book is a treasure of Bengali literature on criticism which is
rare in Bengali literature. With studies on authorship their feelings and
surprising techno craft a few works of criticism on the several litterateurs in his
critique ‘Sahitya O Sahityik”, leave much to the Bengali literature. ‘Bangla
Galpa Bichitra’, too, is added to such activities.
45
He delivered a lecture titled as ‘Chotagalper Simarekha’, given on the
occasion of ‘Sharatchandra Chatterjee Smriti Baktritamala’, speaks words of
erudite thinking.50 His ‘Kathakobid Rabindranath’ has added another feather
upon the works on Rabindranath. It is not only a ‘critique’ but also a book, with
rare distinction with lyricism. He has also composed a few dramas which
stand as a testimony to the Bengali Dramaturge. The enacted version,
‘Bharate Chai’ and ‘Agantuk’ has created uproar him in the Bengali
readership. The main thing beside this was his envious experience that helps
the writers stand upon their own. In this respect, a critic’s appreciation can be
cited :
ëëqÒ≈ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… Ú˚˛ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚¬ı˛ ˙±ôL ¸≈ ¬^ ¬ı…øMï √ÀQ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…› øÂ√˘
¤˜øÚ ¤fl¡ ¬ı<fl¡øÍ¬Ú ŒÊ√√, Ê√˚œ ˝√√í¬ı±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ’Ú˜Úœ ˛ ˙øMï √º ¶§œ ˛ ’ôLÀ˘«±Àfl¡
˚± ¸Ó¬… ¬ıÀ˘ ’Ú≈ ¬”Ó¬ ˝√√˚˛ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı ’Ó¬…±‰¬±¬ı˛ ◊√√ ˙øMï √, ˜øµÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛
¬ı± ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛ ¤fl¡‰¬é≈¬ ¸—¶®±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ’Ú≈ ±¸Ú ’±¬ı˛ ˙±¸±øÚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ fl¡Ó«¬¬ı…À¬ı±ÒÀfl¡
ˆ¬œï Ó¬± ˛ ¸Ç≈ø‰¬Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛øÚ, Ó¬±¬ı˛Ê√Ú… Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ˙¯∏ ¬ı˛Mï √ø¬ıµ≈Àfl¡› ¬ı±øÊ√ ¬ı˛±‡ÀÓ¬
Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ø¡ZÒ± øÂ√˘Ú±º ¤ ‰¬ø¬ı˛S ø‰¬ø˝ï Ó¬ ˝√√À˚øÂ√˘ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ ∆fl¡À˙±À¬ı ŒÊ√À· ›Í¬±
ø¬ıõ-¬ıœ ¬ı…øMï √ÀQ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…º.......... ¤‡±ÀÚ˝◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı…øMï √ÀQ Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬ı˛+¬ÛøȬ √œ¬Û…˜±Ú
ëë¬ı<±√ø¬Û fl¡Àͬ±¬ı˛±øÌ ˜‘≈√øÚ fl≈¡¸≈ √ø¬Ûºíí Œ√À˝√√ ˜ÀÚ õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬± ˛ ‡±¬ÛÀ‡±˘±
Ó¬À¬ı˛± ˛±À˘¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ά◊8˘ ¤˝◊√√ ˜±Ú≈ ∏øȬ ¬ıάˇ Œ¬ı˙œ Ú•⁄ ’±¬ı˛ ¬ıάˇ fl¡øͬں Ÿ¬Ê≈√√,
¸≈¬ı˛± ¬ı± õ∂øÓ¬¬ÛøM√√ Œfl¡±Ô±› ÚÓ¬ ˝√√› ˛± Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ÀMï √ Œ˘À‡ øÚºíí 51
If we notice, we can understand that Narayan Gangopadhyay’s works
are not complex. But it is also not expected that a fiction writer will walk only
along the easy path of life. That is why he will celebrate the victory bed of
thorns in literature of life. That is why the dryness of a desert has also touched
46
him. But, for the sake of truth it must be said that, it was not that pungent and
wide extensive, that we find in his literature. In fact he seeks a beautiful
perspective. He, who is having a wild-character, is himself will search for
another self. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s accumulated knowledge and
understanding has covered all through his writing carrier, which sometimes
was responsible for the extension of fiction writing, sometimes it crosses the
romantic subjectivity. But when perspective is ready, the environment is
conducive then it became excellent.
In his creative personality Narayan is a visionary romantic. In his own
mind, he had been reciting poems one after another amidst the din and bustle
of the daily busy schedule. Such a poetic person, left poetry in his early carrier
if asked, he would say :
ëë ëfl¡ø¬ıÓ¬± ¬ıάˇ ’øˆ¬˜±Úœ, ¤fl¡¬ı±¬ı Ó¬±Àfl¡ ”√À¬ı˛ ŒÍ¬À˘ ¬ı˛±‡À˘ ’±¬ı˛ øÙ¬À¬ı˛ ¬Û±› ˛±
˚±˚˛ Ú±º fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¸•§gȬ± õ∂±˚˛ Ó¬±˝◊√√ ˝√√À˚˛ √“±øάˇÀ ˛ÀÂ√ºí ’±¬ı±¬ı˛
fl¡‡Ú› ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬Ú, ë’±˜±¬ı˛ fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±˝◊√√ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ¬ı˛+¬Û±ôLø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À˚˛ÀÂ√, fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛
˜ÀÒ…˝◊√√ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ ¬ıœÊ√ ˘≈Àfl¡±Ú Ô±Àfl¡ºí íí 52
Truly, Narayan Gangopadhyay was a great artist of short story. His first
story got published in Desh, titled ‘Nishither Maya’, the number of the issue of
Desh was 2nd year, 38th issue, 1935. Immediately after that he took up the
task of writing stories. He forgot poetry and his stories were published in
regular interval from Desh to Bichitra, and Shanibarer Chithi along with other
magazines. Poet Narayan Gangopadhyay became short story-writer Narayan
47
Gangopadhyay. As a well wisher he got Sajanida, of Shani Graha and Upen
Gangopadhyay of Bichitra. 53
As a whole, Narayan Gangopadhyay started writing in Bichitra. Here he
came to conquer the heart of his reader, mainly as a short story-writer and
less as a poet. His remarkable stories that appeared in Bichitra were, Bar
Asitheche, (Chaitra, 1342 B.S.), Antahshila (Ashar, 1343 B.S.), Pratistha
(Magh, 1343 B.S.), Mayapuri (Baishakh, 1344 B.S.), Banchibar Adhikar
(Jaistha, 1345 B.S.), Bhitti (Magh, 1345 B.S.), Tantrik (1346 B.S.). His
poetries too, were published in ‘Bichitra’- Aami Eka Batayane (Phalgun, 1343
B.S.), Chaitali Hawa Path Bhuliache (Phalgun, 1343 B.S.). Regarding his
infatuation over such poetry a critic has said :
ëëfl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˛ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ˙ ∏ õ∂˝√√¬ı˛ ¬Û˚«ôL ¬ı˘¬ı» øÂ√˘º ‘Ó≈¬…¬ı˛
≈√ø√Ú ’±À· ¢∂±˜ÀÙ¬±Ú Œ¬ı˛fl¡ÀΫ¬ ≈√øȬ ¶§¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬± ’±¬ı‘øM√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº
fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±≈√øȬ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¤fl¡øȬ¬ı˛ Ú±˜ ë¬ı˛¬ıœfÚ±ÔÀfl¡íº ¬ı±—˘± fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¤˜Ú ¤fl¡øÚá¬
¤¬ı— |n∏øÓ¬Ò¬ı˛ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡ ¸˝√√¸± Œ˜À˘ Ú±ºíí 54
That night, when he was admitted to the hospital, on 6th Nov.,1970,
before two days he has passed away, just that day’s morning he composed
two poems; one of which is titled as, ‘Swapna’, dedicated to the solemn death,
and another one, to his lifelong companion, Rabindranath Tagore, titled as,
‘Rabindranathke’. Both in his works, in writing or teaching, Tagore was
present silently. Rabindranath has given him the immortal touch of poetry, a
glow of romanticism, a feeling for humanity. That is why Rabindranath is
present in his every vein. In the composition of his works to entitled, ‘Urbashi’,
48
‘Chitrarekha’, ‘Chokher Bahire’, ‘Nil Diganta’, ‘Megher Opar Prasad’ etc.
belong to Rabindrik ethos. He has written a good short story on Rabindranath,
engraved with the name as-Baishe Shraban, too.
According to him, the loss and wound is not the last word. Love to life,
is the only truth. Especially in short stories, he is an expert in characterizing
the story protagonist. The story writer like him never forgets his time. To him
man is the sound of the heart, his love to life is all embarking. He had the
capability to mesmerize his readers. Human life is complex, society and
civilization is never stagnant, the life is a process in transformation which is
reflected in literature. A critic so has said :
“The novel is concerned directly with life with men and women,
and their relationships with the thoughts and feelings, the
passions and motives by which they are governed and impelled,
with their joys and sorrows, their struggles, success, failures.’’55
This is true, also in respect of short stories. Here and there we perceive
the battle between life and death of humanbeing.
An artist’s life, the time in his creation and his personal life― all these
elements help to know about a creator completely. That is why the life is not
out of his Art in creation. It is true, especially in cases of the life-conscious
men. Narayan Gangopadhyay believed that this world is full of Geographic
barriers. There are differences of contradiction, more than unison. But there is
a universal touch in respect of Art, literature and culture. Every caste, every
creed, every country has shaped this major component of culture with their
49
esoteric, traditional spaces. Countries and castes have sought for the ways to
beautiful life. His appearance includes his experience over perspectives even
though they are singular in respective personalities. What he wants to tell, is
his voice, full of words, that is why he says :
ë븱ø˝√√Ó¬…¸‘ø©Ü ˚“±¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ¬ıËÓ¬ øÓ¬øÚ ¸˜±Ê√ ¸—¸±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¬ıø˝√√ˆ¬”«Ó¬ Œfl¡±Ú›
’¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ Œfl¡Î¬◊ ÚÚ, ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛ ◊√√ ˜±Ú≈ ∏, ¸fl¡À˘¬ı ˜ÀÓ¬±˝◊√√ ¸±—¸±ø¬ı˛fl¡º ¤
¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ GÀ˘˝◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ õ∂±Ó¬…ø˝√√fl¡ ø¬ı‰¬¬ı˛Ìº Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬±À‡ Œ√‡± Ê√·ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ Ú¬ı˛-
Ú±¬ı˛œÀfl¡ øÚÀ˚, ∆√Ú±øµÚ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬-¬ıάˇ, ¸±˜±Ú…-’¸±˜±Ú… Ú±Ú± ‚ȬڱÀfl¡
øˆ¬øM√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ ◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ó¬¬Û(˚«±ºíí56
He could understand that only literature is not able to appreciate the
world around us. He did believe this, beside literature, there are politics,
economics, philosophy, social science and many such things to know about
humanity. For the people, for the necessity of the people, literature is created.
It must be seen in totality. Every writer has to sharpen his or her mind to reach
the ultimate absolute; therefore we should raise the love for man and love for
life. Perhaps Narayan Gangopadhyay is the only voice, who has understood
the country and the people better, but not about a particular region.He has
seen the people in totality. Moreover, he has also seen people and its society
outside Bengal on his way to life; he had observed the variety of people and
their society. That has immense literary values, with their characterisation,
that is not only limited in urban paraphernalia. He has spoken the words of
people.
50
According to him, we are human being and we have set out our journey
in morning day light under the sun. After that we have grown up in physical
and mental spaces, towards the ultimate quest, that is not understood by any
philosophical barrier. That is why he has defined his ideals, ideas that are
necessary in creation of literature. He has said in this regard :
ë븱ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ’±√˙«¬ı±√ ¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛± ˚±fl¡ ¬ı± Ú± ˚±fl¡ Œ¸ ¶§Ó¬La ’±À˘±‰¬Ú±º øfl¡c
Œ˚ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± √‘ø©Ü˜±Ú ¬ı…øMï √Àfl¡ ’±Ê√ ¤È¬± ¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ˝√√À¬ı Œ˚ ëë’—˙Ó¬íí
¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ’±√˙«¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ¤fl¡±ôL õ∂À ˛±Ê√Ú ’±ÀÂ√ ¤¬ı— ¬ı±d¬ı¬ı±√œ¬ı √ ¤˝◊√√
’±√˙«Àfl¡ ’À‰¬Ó¬Ú ¬ı± ’¬ıÀ‰¬Ó¬Ú ˆ¬±À¬ı ¬Û±˘Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ ‰¬À˘ÀÂ√Úº ˚ø Ú± fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬Ú,
Ó¬± ˝√√À˘ Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… õ∂±Ì Ô±fl¡Ó¬ Ú±, ˙øMï √ Ô±fl¡ÀÓ¬± Ú±º ·œÓ¬±¬ı˛ 똱 Ù¬À˘ ∏≈
fl¡√±‰¬Úí ˜LaøȬ ’±¬ı˛ ˚±-˝◊√√-Œ˝√√±fl¡ Ú± Œfl¡Ú, ø¬ı—˙ ˙Ó¬±sœ¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√
≈√À¬ı«±Ò…, ¤¬ı— ¤Àé¬ÀS¬ı˛ ëfl¡ «í ’Ô«±» ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ Œ˚ ëÙ¬˘í, Œ¸ ˝√√À26√ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
ø¬ıø˙©Ü ’±√À˙«¬ı˛ ¸±øißÒ… ˘±ˆ¬ fl¡¬ı˛±ºíí 57
Let us discuss over his personal life. Because, the variety of human life
that is moving with point counterpoint is reflected in literature. His life, mind or
personality takes shape in his own writing. Narayan was married in an early
age to a girl from his own village whose name was Renu Mukherjee. Her
father was Gopal Mukherjee. He was married when he was studying in M.A.
class; the date of the marriage was 9th May, 1940. Their only child, Basabi,
was born in 1941. His wife, Renu Devi was in her family way when his
examination of M.A. was going on. When Basabi was six month’s old, he
joined in Ananda Chandra College at Jalpaiguri. He joined in this college
51
where the environment was fully conducive to his own literacy life. After that in
1945, a few years later he came to Kolkata in Pataldanga. A Critic has said :
ëë˝√√…±ø¬ı˛ Ú Œ¬ı˛±Î¬ ’±˜« √√±©Ü ©Ü™œÀȬ¬ı˛ Œ˜±Àάˇ ¬ı±È¬±¬ı˛ Œ√±fl¡±ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¬Û±˙ ø√À˚˛
’ÀÚfl¡&À˘± ¬ı±Î¬ˇœ Ù“¬≈Àάˇ Œ˚Ú Œ¬ıø¬ı˛À ˛ Œ·ÀÂ√ ¤fl¡È¬± ï ¬ı˛±ô¶±º ¬ÛȬ˘ ά±„√√±
©Ü™œÈ¬º ›˝◊√√ ¬ı˛±ô¶± ˛ Ï≈¬Àfl¡ ά±Ú ø√Àfl¡ Œ¬ı“Àfl¡ ¬ı“± ø√Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛±ÀÚ± ≈√Ó¬˘
¬ı±Î¬ˇœº Œˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛ Ï≈¬Àfl¡ ‡±Î¬ˇ± ø¸“øάˇº ≈√Ó¬˘±¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ‚À¬ı˛ ◊√√ ¤fl¡øȬ Œ‰¬˚±À¬ı˛ ¬ıÀ¸
Ô±fl¡± ’¬ı¶ö± ˛ fl¡Ô±ø˙ä¬ı˛ Œ¶®À‰¬ Œ√‡± ˜±Ú≈ ∏øȬ¬ı˛ ¸Àe ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ Œ√‡± ˝√√À˘±º
ø¸øȬ fl¡À˘ÀÊ√¬ı˛ ’Ò…±¬Ûfl¡ Ó¬‡Ú øÓ¬øÚ, ¬ı±Î¬ˇœÀÓ¬› fl¡øȬ Â√±SÀfl¡ øfl¡ ¬Ûάˇ±¬ı˛ ø¬ı ∏À ˛
Œ¬ı±Á¡±ø26√À˘Úºíí 58
Renu Mukherjee was Narayan Gangopadhyay’s first wife. In relation,
his elder sister, Satirani was Renu’s aunt, ‘Mamima’. That their marriage was
the result of love is known from Narayan Gangopadhyay’s childhood friend,
the younger maternal uncle of Renu Devi, Nemai Bandyopadhyay:
ëë’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ¬ı±øάˇÀÓ¬˝◊√√ Œ¬ı˛Ì≈¬ı˛ ¸Àe Ú±¬ı˛±˚˛À̬ı ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬˚º Ú±¬ı˛±˚˛Ì ’±˜±À√¬ı˛
¬ı±øάˇÀÓ¬ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬Ûάˇ±À˙±Ú± fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√, Œ¸ fl¡Ô±› ¬ıÀ˘øÂ√º Œ¸˝◊√√ˆ¬±À¬ı˝◊√√ Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛
[Œ¬ı˛Ì≈ › Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì] ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛ ¤¬ı— Œ¸˝◊√√ ¸”ÀS Ó¬±¬ı˛± Œ¬ı˙ fl¡±Â√±fl¡±øÂ√ ’±À¸ºíí 59
But this relationship did not last long. Prabhatkumar Mukhopadhyay
remembrance goes thus :
ëë’Ó¬…ôL ¸√±˙˚ ˜±Ú≈ ∏ øÂ√À˘Ú Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì√±º Œfl¡¬ı˘ ¤fl¡øȬ ¬ı…±¬Û±À¬ı˛ ’±˜±¬ı˛
Œfl¡˜Ú ˘±À·º Œ¬ı˛Ú≈À¬ıÃø√ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ øÓ¬øÚ øÂ√À˘Ú Œ˚Ú ¤fl¡È≈¬ Œ¬ıø˙√ ˜±S±˚˛
fl¡Àͬ±¬ı˛º.......... Œ¬ı˛Ì≈À¬ıÃø√¬ı˛ ¸Àe Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì√±¬ı˛ ¬ı…¬ıÒ±ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛ÌȬ± Œ¬ı±Á¡¬ı±¬ı˛
52
Œ‰¬©Ü± fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√º ˜ÀÚ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ Œ¬ı˛Ì≈À¬ıÃø√ ŒÓ¬˜Ú Œ˘‡±¬Ûάˇ± Ê√±ÚÀÓ¬Ú Ú±–¤È¬±˝◊√√
fl¡±¬ı˛Ìºíí 60
Though he had a few enemies in his life, yet sometimes, he was not
above controversy. In his utter personal life, he was controversial in regards to
his first and second wife. Why he left Renu, is not clear. As he got married to
his second wife he was mentally at that time was not sound. After that he had
to lead an auster life. His life, by then was devided into two, both outside and
inside. He was on the way to decay. His inner strife was expressed in his
letter, he wrote to Renu Devi on 27th July, 1945 as :
ëë≈√ ¬«±·± ¬Û±¯∏G ¶§±˜œ¬ı˛ ˝√√±ÀÓ¬ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ ˛±Â–¤ fl¡©Ü ŒÓ¬±˜±Àfl¡ Œˆ¬±· fl¡ø¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ˝√√˝◊√√À¬ı-
˝√√˚ÀȬ± ˝◊√√˝√√±˝◊√√ ’‘√À©Ü¬ı˛ ø¬ıÒ±Úº ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÚ¬ı ˜ÀÒ… õ∂øÓ¬ ˜≈ √√”ÀÓ«¬ ’±&Ú
;ø˘ÀÓ¬ÀÂ√–Œ¸ ;±˘± øfl¡À¸ øÚø¬ıÀ¬ı Ê√±øÚ Ú±º øÚÀÊ√ ¬Û≈øάˇÀÓ¬øÂ√–ŒÓ¬±˜±À√¬ı˛
¸¬ı±˝◊√√Àfl¡ Œ¬Û±Î¬ˇ±˝◊√√ÀÓ¬øÂ√º ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˜‘Ó≈¬… Â√±Î¬ˇ± ¤ ’±&Ú ’±¬ı˛ øÚø¬ıÀ¬ı Ú±ºíí 61
For many reasons, Renuka Devi was depended upon his husband,
Narayan Gangopadhyay, mainly for financial support, even after his marriage
to Ashadevi. But Narayan Gangopadhyay was not that able to provide her.
For this, tussles with Renuka Devi went on. In a letter dated Nov., 1946 to
Renuka, he said :
ëëŒÓ¬±˜±¬ı˛ ’ÀÚfl¡&ø˘ ø‰¬√øͬ ¬Û±˝◊√√ ˛±øÂ√º Ȭ±fl¡±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ¬ı±À¬ı˛ ¬ı±À¬ı˛ Ó¬±ø·√ƒ ø√ÀÓ¬Â√º
¤fl¡˜±¸√ ’±À· 100˚- ‡¬ı˛‰¬ fl¡ø¬ı˛ ˛± ŒÓ¬±˜±Àfl¡ ¬Û±Í¬±Ú ˝√√ ◊√√ ˛±ÀÂ√º ˜±À¸ ’±ø˜
‰¬±ø¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ fl¡ø¬ı˛ ˛± ˜±ø˝√√Ú± ¬Û±˝◊√√ Ú± ¤¬ı— ’±˜±¬ı˛ Ê√ø˜√±¬ı˛œ› Ú±˝◊√√ ¤fl¡Ô± Œ¬ı±Ò ˝√√ ˛
Ó≈¬ø˜ Ê√±ÀÚ±º ¬ı‘ √√¶ÛøÓ¬¬ı±À¬ı˛ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ fl¡À˘Ê√ ‡≈ø˘À¬ıº Œ¸ø√Ú Œ¬ıÓ¬Ú ¬Û±˝◊√√¬ı
53
¤¬ı— ŒÓ¬±˜±¬ı˛ Ȭ±fl¡± ¬Û±Í¬±˝◊√√¬ıº ’±˙±fl¡ø¬ı˛, ¤˝◊√√ ≈√˝◊√√ øÓ¬Úø√Ú ∆Ò˚«…
¸ø˝√√À¬ıº..........................
¬Û≈Ú( – ’±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ fl¡Ô±º ¬Û‘øÔ¬ıœqX Œ˘±Àfl¡¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ø‰¬øͬ ø˘ø‡˚˛± fl“¡±≈√øÚ
·±ø˝√√À˘ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ˘±ˆ¬ ’±ÀÂ√ øfl¡∑ Ȭ±fl¡± ˚Ô±¸±Ò… ¤˝◊√√ ’Ò˜˝◊√√ ø√À¬ı- Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛±
fl¡‡Ú› ø√À¬ıÚ Ú±–¤fl¡Ô±È¬± ˜ÀÚ ¬ı˛±ø‡À˘ ˆ¬ø¬ı ∏…ÀÓ¬ ά◊¬Ûfl¡±¬ı˛ ◊√√ ˝√√ ◊√√À¬ıºíí 62
Asha Devi, his second wife, was versatile in literature, in household
activities, musical and expertise in sports that she excelled. This marriage, to
him was a milestone in his life, a speciality in such a hectic whirlpool. Narayan
Gangopadhyay at that time was a lecturer in Jalpaiguri College. Asha Sanyal,
the elder daughter of her late father, who was a Zamindar, was his favourite
student. Throughout his life, he was weak, in nature and a little bit
irresponsible too. But Asha Devi’s arrival in his life was a turning point.
Sometimes in a positive role, sometimes in a negative role she was able to
solve any problem, which came against her and her husband with sheer
intelligence, workability, courage, longsightedness and patience. Shefali
Sarkar, a friend to Asha Devi, says as :
ëë¬ı¬ı˛±¬ı¬ı˛ ◊√√ Œ√À‡øÂ√, Ó“¬±¬ı ¶§±˜œ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ¸•ú±Ú › ˜˚±«√±¬ı˛
ø¬ı ∏À ˛ øÓ¬øÚ ¸¬ı¸˜ ˛ ◊√√ ¸À‰¬Ó¬Úº ˜ÀÚ ˝√√ ˛ øÓ¬øÚ [’±˙±À√¬ıœ] Ó“¬±¬ı˛ [Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì
·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛] Intellectual Companion øÂ√À˘Úºíí 63
In another occasion, Sunil Bandyopadhyay, one of his colleague in
Jalpaiguri Aananda Chandra College, has remarked about Asha Devi as :
ëëfl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬±˚˛ ¤À¸ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬±¬ı˛ ’±À¬ı˛± ¶£¬≈¬ı˛Ì ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√, ’Ò…±¬ÛÚ± ’±¬ı˛
¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡ ‡…±øÓ¬¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ ˙œÀ ∏« ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√Úº ø¸øȬ fl¡À˘Ê√ ÀÔÀfl¡ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬±
54
ø¬ıï ´ø¬ı√…±˘À˚ Œ·ÀÂ√Ú, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ˚Ô±À˚±·… ¶§œfl‘¡øÓ¬ ø˜À˘ÀÂ√º øfl¡c ˝◊√√øÓ¬˜ÀÒ… Ó“¬±¬ı˛
¬ı…øMï √Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ› ¤fl¡ ø¬ı¬ı˛±È¬ ¬Ûø¬ı˛¬ıÓ«¬Ú ‚ÀȬ Œ·ÀÂ√º qÚ˘±˜ øÓ¬øÚ ø¡ZÓ¬œ ˛¬ı±¬ı˛ √±¬ı˛
¬Ûø¬ı˛¢∂˝√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº Œ˜À˚øȬ¬ı ¸Àe ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛ Ê√˘¬Û±˝◊√√&øάˇÀÓ¬, Œ˜Ò±¬ıœ Â√±Sœ,
¸≈ø˙øé¬Ó¬±º øÓ¬øÚ ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ’Ò…±ø¬Ûfl¡± ˝√√À ˛øÂ√À˘Ú, ¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡ ‡…±øÓ¬¬ı˛ Œ·Ã¬ı˛¬ı
øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬± ˛ ’Ê«√Ú fl¡À¬ıøÂ√À˘Úºíí 64
After a few days in the month of January, 1961, a letter to Sunil
Bandyopadhyay, we see him confessing that a turning point with sorrow has
occurred in his life. We have come across his fatigue, a kind of hopelessness,
is there in his writing at that time. But he rarely unleashed it to anyone else. A
kind of sorrow and solitude left watermark in his later part of literacy life. We
see that, the anxiety of his first married- life has fallen in his stories like, ‘Sei
Pakhita’, ‘Haito’, and in a few other stories and in novels, like ‘Svarnasita’,
‘Alokparna’, and ‘Nirjan Shikhor’. He had been suffering from Insomnia for a
long time. He suffered out of this disease for many days. The topic of ‘Night’,
which came in his writings, was due to this Insomnia. No other writer could
describe with such occasional survivor of night like him. Perhapes we don’t
find a great writer like him who described the beauty of midnight-Calcutta.
Beside this, in his later life, he suffered out of high diabeties, high sugar, and
blood-pressure. Yet he never considered himself as a patient. Youthful
activity, the passion to create a demand to gentleness and delight in teaching,
has sustained him in his writing life.
Avoiding his illness he laboured inhumanly. He brutally assaulted
himself in the name of over work. We can quote a critic’s version in this
regard :
55
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ ¸Àe ‚øÚᬠ˝√√í¬ı±¬ı˛ fl¡Ó¬fl¡&À˘± fl¡±¬ı˛À̬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¤fl¡øȬ fl¡±¬ı˛Ì øÂ√˘
¤fl¡È≈¬ ’Úøˆ¬Àõ∂Ó¬, ’Ô‰¬ Œ¬ı˙ &ï Q¬Û”Ì«º Œ¬ı˙ øfl¡Â≈√fl¡±˘ ŒÔÀfl¡ ’±˜¬ı˛± ≈√Ê√ÀÚ
¤fl¡˝◊√√ Œ¬ı˛±À· ˆ¬≈·øÂ√˘± , Œ¬ı˛±·øȬ ”¬ı˛±À¬ı˛±·… ¤¬ı— øÚ¬ı˛Ç≈˙ ˝√√¬ı±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ά◊¬Û±˚˛
øÂ√˘Ú±º...
˜±S±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛Mï √ ¬Ûø¬ı˛|˜ ¤˝◊√√ Œ¬ı˛±À·¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ õ∂Ò±Ú fl¡±¬ı˛Ì , ’±˜¬ı˛± ά◊ ¬À ˛ ◊√√
¤˝◊√√ ’¬Û¬ı˛±ÀÒ¬’¬Û¬ı˛±Òœ øÂ√˘±˜, øfl¡c Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈¬ı˛ ’¬Û¬ı˛±ÀÒ¬ı˛ ˜±S± ¸¬ı ¸˜˚˛ ◊√√
’±˜±Àfl¡ Â√±øάˇÀÓ¬ ¬Œ˚Ó¬, Œ¸˝◊√√Ê√ÀÚ… øÓ¬øÚ ˜ÀÒ… ˜ÀÒ… ¤˝◊√√ Œ¬ı±À· ˙˚…±˙±˚˛œ ˝√√À ˛
¬ÛάˇÀÓ¬Úºíí 65
After that, on 8th Nov., 1970, Sunday at evening 6.30 (23rd Kartik, 1377
B.S.), Narayan Gangopadhyay breathed his last in Sheth Suklal Karnani
Hospital, Kolkata. He was attacked in 6th Nov., 1970, by cerebral thrombosis.
That day, he returned his home, from the university with severe headache.
After swallowing four codopirine tablets he sat to write ‘Sunandar Journal’.
With this, after long days torture on himself he faced death. In this regard in a
compassionate note, Bijanbihari Battacharya has said :
ë똱øÊ«√Ó¬ ˜Ò≈¬ı˛ ø˙©Ü ¸¬ı˛ ¬ı…¬ı˝√√±À¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ ¸Ó¬œÔ«, ¸˝√√fl¡˜«œ › ¬ıg≈·ÌÀfl¡ ¤fl¡±ôL
’±¬ÛÚ fl¡À¬ı øÚÀ˚˛øÂ√À˘Úº Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈ Œ˚ Œ·±á¬œÀÓ¬ Œ˚±· ø√ÀÓ¬Ú Ó¬± Ê√œ¬ıôL
˝√√À ˛ ά◊ͬӬº Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ’ˆ¬±À¬ı Œ√À˙¬ı˛ ¤fl¡È¬± ’—˙ ˙”Ú… ˝√√À˚˛ ¬ı˛ ◊√√˘, Œ¸ øfl¡
Œfl¡±ÀÚ±ø√Ú ¬Û”Ì« ˝√√ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛À¬ı∑íí 66
He never demanded immortality. He was conscious about his limit.
That is why on 25th November 1945, he consoled himself in a conclusive note:
ëë ’±˜±¬ı˛ fl¡œøÓ«¬À¬ı˛ ’±ø˜ fl¡ø¬ı˛Ú± ø¬ıï ´±¸º
Ê√±øÚ fl¡±˘ ø¸g≈ Ó¬œÀ¬ı˛
56
øÚ ˛Ó¬ Ó¬¬ı˛e±‚±ÀÓ¬ ø√ÀÚ ø√ÀÚ ø√À¬ı ˘≈5 fl¡ø¬ı˛º
..... ¤ ø¬ıÀï ´À¬ı˛ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±ø¸˚˛±øÂ√
¤ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±˝◊√√ ¸Ó¬… ¤ Ê√Àij¬ı˛ √±Úº
ø¬ı√±˚˛ ŒÚ¬ı±¬ı˛ fl¡±À˘
¤ ¸Ó¬… ’•°±Ú ˝√√À ˛ ˜‘Ó≈¬…À¬ı fl¡ø¬ı˛À¬ı ’¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ºíí 67
By the rule of God the man who has started his life as litterateur with
poetry, has ended also in a poetic note. After that Bijanbehari Bhattacharya
has paid his homage that goes there :
ëëfl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì fl¡ø¬ı Ú±¬ı˛± ˛ÌÀfl¡ Œ˚Ú øÚÀÊ√˝◊√√ ’±Î¬ˇ±˘ fl¡À¬ı˛
Œ¬ı˛À‡øÂ√À˘Úº øfl¡c ø¬ıÒ±Ó¬±¬ı˛ ’±(˚« ø¬ıÒ±Ú, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ˙ ∏ fl¡Ô±&ø˘ fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛
¸”ÀS˝◊√√ ·“±Ô± ¬ı˛ ◊√√˘º 6 ÚÀˆ¬•§¬ı˛ qSï ¬ı±¬ı˛ ¸fl¡±À˘ øÓ¬øÚ ≈√øȬ ¬Û≈¬ı˛±Ó¬Ú fl¡ø¬ıÓ¬±
¢∂±À˜±ÀÙ¬±ÀÚ Œ¬ı˛fl¡Î«¬ fl¡À¬ı˛Úºíí68
He never got any significant award in his life as litterateur. Yet among
them, remarkable were ‘Ananda Puraskar’ (1964), ‘Basumati Sahitya
Puraskar’ (1968). He was conferred ‘Sarajini Basu Golden Award’ by Calcutta
University, and the ‘Best Story-writer Award’ by ‘Kathashilpa’. But from all
types of acknowledgement and awards, Narayan Gangopadhyay was
detached. The love and respect that he received from his readers is bigger
than that. He was not only writer-man but a man of writing. His last identity
that is why he is romantic, optimistic, and an idealistic. He reached that goal
by extracting both black and white life of a common man. In this way
‘Commonman’ Narayan Gangopadhyay so is uncommon.
57
NOTES & REFERENCES :
1) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Ki Kare Lekhak Holam”, in Tapas Bhowmik,
et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-2 (Part- III ).
2) Alok Roy (ed.) : Sahityakosh: Kathasahitya , p.-15.
3) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Amar Katha”, in Asha Devi, et al. (ed.),
Narayan Gangopadhyay Rachanabali , Vol.-I, p.- ‘Gha’.
4) Nirmalendu Bhowmik: “Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in Ashutosh
Bhattacharya, et al. (ed.) Subarnalekha , Golden Jubilee
Commemoration Vol., C.U., p.-515.
5) Saroj Dutta : Kathasahityik Narayan Gangopadhyay, p.-149.
6) Ibid, p.-13
7) Sisirkumar Das (ed.): Samgsad Bangla Sahityasangi, pp.-114-115.
8) Subodhchandra Sengupta (chief ed.), et al., Samsad Bangali
Charitabhidhan (Vol. –I), p.-352.
9) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Ki Kare Lekhak Holam”, in Tapas Bhowmik,
et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-1 (Part-III)
10) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Chotobelar Smriti”, in Asha Devi, et al (ed.),
Samagra Kishore Sahitya , 2014, p.- 989.
11) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Ki Kare Lekhak Holam”, in Tapas Bhowmik,
et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-2 (Part- III ).
58
12) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Amar Katha”, in Asha Devi, et al. (ed.),
Narayan Gangopadhyay Rachanabali , Vol.-I, p.- ‘Gha’.
13) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Chotobelar Smriti”, in Asha Devi, et al. (ed.),
Samagra Kishore Sahitya , 2014, p.- 991.
14) Haraprasad Mitra: “Priyabandhu Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S., 4th year,
Vol.-4, p.-508.
15) Asitkumar Bandyopadhyay : “Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in Sachindranath
Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,4th year, Vol.-4, pp.- 514-
515.
16) Shankariprasad Basu : “Amar Smritir Alok, Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Gajendrakumar Mitra et al. (ed.), Kathasahitya, 22nd year, Vol.-2 ,1377
B.S., p.-320.
17) Ibid, p.-451.
18) Gajendrakumar Mitra: “Ekti Madhur Smriti, Kathasahitya”, in
Gajendrakumar Mitra et al. (ed.), Kathasahitya, 22nd year, Vol.-2, 1377
B.S., p.-305.
19) Achyut Goswami : “Kishor Taraknather Smriti”, Kali O Kalam, in
Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,4th year,
Vol.-4, 1377 B.S., pp.-619-620.
20) Jayanti Saha : “Ekti Bismaykar Pratibha: Narayan Gangopadhyay”,
Sahitye O Byaktitve , p.-12.
21) Ardhendu Mukhopadhyay : “Shishirbindu : Akash Bimba (Amar
Mastermashay, Narayan Gangopadhyay)”, in Sachindranath
59
Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,4th year, Vol.-4, Kali O
Kalam , 1377 B.S., p.-647.
22) Jagadish Bhattacharya : “Naran Katha Rakheni”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et
al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-46.
23) Shankariprasad Basu : “Amar Smritir Alok: Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Gajendrakumar Mitra, et al. (ed.), Kathasahitya, 22nd year, Vol.-2
,1377 B.S., p.-461.
24) Pralay Shur: “Amader Sir: Amader Mastermashay”, in Sachindranath
Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S., 4th year, Vol.-4,
P.-579.
25) Shankariprasad Basu: “Amar Smritir Alok: Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Gajendrakumar Mitra, et al. (ed.), Kathasahitya, 22nd year,
Vol.-2, 1377 B.S., p.-320.
26) Arunkumar Sengupta : “Chatrabandhu Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S., 4th year,
Vol.-4, p.-643.
27) Narayan Paul : Deshbibhager Bali Bangali (2nd part), pp.-41-42.
28) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Chotobelar Smriti”, in Asha Devi, et al. (ed.),
Samagra Kishore Sahitya , 2014, p.-995.
29) Koushik Haldar : Ouponyasik Narayan Gangopadhyay , p.-44.
30) Prabhas Roychoudhury : Jiban Uponibesher Drasta Narayan
Gangopadhyay , p.-14.
60
31) Gopal Haldar : “Sanskritir Satirtha”, in Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay
(ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,4th year, Vol.-4, p.-496.
32) Dakshinaranjan Basu : “Uponibesh Theke Sandeher Abakashe”, in
Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,
4th year, Vol.-4, p.-528.
33) Ibid, p.-528.
34) Susnata Das : “Pragati Sahitya Andolan O Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Tapas Bhowmik, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan
Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-72.
35) Biswabandhu Bhattcharya : “Manusher Janya Rajniti”, in Tapas
Bhowmik, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay
Sankhya, Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-151.
36) Netai Mukhopadhyay : “Lalmati, Nabajuger Spardhita Padadhvani”, in
Biren Chanda (ed.), Uttardhvani , 25th year, Sharada Shankhya, 1409
B.S, p.-467.
37) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Shilpir Swadhinata”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al.
(ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-21 (Part-III).
38) Achyut Goswami : “Kishore Taraknather Smriti”, in Sachindranath
Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S.,4th year, Vol.-4, P.-624.
39) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Asustha Sharirer Bhabna”, Sunandar
Journal, p.-484.
61
40) Shibram Chakraborty : “Lekhak Manusher Madhye Ek Manush Lekhak”,
in Gita Das (ed.), Roshnai , Narayan Gangopadhyay special issue, 11th
year, 3rd-4th issue, 1377 B.S, p.-213.
41) Asha Devi, et al. (ed.), Samagra Kishore Sahitya , by Narayan
Gangopadhyay p.-17.
42) Sudip Basu : “Tenida―Narayan Gangopadhyay Ebong….”, in Tapas
Bhowmik, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay
Sankhya, Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-79 (Part-I)
43) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Matsyapuran”, in Pranabkumar
Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Tenida Samagra , 1996, p.-299.
44) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Charmurtir Abhiyan”, in Asha Devi, et al (ed.),
Samagra Kishore Sahitya , 2014, p.-105.
45) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Chotobelar Smriti”, in Asha Devi, et al (ed.),
Samagra Kishore Sahitya , 2014, p.-995.
46) Sabitendranath Roy : “Prakashaker Nibedan”, Sunandar Journal ,
Narayan Gangopadhyay, p. ‘Ga’.
47) Manas Mazumdar : “Sunandar Journal”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al. (ed.),
Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Baimela,
Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-33 (Part-I).
48) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Asustha Sharirer Bhabna”, Sunandar
Journal, p.-484.
49) Gopal Haldar: “Samskritir Satirtha”, in Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay
(ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S., 4th year, Vol.-4 , pp.-493-494.
62
50) Narayan Gangopadhyay: “Lekhaker Katha”, Chotogalper Simarekha ,
p.-5.
51) Jayanti Saha : “Ekti Bismaykar Pratibha: Narayan Gangopadhyay”,
Sahitye O Byaktitve, p.-17.
52) Ibid, p.-14.
53) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Ki Kare Lekhak Holam”, in Gita Das (ed.),
Roshnai, Narayan Gangopadhyay special issue, 11th year, 3rd-4th
issue, 1377 B.S , p.-255.
54) Nirmalendu Bhowmik: “Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in Ashutosh
Bhattacharya et al. (ed.), Subarnalekha , Golden Jubilee
Commemoration Vol., C.U., p.-516.
55) William Henry Hudson: An Introduction To The Study Of Literature ,
p.-163.
56) Amalendu Chakrabarty: “Narayan Gangopadhyayer Sange Sakshatkar”,
in Anilkumar Singha (ed.), Natun Sahitya, 7th year, Vol.-2, Bhadra, 1363
B.S., p.-51.
57) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Sahitya O Adarsha”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al.
(ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992 , p.-12 (Part-III).
58) Biswanath Dey : “Ashcharya Alor Parash”, in Gita Das (ed.), Roshnai ,
Narayan Gangopadhyay special issue, 11th year, 3rd-4th issue, 1377
B.S., p.-277.
59) Saroj Dutta : Kathasahityik Narayan Gangopadhyay, p.-156.
60) Ibid, p.-159-160.
63
61) Ibid, p.-139.
62) Ibid, p.-140.
63) Ibid, p.-180.
64) Ibid, p.-183.
65) Ashutosh Bhattacharya : “Sahakari Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Kali O Kalam, 1377 B.S., 4th year,
Vol.-4, p.-484.
66) “Adhyapak Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in Bijanbihari Bhattacharya (ed.),
Bangla Sahitya Patrika , 2nd year, Calcutta University, 1970, p.-02.
67) Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Ki Kare Lekhak Holam”, in Tapas Bhowmik,
Sourav Bandyopadhyay, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan
Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992 , p.-8.
68) “Adhyapak Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in Bijanbihari Bhattacharya (ed.),
Bangla Sahitya Patrika , 2nd year, Calcutta University, 1970, p.-02.
64
CHAPTER-II
CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORY WRITERS AND
NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY
A radical change has been noticed in the social, cultural, and political
life of Bengal in the 40’s. The world war-II seemed to be a dark period to the
contemporary Bengali middle-class society, at that period, could not cherish
their values. The degeneration to humanity occurred at that time. They could
not sustain that period of time. Nothing could survive — neither taboos nor the
rule and regulation and the ritual of their society. The terror of war loomed
large everywhere. Amidst this crisis, the Bengalese have fought for freedom,
every corner of Bengal saw the peasant movement like ‘Tebhaga’. That
period was a darken one as the struggle for freedom went everywhere, the
riots of Noakhali in 1946, and Kolkata in the 40’s, have pushed Bengali race,
towards a dark horizon. They could not see any ray of hope even after
independence. Partition took place in the name of religions and the evicted
victims of partition came in procession to West Bengal. They were deprived of
love and compassion from the people living in India. A new struggle of life
began, the battle of survival. Before that the Bengali has been the victims of
famine, war, price-rise and the crisis coming out of war. They were devoid of
values and humanities. And side by side partition and riots and the migration
of displaced persons followed that left people rootless. World war-II and
famine is undoubtedly a memorable event at that time. A new era, was
65
launched in Bengali fictional literature. Even though Swaraj was gained with
hopes and aspiration of the people but it could not last long, it brought also
hopelessness and purposelessness. Bengali fiction literature has gained
variety as it moved across the complex situations. Modern mind have become
more difficult. On the other hand, politics, social consciousness, and the social
ideal have become more vocal. The short story writers at that time made
Bengali stories more purposeful and powerful. Perhaps it is true of any and
every writer that they will spend their experiences into the cataclysm of their
writings, which they have collected from their observation. Those eminent
writers who have enlightened the Bengali literature in post-war period,
amongst them a significant name is Narayan Gangopadhyay. In this regard a
critic’s quotation is citable:
ëë¬ıdÓ¬ ø¡ZÓ¬œ ˛ ø¬ıï ´ ≈X˝◊√√ Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚¬ı˛ ·äfl¡±¬ı˛ ˜ÚøȬÀfl¡ Ú±Ú±ˆ¬±À¬ı
ÚÓ≈¬Ú˜±S± ˛ ø‰¬ø˝ï Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛º ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ ¸Àe õ∂Ó¬…é¬ ˆ¬±À¬ı Ê√øάˇÓ¬ ˝√√›˚˛±, Ê√œ¬ıÚ
¸•ÛÀfl«¡ ÚÓ≈¬Ú √œé¬± Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ ά◊¬Ûfl¡¬ı˛À̬ı˛ Œ˜±Î¬ˇ Œ‚±¬ı˛±˚˛º ≈X, ˜i§ôL¬ı˛,
·Ìø¬ıÀ鬱ˆ¬-- ¤¸À¬ı¬ı˛ ˚≈X-¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ Œõ∂鬱¬ÛÀȬ ¤˝◊√√ Œ˘‡fl¡ ø¬ıqX ¸˜˚-
¸À‰¬Ó¬ÚÓ¬±, Ê√œ¬ıÚ-Œõ∂˜, ˜±Ú≈ ∏Àfl¡ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±–— ˚±, ¬ı˘± ˚± ˛ øÓ¬ø¬ı˛À˙¬ı˛
√˙Àfl¡¬ı˛ ά◊M√√¬ı˛±øÒfl¡±¬ı˛ ¸”ÀS ¬Û±› ˛±–— ¤¸¬ıÀfl¡˝◊√√ ·Àä¬ı › ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸¬ı˛
˜˚±«√± ˛ √œø¬ÛÓ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛Úºíí 1
The young writers have observed the changes in Kolkata and its
outskirts in the 40’s. They have experienced the busy moments’ chaotic
situation and the decay and perishable form. The five writers amongst those
who have excelled side by side with Narayan Gangopadhyay, are now our
66
subject of study of this chapter. They have arrived in the beginning of the 40’s.
Their talents have loomed large at the same period. They are Subodh Ghosh
(1910-1980), Jyotirindra Nandi (1912-1983), Narendranath Mitra (1917-1975),
Nabendu Ghosh (1917-2007) and Santoshkumar Ghosh (1920-1985). They
have recorded the displacements of humanity that went wrong, in their
writings.
Now let us dive deep into their perspective, their vision of life, in a
nutshell.
Subodh Ghosh (14th Sep., 1910- 10th March, 1980) :
Subodh Ghosh owes a significant place into the arena of modern
Bengali literature. He has set an example of high philosophy in life. The
dexterity to the composition of short stories, verity of subject and the new
experimentation, to the writers, were yet to come, at that time. His forte lies in
his variety and the metals that he collected from his expenses these
experiences he gathered from myriad of sources. Such as the circus worker,
bus conductor, the forest of Chotonagpur, journalism, private tuition, bread
seller-job and many such professions. Here his literary ethos has been
dependent mainly upon his experiences in the sharp eyes of Subodh Ghosh.
We get many naked realities, cruel code of conduct and hollow, empty
aristocracy that have changed radically our point of view. A critic has rightly
said :
ëë...........¸±ø˝√√Ó¬… ¸‘ø©Ü¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚±À ∏¬ı˛ ≈Mï √ ˝√√À ˛ ¬Ûάˇ±È¬± øfl¡¬ ¤Àfl¡¬ı±À¬ı˛ ◊√√
˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ Ó¬±ø·À√¬ı˛ ¬ı±˝◊√√À¬ı ‚ÀȬøÂ√˘∑ ˝√√ͬ±» fl¡À¬ı˛ ◊√√ øfl¡ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ˘‡Úœ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¤˜Ú
67
¸‘ø©Ü ¸y¬ı ˝√√À ˛øÂ√˘∑ ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ˝√√˚, ’øˆ¬:Ó¬± ˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛¬Û”Ì« ¤˝◊√√ Ê√œ¬ıÚº ;˘;À˘
≈√ÀȬ± Œ‰¬±‡ ø√À ˛ øÓ¬øÚ Œ˚ø√Àfl¡˝◊√√ Ó¬±øfl¡À˚ÀÂ√Ú, Œ¸‡±ÀÚ˝◊√√ ¬ÛÀάˇÀÂ√ ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛
’±À˘±º ˜…±Î¬ˇÀ˜Àά ‘√ø©Ü ø√À˚˛ Ó¬± Ò¬ı˛± ˚±À¬ı fl¡œ fl¡À¬ı˛∑ ∆¬ıø‰¬ÀS… ˜øGÓ¬
’øˆ¬:Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˆ¬“±Î¬ˇ±¬ı˛ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬Û”Ì« ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ ¤˝◊√√ˆ¬±À¬ıº ˙s øÚÀ˚› øÓ¬øÚ Œˆ¬À¬ıÀÂ√Úº
˙Às¬ı˛ ›Ê√Ú ¬Ûø¬ı˛ ±¬Û› fl¡À¬ıÀÂ√Ú øÓ¬øÚº Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ˝√√±Ó¬ ˜flƒ¡À˙± fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº ˝√√ͬ±»
fl¡À¬ı˛ ¤¬ı— ’fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ ø¬ıÀ¶£¬±¬ı˛Ì ‚ÀȬڱº ¤¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ˜±˘ ˜˙˘± ˘±À·º fl¡± «fl¡±¬ı˛Ì
¸•Ûfl«¡Àfl¡ ’¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛± ‡≈¬ı˝◊√√ fl¡øͬںíí 2
A vivid knowledge about time and space and deep insight with artistic
feelings give the writer a creative status. He recovers the past only due to the
fact that he has adequate knowledge about his own country and own time. He
observes his future without any difficulty which makes his work of art, glorious,
timeless. In this way the creators reflect the lives around him, though they
may be the subject to a documentary or theoretical error. But a writer with his
own vision is unparallel. These may be viewed in cases of the short stories by
Subodh Ghosh under the perspective of world war-II. His two story-
collections, ‘Ayantrik’ and ‘Fossil’ were published at a time, in 1940. In the
story ‘Fossil’ he delineated how a capitalist civilization reduces people into
non-human entity as tools and machines. It has had indirect effect acting like
a reptile.
Today, people have the friendship with money only. He is
uncompromising to go any extent to further his monetary greed. We get a
glimpse of it in Subodh Ghosh’s story titled ‘Kanchan Sangsargat’. In the short
stories, written by Narayan Gangopadhyay, too, we find such materialistic
spirit and soul, in stories entitled, ‘Bitangsa’, ‘Top’, ‘Had’ etc. In the story ‘Top’,
68
we see a child is used to allure a tiger by the ‘ Rajabahadur’ in hunting at
primordial pre-historic perspective. The exploitation of feudalism and the
ruthless expression make everyone wonder and happy. As if, it was pre-
conceived. The story ‘Fossil’ is a landmark in the history of Bengali literature.
The conflict between capitalism and feudalism, between the Maharaja of
Chandannagar and the owner of factory Sahabs, and making all Kurmi-
subject in laborers and then by them agricultural lose was made. ‘Fossil’ is a
story about feudalism and capitalism, about the murder of workers’ leader,
Dulal Mahato. A critic has said about this story :
ëë....¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚±À¯∏¬ı˛ ˙øMï √˜M√√±¬ı˛ øÚ–¸—˙˚ õ∂˜±Ì õ∂Ô˜ ¬Û±› ˛± Œ·˘ ëÙ¬ø¸À˘í-
¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…˝◊√√º Ú±Ú± fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ˝◊√√ ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ ¬ı±—˘± fl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ¤˝◊√√ ·äøȬ ‹øÓ¬˝√√±ø¸fl¡
˜˚±«√± Œ¬ÛÀ ˛ÀÂ√º ¤Ó¬ø√Ú ÒÀ¬ı˛ ¸±˜…¬ı±√œ ¸˜±Ê√ø¬ı:±ÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ˚ ¬ıø˘á¬ ˆ¬¬ı˛ ±
¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… qÒ≈ õ∂‰¬±¬ı˛fl¡± « ◊√√ ‰¬±ø˘À ˛ ˚±ø26√˘, ëÙ¬ø¸À˘í ¤À¸ Ó¬± õ∂Ô˜ ø˙ä
ø˝√√¸±À¬ı ¸±Ô«fl¡ ˝√√À ˛ ά◊ͬ˘ºíí3
Subodh Ghosh is the example of a remarkable contributor of short-
stories of Bengali literature. But after that he is not found a legacy which is not
sustained the temperament. He himself has said in this regard :
ëë’±˜±¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…fl¡À˜«¬ı˛ ¸±Ò ’±Ê√ ÷ï ´¬ı˛ø¬ıï ´±À¸¬ı˛ ÚÓ≈¬Ú õ∂√œÀ¬Û¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ¤À¸
ÚÓ≈¬Ú ’±À˘±¬ı˛ ’øˆ¬À ∏fl¡ ‡“≈Ê√ÀÂ√º Ó¬±˝◊√√ Ô˜Àfl¡ Ô±fl¡ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À26√√º ˚ø√ Œ¸˝◊√√
’øˆ¬À ∏fl¡ ¬Û±˝◊√√, Ó¬À¬ı˝◊√√ ¬ı˛+À¬Û &ÀÚ ˆ¬±À¬ı › õ∂fl¡±À¬ı˛ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¬ıÀ˘ Œ¬ı±Ò ˝√√À¬ı, ¤˜Ú
·ä › ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛À¬ı± Ú±º..... ·ä › ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡
fl¡ « ¤fl¡ Ò¬ı˛À̬ı˛ ø¬ı˛‰≈¬ ˛±˘ Ó¬Ô± ø¬ıï ´±À¸¬ı˛ Ó¬¬Û«Ì ¬ıÀ˘ ˜ÀÚ ˝√√À˚˛ÀÂ√ºíí 4
69
Hence he had dived deep into the human psyche the came out of his
quest for life as interrogation. If we look from the story, Ayantrik and Fossil to
Tilanjali and Ekti Namaskare, he had become a wayfarer to Indian ways
gradually. He had seen life not from the viewpoint of materialism but from
view point of emotion. His motto is to unveil the unknown and undiscovered
mystery like Columbus, who had been delighted to discover new land and
new life in his creation. As a reader we become irritated sometime. Subodh
Ghosh, seems to be extremely extraordinary, who has made alive the
perspective with the knack of creating situation. That is why a critic has said :
ëë¬ı±—˘±˚˛ õ∂˜Ô Œ‰¬ÃÒ≈¬ı˛œ¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬ ¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚± ∏Àfl¡› ÚÓ≈¬Ú ë©Ü±˝◊√√ í ¬ı± ·√…¬ı˛œøÓ¬¬ı˛
¶⁄©Ü± ¬ıÀ˘ ’øˆ¬ÚøµÓ¬ fl¡¬ı˛± Œ˚ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛º Œï - ∏ › ¬ıÀSï ±øMï √¬ı˛ Ó¬œéƬӬ± ˛,
¬ı≈øX√œ5 ¸˜±À¸±øMï √¬ı˛ ¬ı…?Ú±˚, fl¡±¬ı…˜øGÓ¬ ¬ıÌ«Ú± › ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛ ˆ¬±¬ıÀ√…±Ó¬fl¡
˜ôL¬ı…À˚±Ê√Ú± ˛ Ó“¬±¬ı ¬ı±·ƒÕ¬ı√*… ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ ø˙ä¬ı˛+¬ÛÀfl¡ ¤fl¡ ’øˆ¬Ú¬ı Œ¸ÃµÀ˚«
ø¬ıˆ¬”ø ∏Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√º Ê√œ¬ıÚÀ¬ı±ÀÒ¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛26√ißÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¤˝◊√√ ’¸±˜±Ú… ø˙ä± ˛Ú-
¸≈ ∏ ±¬ı˛ ¸˜i§À ˛ ◊√√ ¬ı±—˘± ˛ fl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚±À ∏¬ı˛ øÚÊ√¶§ ’±¸Ú õ∂øÓ¬øá¬Ó¬
˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ºíí 5
That human’s greatness is not based upon any character’s purity, was
understood by Subodh Ghosh, which he learnt from life. He has made such
observation with his meeting to Sureshda, wearing half-dirty kamiz, which was
made of twill-cloth. Sureshda always bore a bottle of wine into his own
pocket. He was frequently nabbed by police as he made chaos in the
prostitute colony. This Sureshda, who is a culprit, characterless in the eye of
society, has rescued an old man and woman, a couple, from their house,
which was gutted down by fire, when the so-called civil society, only stood
70
and observed the heroic deed of Sureshda. The world of feeling by Subodh
Ghosh was not built only in a direct ways and means. He had developed a
new world of feeling with constant practice and accumulation of knowledge.
These two things have shaped his philosophy of life. Though variety of
choices has given new height to the creation of Subodh Ghosh’s writing, yet
he never gave vent to acute agony and ruthlessness in his literature in the
name of reality. Subodh Ghosh had very clear thinking about that. He
believed that it is not wise to write reportage, like a court, about anti life and
anti social activities. Here, both the person Subodh Ghosh and the artist
Subodh Ghosh become one.
Bengali literature does not have any anecdote or stories based upon
legends. And Subodh Ghosh has written many such stories based upon life of
legends, which is unparallel in comparison to his contemporaries or the
predecessors. In these stories we get the rituals and history, folk-tales, and
literary rasas. Here we are informed about the country and social life of
Bengal, which is spanning about last five centuries. The ambidextrous story
writer has culled his experiences from his close contact with variety of people
belonging to variety of classes in society. Here, though he had been a writer
in post-Tagorian and Kallol-era, yet he never wanted to confine himself to any
group. His mind did not want to stop in any cage which does not give freedom
to its literary life. The writer did not want to keep secret his alliance with
Gandhi and Gandhism. But it did not contradict with any leftist or Marxist’s,
principles. Though the leftist- intellectuals have dealt in an adverse way to
many writers with their critique, Subodh Ghosh was neither a leftist nor a
71
rightist in his own personal life. Here, this writer of the twentieth century was
solely a man of fellow-feeling, whose humanity, sense of human value was
above all kinds of acknowledgement. The first story, ‘Ayantrik’ by Subodh
Ghosh deserves much attention in the arena of Bengali literature. So, about
this story a critic has said :
ëë’ø¬ıï ´±¸… ¬ıÀ˘˝◊√√ ˜ÀÚ ˝√√À¬ı øfl¡c ë’˚±øLafl¡í ¤¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ¸¬ı«±e¸≈µ¬ı˛ ·äøȬ˝◊√√
Ú±øfl¡ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±º ë’˚±øLafl¡í-¤ ˚La ≈· Œ˚Ú fl¡Ô± fl¡À ˛ ά◊ͬÀ˘±º
Ê√Àάˇ ’±¬ı˛ Ê√œÀ¬ı, ˚ÀLa ’±¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ ¤ ≈À·¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ Œ˚ ’ø¬ıÀ26√√… ˆ¬±À¬ı
¢∂øÔÓ¬, ¤ ¸Ó¬…˝◊√√ Œ˚Ú ÚÓ≈¬Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊æ√±ø¸Ó¬ ˝√√˘ ¤˝◊√√ ·Àäºíí 6
Where machines are the matters of an age, their ‘Ayantrik’ became a
protest against it. It gave materialism a new dimension with values among
human beings against the unknown and the uncertainties. This is truly
reflected in the story ‘Ayantrik’. It is a story as if, against the opposite path of
the era. ‘Ayantrik’ deals with a protest against the misuse of matter that is
made by man, to serve its’ slavish purpose. Transformation and change is the
law of time, so it is natural that, this world too, will be changed. But the scale
of this change was unimaginable. This change in point of view, teaches us to
look at ‘Ayantrik’ from a different angle. In another occasion a critic has said,
commenting the story ‘Ayantrik’ :
ë눬±¬ıÀÓ¬ ’¬ı±fl¡ ˘±À·,Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ ¸‘Ê√Ú˙œ˘ Œ˘‡±ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚±¯∏
¤ÀÓ¬±È¬± ˆ¬øÌÓ¬±˝√√œÚ ¸±˝√√À¸¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛ ø√À ˛ÀÂ√Ú, Ó¬“±¬ı˛ ë ’˚±øLafl¡í ·Àäºíí 7
Apparently it seems that this man, Subodh Ghosh, is very proud,
solemn and sentimental. But those who have come near him has to gainsay
72
this, he was very friendly and sweet tongued. Subodh Ghosh, was totally
conscious over his behaviour. The detachment to his self expression became
the subject of his foibles. Subodh Ghosh has felt the life in a variety of
choices. He saw the world with inquisitive sight and composed stories that
were based upon sorrows and happiness, laughter and tears of human-life.
Subodh Ghosh went on a different scale against these who has written upon
subject such as the marchentile capitalism, class-conflict, chaos and decay.
With this more was added to his immortal creativities, such as his philosophy
of life and its myriad concepts and feeling. Out of which as a reader we can
experience a kind of belief and faith upon all human activities, and this
philosophy of Subodh Ghosh has made his creation greater with his own
writing.
Jyotirindra Nandi (20th August, 1912 -1st August, 1983) :
Jyotirindra Nandi was a writer of the beginning of 40’s. He had
scientific understanding of broken values of middle class society, the social
decay and illness etc. of the people of Bengal. He is an urban story writer. He
delineated the disintegration of society among the riches, upper-class, middle-
class and lower middle-class people. He, too, is a writer of the masses. The
world war-II has brought decay in human values and thrashed the old system
of Feudal society. Though people have consciousness but they are helpless.
So the demand for a new lease of life have to be out of crisis against all kind
of hollowness, that has to be the follow up of an effort by the protagonist of
Jyotirindra Nandi, Santoshkumar Ghosh and such other writers.
73
Not only the Saratchandrian middle-class people, not only the families,
not only the social consciousness, not only the middle-class picture of Kallol-
yug, but the protagonists of Jyotirindra Nandi are found as those who are
defeated by all kinds of clairvoyance and emotion from middle-class and lower
middle-class. In a society divided into two classes, people welcome all kinds
of artificialities by the riches. The relationship amongst people was artificial
in the name of responsibilities, in helping the financially poor—that have been
voiced by Jyotirindra Nandi during the period of world war-II, caught in various
symbols. Jyotirindra Nandi though has not had any turning point in the late
40’s, yet his stories have embarked the contemporary issues. That benign
values from self-hood, it is the eternal flux or only a sapless one, to
understand this the writer has dived deep into the darkness to meet a goal
which is permanent. To meet the demand of stories he has brought sex,
cordial life- fullness and spiritualism. A critic has said :
ëëŒÊ√…±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛f Úµœ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ·ä ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜ ŒÔÀfl¡˝◊√√ ¤fl¡˝◊√√ ¸Àe øÂ√À˘Ú õ∂¸e ›
õ∂fl¡¬ı˛Ì-- ά◊ˆ¬˚˛Ó¬˝◊√√ ¤fl¡Ê√Ú øÚᬱ¬ı±Ú, ¸À‰¬Ó¬Ú ¬Û¬ı˛œé¬fl¡ › øÚ¬ı˛œé¬fl¡ºíí 8
Jyotirindra Nandi did not owe his debt to any one, neither to any of his
predecessors nor to any of his contemporaries in literary field. When he was
at school level, a student of Annada H.S. School of East Bengal, he wrote an
essay on the topic, “A Fair in Meherkalibari”. His the then Bengali teacher, a
scholar of Bengali literature, Harendra Bhattacharya, highly appreciated that
essay. He also made other students to listen that essay in the classroom. It
was presented as an answer to an examination at school level. To speak the
truth, it has paved his way to future creativities.
74
There is no action of any incident, or any dramatic equilibrium in
Jyotirindra Nandi. There is neither so-called romanticism nor any dogmatic
passion nor any union, attracted him in his creation. It has smooth and sail
flux, in a deferred way. He takes his readers to his world of protagonist bit by
bit. Jyotirindra Nandi loved solitude. He was an introvert, always liked to stay
aloof. That is why he was a lover of nature. ‘Jyotsna Ray’ so, is his
appropriate pseudonym.
Though he lived in the din and bustle of a metro city, yet he was more
at home in natural outskirts. Naturally, when ‘Nadi O Nari’ was first published
in ‘Parichay’, it created sensation amongst the Bengali readers. His other
works, too, dealt with nature which are also very popular. But his
understanding with the woman protagonist has given a new lease of life to his
entire works in psycho analytical spaces. That is why ‘Nadi O Nari’, is
immortal with eternal love, as conjugated in after- world. Jyotirindra has dealt
more with love-less human predicament than love itself. But here he does not
differentiate any persona of love— neither the male nor the female. They are
not individual here; they are the adherence of consciousness or a subject.
But he never moved from here to there in search of the materials of his
stories, nowhere, neither in any local culture nor in any separate and alien
culture. Though he was confined within his own chamber of thoughts yet he
had such original point of view that made him restless. Love, hate, sexual
urge, acute sex passion, psychology and ruthless poverty or human existence
has roles to play in his writing.
75
But his real charisma also lies in creating a story out of insignificant
materials is delineated in ‘Raicharaner Babri’. We can analyze this through
the mirror of stories like ‘Pasher Flater Meyta’, and ‘Parbatipurer Bikel’, etc.
His stories based upon nature which made him very popular in Bengali
literature, have been created by his faculty of perception. He was deeply
engrossed in nature’s form of Rupa, Rasa, Shabda, Gandha and Barna.
Imageries in his writing brought a new dimension to his writing that derived
from his five sense organs. About this a critic has said:
ëëŒfl¡Î¬◊ Ó“¬±Àfl¡ ¬ıÀ˘Ú ¸≈µÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ fl¡±ø¬ı˛·¬ı˛, ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ Œfl¡Î¬◊ ˆ¬±À¬ıÚ ˙Às¬ı˛ Ê√±≈√fl¡¬ı˛,
Œfl¡Î¬◊ ¬ı± Ê√±ÀÚÚ ·Àg¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛¬ı±ø¬ı¬ı˛+À¬Ûº Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı‰¬Ú± ˛ Œfl¡Î¬◊ ¬ı± Œ√À‡Ú
õ∂·øÓ¬˙œ˘Ó¬±, Œfl¡Î¬◊ ¬ı± ¬Û±Ú ˜ø¬ı«øάøȬº ........... ŒÊ√…±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛f Úµœ ≈À·¬ı˛
Ó≈¬˘Ú± ˛, fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ øÚøMï √ÀÓ¬ ¬ıD Œ¬ıø˙ ¤…±Î¬ˆ¬±k, ¬ıDÀ¬ıø˙ ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡º ¬ı±—˘±
¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ ¸¬ı ¸˜À ˛¬ı˛ ¸¬ı ‰¬±˝◊√√ÀÓ¬ ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ ·ä Œ˘‡fl¡ ŒÊ√…±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛f Úµœº √œ‚«
¬Û=±˙ ¬ıÂ√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√øÓ¬…fl¡ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ Ú±Ú±Ú ø‰¬ôL±ˆ¬±¬ıÚ± ˛ ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬… ’eÚÀfl¡ ˆ¬ø¬ı˛À˚˛
Ó≈¬À˘ÀÂ√Úºíí 9
His stories, based upon nature, are lyrical, the structure of the stories is
psychological and the protagonists suffer out of helplessness. His protagonist
has to cope-up with this. But Jyotirindra Nandi’s yardstick is not differentiated
among his childhood, youth and old age people to analyze the characters.
There is a peculiar similarity between a dream-girl driven out of memory and
the heart of tinged with color of an elderly woman. His stories here can be
said to be the significant heir of Manik Bandyopadhyay.
76
Dark life of the human, the effort to come out of this darkness towards
light, the defeat and success, are the hallmark of Jyotirindra Nandi. Jyotirindra
Nandi is successful over his characterization of pristine impulse, a detached
point of view rebelling against all kinds of posh-luxuriant process. He is not
politically, socially conscious artist like Manik Bandyopadhyay. Rather he is an
introvert in his personal life and literary life. He has a world of inner
complexities, here lies his ascension. Yet he is, to some extent a vital force in
unveiling the complex inner space of his protagonist like Manik
Bandyopadhyay. He takes his protagonists from the real world and places
them within the form of Arts. He likes to see his protagonists in totality. He is
unparallel and creative in weaving the net of human relationship. Not that we
don’t find this type of psychological or subconscious mind of human being is
not created by any other writer before him. Yet Jyotirindra Nandi has enlarged
the circle in creating the psychological subconscious mind of human being in
Bengali literature. There are none who could be an awful and romantic and
detached writer. Perhaps, this is why many critics have said that he is a
naturalist story writer. It is not possible to limit him within the barrier of a
naturalist, because he had not written prose in only a single style. He had
been a gifted writer whose usages of mockery and similes are peculiar. It
does not give any jerk to mind. Rather it takes us slowly into his work of prose
in intoxication and then the reader has to wait for the unexpected. His span of
creative works in his entire life time of more than fifty years includes fifty
seven novels and twenty six books on collection of short stories, which has
more than two hundred fifty short stories. Besides this, there are many works
77
that in several magazines and journals that needs to be collected yet.
Basically the social inequalities find spaces in his stories. People have
become lonely in their craze to maintain their livelihood. People are conscious
but due to adverse situation they become lonely. Jyotirindra’s another
characteristic is his choice of subjects, which often is insignificant out of which
Jyotirindra Nandi has made time-honored short stories.
In Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short-stories, we find that there is a rebel
protesting mind against social inequalities. Sometimes people voiced their
protest and found the measures to get rid of the problems. But we do not find
any story of mass-movement or analysis of social inequalities in
Jyotirindanath Nandi. Perhaps, nobody has written so much on self-
continence, like him.
The mind of the people is peculiar, very fickle. It is subject to change,
and it changes its decision from time to time. The things that was supposed to
be unsolved, now gets a new dimension. His famous story ‘Chor’ deals with
mental chaos, restlessness and a sudden change and the situation arising out
of a new challenging environment. The story starts with Mintu, who is the first
person story-teller here. Critics have said that Mintu is a self-conscious
person, a youth who had planted a papaya sapling. He dreams to make a tree
out of it. The papaya tree is personified here to analyze class-conflict along
with Mintu and Madan. Madan is here the representative of the downtrodden,
he is totally helpless. The class conflict that is the offshoot of the Bourgeoisies
society’s ploy, that has an effect upon the human mind is being dealt in this
story—‘Chor’. The characters of his stories are directly taken out of realities.
78
Here between Mintu and the servant, Madan, Mintu has gained the bigger
place. Like papaya tree, he too, here is the subject of class consciousness.
He is allured with the happiness of a big house and their affluences. The
situation of Madan’s family is the subject of Sukumar’s sympathy. The comfort
for Madan’s economic craze, his materialism is nothing but a plan through
which he exploits the masses. Madan will not understand this, because he is
uneducated and an ordinary boy. To him the comfort as a rich man is the
ultimate goal of life. On the other hand Mintu is a self-conscious boy that is
why he is sentimental; Mintu’s mother shows sympathy to the lower middle-
class family. She has self-respect as a rich man. On the other hand his clerk
father too, is a self conscious person. He is conscious about his social status.
He is detached without any passion. In the way Jyotirindra Nandi has reached
his goal through his many dimensional characters. About this story, a critic
has said :
ëë·Àä fl¡±ø˝√√Úœ õ∂Ó¬œfl¡œ ∆¬ıø˙À©Ü… ¤fl¡ ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ Dimension Œ¬ÛÀ ˛ÀÂ√º ¤˝◊√√
·Àä¬ı˛ ‰¬ø¬ı˛S&À˘±Àfl¡ Œ˘‡fl¡ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ ¬±À¬ı ¬ıÌ«Ú±˚˛ ’±ÀÚÚøÚ, ‰¬ø¬ı˛S&À˘±¬ı˛
‰¬˘±ÀÙ¬¬ı˛±¬ı˛ õ-Ȭ ÒœÀ¬ı˛ ÒœÀ¬ı˛ ø˙ä¬ı˛+¬Û Œ¬ÛÀ ˛ÀÂ√º ¸—˚À˜¬ı˛ Ù¬À˘ ·Àä¬ı˛ Œfl¡±Ô±›
’øÓ¬fl¡ÔÚ Ò¬ı˛± ¬ÛÀάˇøÚº ·Àä¬ı˛ fl¡±ø˝√√Úœ ¬ı˛À¸¬ı˛ Ê√˜±È¬-¶§ˆ¬±¬ı ø˙ä ”À˘…
ø¬ı¶ú ˛fl¡¬ı˛ºíí 10
Madan is a direct thief in this story; indirectly it is the affluent society.
We will commit mistake if we call it a commentary of class conflicts. In fact it is
the story of an innocent boy whose innocence of childhood has been stolen.
Jyotirindra Nandi is a skilful writer of middle-class tragedy due to his
compassionate mind. Though in many cases, his readers find difficulty to
79
grasp his compassionate mind. He had never thought of any specific form of
his stories. He himself said that he wants to make his technique like light and
air which will make his characters akin to the middle-class perspectives.
Jyotirindra Nandi is not so-called realist writer. He is more than that.
Actually he is an artist who unfolds the human psyche in respect of aesthetics.
He is in search of a total aesthetics and impersonality. The style of his writing
is different and new. That is why he is unparallel and powerful in the world of
modern Bengali short story writing.
Narendranath Mitra (30th Jan., 1917-14th Sep., 1975):
Another bright star in the world of Bengali short-story amongst short-
story writers, during the period of world war-II, is Narendranath Mitra. He is a
genius story writer, an apart. By this time Kallol, Kalikalam have already
started its journey. His first story, ‘Jiban O Mrityu’ was published in Desh, in
the year 1936. As a writer Narendranath Mitra was more personal rather than
collective. He had not any eagerness to create any wonder in any subject of
his writing; rather he had the style full of calm and gentle voice. His forte
belongs to his clairvoyance. He dealt with this eyesight when he was writing
the life of his characters. His stories and novels have created havoc during
the last two decades in post independence period. He dealt chiefly with the
middle-class crisis in his stories. In his stories we find sweet and calm voice in
action though he had not described the darker side of lives amongst the cruel
and ruthless strata of society. Critics have compared his writings along with
Maupassant, Chekhov and Rabindranath Tagore.
80
Like his novels Narendranath’s short stories too, are based upon
human psychology. His charisma is a correspondence between in-families
and out-families. The protagonists of his stories are taken from his direct
experiences of reality. The daily life of middle- class people and their
problems have become the subject of his stories. The difference between
Narendranath Mitra and others is that, Narendranath, like others does not
focus his attention upon the darken aspect of human life .He is conscience-
ridden and hearty writer though he does not protest, if any, it is tinged with
sympathy and softness. Known Bengali faces are there in his writings as
subject. Here he is detached, a classicist, there is love, hate, rivalry in his
stories but not as loud or full of excitement. He wrote once in ‘Galpa Lekhar
Galpa’, as :
¬ë낑̱ ø¬ıÀ¡Z ∏ ¬ı…e ø¬ı^”¬Û ∆¬ı¬ı˛œÓ¬± ’±˜±Àfl¡ Œ˘‡±˚˛ õ∂¬ı‘M√√ fl¡À¬ı˛øÚº ¬ı¬ı˛— ø¬ı¬Û¬ı˛œÓ¬
ø√Àfl¡¬ı˛ õ∂œøÓ¬ Œõ∂˜, Œ¸Ã˝√√±«√,Œ¶ß √√, |X±, ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±, ¬Û±ø¬ı˛¬ı±ø¬ı˛fl¡ ·øG¬ı˛
øˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛ › ¬ı±˝◊√√À¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ¸Àe ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ø¬ıø‰¬S ¸•Ûfl«¡, ¤Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸Àe ’ÀÚ…¬ı˛
ø˜ø˘Ó¬ ˝√√¬ı±¬ı˛ ≈√¬ı«±¬ı˛ ’±fl¡±„√√鬱 ¬ı±¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ ø¬ı ∏ ˛ ˝√√À˚˛ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√º
........... øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ¶§ ¬±¬ıÀfl¡ Œ√À‡ øÚÀ ˛ øÚÀÊ√¬ı õ∂¬ı‘øM√√ ’±¬ı˛ õ∂¬ıÌÓ¬±Àfl¡ ¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛
fl¡À¬ı˛ ’±ø˜ ¸±¬ı˛±Ê√œ¬ıÚ qÒ≈ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±¬ı˛ ·ä˝◊√√ ø˘À‡øÂ√ºíí 11
Though he started his writings at the beginning of war, yet he is a post-
war writer. The regular writers were moved by the war. After the war we face
the decay, helplessness and the devaluation of human lives. Other writers
such as Nabendu Ghosh, Jyotirindra Nandi and Santoshkumar Ghosh have
taken up such afore-mentioned subjects. But Narendranath is a different
voice. He had not experienced the muddy objects of lives. He has a mindset,
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which is romantic and beauty-driven. That is why greatness in human
protagonist attracted him mostly. He is a man of heart in writing, not in his
daily life. Here cleverness has dealt a lot as a classicist. His social
consciousness has been depicted in the collection of short stories, titled
‘Asamatal’. We find it in his content and form of the stories. He did not depict
the fallen fits of middle-class mindset; rather he had sympathetic, adorable in
his creativity, more than any other writers of his time. A critic has said :
ëë ˙¬ı˛»‰¬Àf¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛ ¬ı±„√√±ø˘ ˜Ò…ø¬ıM√√ ¸•x√±˚˛Àfl¡ øÚÀ ˛ ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô ø˜S ˚Ó¬ ·ä
ø˘À‡ÀÂ√Ú Œ¬ı±Ò˝√√˚ ’±¬ı˛ Œfl¡Î¬◊ Ó¬Ó¬ Œ˘À‡ÚøÚº ˙˝√√¬ı˛¬ı±¸œ ˜Ò…ø¬ıM√√ Ú¬ı˛Ú±¬ı˛œ¬ı˛
˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ’ø˘·ø˘ÀÓ¬ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¶§26√ ø¬ı‰¬¬ı˛Ìº ...........ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ Œ˚ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±
’±À˘±‰¬Ú±˚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ õ∂¸e ’øÚ¬ı± «º fl¡±¬ı˛Ì Œ¬ı±Ò˝√√ ˛ ¤˝◊√√ Œ˚
ÚÀ¬ıfÚ±ÀÔ¬ı˛ ø˙䜸M√√± ˝√√ ˛ÀÓ¬± ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸¬ı˛ Œ‰¬À ˛ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä˝◊√√ øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡
øÚ¬Û≈ÌÓ¬¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ õ∂fl¡±˙ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ºíí 12
He had dealt extensively the hopes and aspiration, happiness and
sorrow, victory and defeat of the middle-class. In fact, there are few writers
who had dealt them with middle-class. That middle-class people have such
mystery within their lives and minds, was first caught in details by
Narendranath. The success of a short story depends upon its illumination
sometimes with a jerk at the end. Here both these aspects have been dealt by
Narendranath Mitra. It is without any excitement, without any questions,
without any explanation. Here, in this art, he is unparallel. Narendranath’s axis
is the rise and fall of middle-class people. But this had an adverse effect upon
his own writings which follows with the flaw of mannerism though there is no
such variety in his creative surge. Yet it did not put barriers in his creative
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surge. In general, his characters have been culled from middle-class and
lower middle- class people. He had dealt these from the myriad angle in his
point of view regarding to his experience. The society where he lives has
given him the impetus to his own writings. He could be said as an expert in
picturisation of the middle-class. A greater portion of Narendranath Mitra
belongs to his rural Bengal. That is why Rural Bengal has been entered in to
his own writing. He was pained in coming by leaving his rural life behind. His
environmental consciousness begins with rural outskirts and later grows into a
huge tree in urban metamorphosis. He loved rural perspective equal to
Calcutta’s life-style. The life of East Bengal touched him mostly. Which
otherwise did not get much attention into the din and bustle at Calcutta, where
he had lived his later life. A few short stories bear the testimony to that. In
Narendranath’s story, war has got a significant place. The rural people do not
rack their brains to war or such problems of the society. But when war brought
up extreme miseries in their social life, they could not keep dumb. After the
partition, people rushed to Kolkata in thousands from East Bengal. Many kits
and kin of Calcutta residence came to their relatives to abode at Calcutta city.
Many evicted people have come to take shelters in the refugee camps of
Calcutta city. A critic has said :
ë븘±Ê√Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ Œ√˙ˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ¬ıάˇ ¬ı˛fl¡˜ ’±‚±Ó¬ ¤À¸ ˘±·˘ 1950 ¸±À˘¬ı˛
√±e±¬ı˛ Ù¬À˘º ¤˝◊√√ √±e±¬ı˛ ˆ¬ ˛±¬ı˝√√Ó¬± ø¬ı¬Û≈ ¸—‡…fl¡ ˜±Ú≈ ∏Àfl¡ ¬ı˛±Ó¬±¬ı˛±øÓ¬ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛
¬Û”¬ı«¬Û≈ï À ∏¬ı˛ øˆ¬ÀȬ˜±øȬ ŒÔÀfl¡ ά◊»‡±Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊¡Z±d › Œ√˙±ôL¬ı˛œ fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÓ¬±À˘º
¸±Ó¬‰¬ø~˙-ά◊M√√¬ı˛ ¬ı±„√√±ø˘ ’øˆ¬:Ó¬± ˛ ë¬Û±øÈ«¬˙Úí ˙s¬ıÀg¬ı˛ ¸Àe Œ˚±· ˝√√ ˛ ’±¬ı˛
¤fl¡ ˝◊√√—¬ı˛±Ê√œ ˙s ëø¬ı˛ø٬ά◊øÊí√ºíí 13
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Many good people had to do lots of ill work as they enrolled their name
in those refugee camps to sustain hand to mouth food. Almost half of
Narendranath Mitra’s stories deal with those struggle for survival. Stories like
‘Palataka’, ‘Dvicharini’, ‘Ak Po Dudh’, ‘Kathgolap’,etc. have the reflection of
such ups and downs in the politics of Bengal, in the persona of women . In the
short stories of Narendranath Mitra, the unchaste women characters of the
40’s have been focused. In Narendranath, the plight of women, have been
dealt which was long sought after. The main reason of this was the breakage
of joint-families that gave way to the nuclear of middle-class family. That is
reflected in the devaluation of women-life.
To gain the right to live in society is the empowerment of a person with
economic solvency. That is why the procurement of jobs to the woman has
come in his stories as leit-motif. When some succeeds and some fails. In this
type of stories, like ‘Pataka’, ‘Abhinetri’, ‘Abhisar’, ‘Abataranika’, ‘Setar’ are
remarkable. Among the readership of Narendranath Mitra it is the female
readers who love him much more than male readers. About his stories he
himself has said, which was written in third person, as :
ëë ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±ÀÔ¬ı˛ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú± ˛ Ú¬ı˛Ú±¬ı˛œ¬ı˛ õ∂Ì ˛¸•ÛÀfl«¡¬ı˛ õ∂±Ò±Ú…º Œ¸ õ∂Ì ˛ fl¡‡ÀÚ±
¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ fl¡‡ÀÚ± ’¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ fl¡‡ÀÚ± ø¬ıøÒ¸•úÓ¬ fl¡‡ÀÚ± ø¬ıøÒø¬ıÒ±ÀÚ¬ı˛
’Ú≈À˜±√ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¬ı±˝◊√√À¬ı˛ , fl¡‡ÀÚ± ¬ı…Ô« fl¡‡ÀÚ± ‰¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬±Ô«º øfl¡c øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ˆ¬≈À˘˝◊√√ Œ˝√√±fl¡
’±¬ı˛ ’ÀÚ…¬ı˛ Œ√±À ∏ ◊√√ Œ˝√√±fl¡ ˜±Ú≈¯∏ Œ˚‡±ÀÚ ¬ÛœøάˇÓ¬ õ∂¬ıø=Ó¬ ¬Û¬ı˛±øÊ√Ó¬ Œ¬ı√Ú±Ó«¬
ÚÀ¬ıfÚ±Ô Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ¬ıø˙¬ı˛ ˆ¬±· ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±˚˛ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ◊√√ ¸±øißÒ…fl¡±˜œº ¬ı‘ √√M√√¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ ≈ÀX
Ú± À˝√√±fl¡ õ∂¬ı‘øM√√¬ı˛ ≈ÀX ˚±¬ı˛± ’Ò« ‘Ó¬ ˘±ø>Ó¬ ˚±¬ı˛± Œfl¡±ÀÚ±ø√Ú Ê√˚˛ ±˘… Œ¬Û˘ Ú±
84
’øˆ¬ø¯∏Mï √ ˝√√í˘ Ú± ¸˝√√±Ú≈ ¬”øÓ¬ø¸Mï √ ˝√√+√ ˛ øÚÀ ˛ ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô Œ˚Ú Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ¬Û±À¸
¤À¸ ¬ı¸ÀÓ¬¬ Œ¬ıø˙ ά◊»¸≈fl¡º ¤˝◊√√ Ê√Ú…˝◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛ ¶§±À√¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¤fl¡ ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛
ø¬ı ∏±√ Ê√άˇ±ÀÚ±ºíí14
Narendranath Mitra’s perspective of his stories ranges from 1936 to
1975. Three years of spaces raft with their ups and downs, have been caught
in his stories in a befitting manner that reflects the political and social turmoil
that has effected in human mind and his society. He is pained at the painful
existence of middle-class lives. The story, ‘Ek Po Dudh’, is one of such
stories. It is a story about an economically insolvent family of lower middle-
class life. The origin of the story belongs to the difficult reality of a lower
middle-class family. ‘Ak Po Dudh’ is one such testimony that entails the cruel
fate in the life of a lower middle class family. That muddy sight is not the
ultimate answer. That there remains a pure pedestal in the heart of a human-
being has been delineated in the stories of Narendranath Mitra.
But Narendranath Mitra accepted his limitation in a candid manner. He
has more a macro observation power, not a micro one. This is one of the
hallmarks that can be found in his early and later portion of writing. These are
unique in form too. The mind of Narendranath Mitra is analytical. The starting
point is insignificant which surpasses all barriers of perspective. The reader
has to wait for the final moment. His characters are those individuals who live
in a world more in an original catastrophe than social enigma, as the mystery
unveiled. The critic compares his writings with his contemporaries as :
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ëë¸≈À¬ı±Ò Œ‚±À¯∏¬ı˛ ëÙ¬ø¸˘í øfl¡—¬ı± Ú±¬ı˛±˚˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı ëŒÈ¬±¬Ûí ·Àä¬ı˛ fl¡Ô±
’ø¬ı¶ú¬ı˛Ìœ˚ ˝√√À ˛ ’±ÀÂ√ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ¶ú‘øÓ¬ÀÓ¬º øfl¡c ¤¬ı˛fl¡˜ Œfl¡±Ú õ∂‡¬ı˛ ¬±À¬ı
Œ¬ı˛‡± ø‰¬ø˝ï Ó¬ ¸˜±Ê√À‰¬Ó¬Ú±¬ı˛ ·ä ’±˜¬ı˛± ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô ø˜ÀS¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± ˛ ¸˝√√¸± ˜ÀÚ
fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±ø¬ı˛ Ú±º Ó¬±¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛Ì˝◊√√ Œ˝√√±˘ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ ˆ¬øeøȬ ’±‚±Ó¬õ∂¬ıÌ Ú ˛º
Œ¸‡±ÀÚ fl¡Àͬ±¬ı˛ ˆ¬±¯∏±, Ó¬œéƬ ¬ı…Àe±øMï √ ¬ı± ¬ıÌ«Ú±˚ ’øÓ¬fl¡±øͬڅ øÓ¬øÚ ¤fl¡È≈¬
¬Ûø¬ı˛ √√±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ ‰¬˘ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸ÀÓ¬Úº ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡ ¸±Ò±¬ı˛Ì Ê√œ¬ıÚ
Œ˚˜Ú øfl¡Â≈√Ȭ± øÚô¶¬ı˛eˆ¬±À¬ı õ∂¬ı±ø˝√√Ó¬ ˝√√ ˛ Œ¸ˆ¬±À¬ı øÓ¬øÚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ·ä&ø˘Àfl¡ øÚ˜«±Ì
fl¡À¬ı˛Úºíí 15
The freedom belongs to a world with individual and with society. The
change belongs only with the individual and not with any political belief or
party politics. That is why Narendranath shuns himself all kinds of so called
social activities, though he was socially conscious. He is an artist of humanity.
Each people is equal and valuable to him. Beside this, nothing is exposed in
his writing. This artist did not adhere to his own experience in delineating his
characters. He had an eye of his protagonist, who had delved deep to wipe
away the tears from his characters’ eyes. The accompaniment with the human
being, his mixing with different class of people, speaks volume for his literary
characteristics. Perhaps this side had gone behind the appreciation of his
readership.
But every writer has his or her original point of view in the path of
creation and a source of inspiration. This has been added to the psychotic
observation in Narendranath Mitra. Date-fruit has been one of the natural
sources of the art that has been associated to it. Such has been seen in the
86
story ‘Rasa’ This rasa has emerged out of the ethos, collaborated to a couple
and their mind. The story is a good inclusion to the world literature. That is
why a critic has said :
ëë¬ı˛À¸¬ı˛ øÚ¬Û≈Ì ;±À˘ Œ¸¬ı˛± &άˇ ∆Ó¬¬ı˛œ ˝√√ ˛, Ê√œ¬ıÚ¬ı˛À¸¬ı˛ øÚ¬Û≈Ì ;±À˘ ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô
‡“±øȬ√ Œõ∂˜ ¸‘ø©Ü fl¡¬ı˛À˘Úº.......... ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±ÀÔ¬ı˛ ’ÀÚfl¡ ·Àä¬ı˛, ’ÀÚfl¡
ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸¬ı ¤˜Ú ’Ê√¶⁄ ¸y±¬ı˛ ¸±øÊ√À ˛ Œ√›˚˛± ˚± ˛ ˚± ¬ı˛ø¸fl¡ ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ ˜ÚÀfl¡
¬ı±¬ı˛ ¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±fl¡ ∏«Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√, ˜≈* › ’øˆ¬ˆ¬”Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ºíí 15
During the war, crisis in cloth along with the crisis in food became
acute in India. These have been delineated significantly in Bengali short
stories, right from Manik Bandyopadhyay to Subodh Ghosh. Narendranath
Mitra belongs to the same stream. His story ‘Abaran’ is one such story.
Humanity here is not defeated in the hand of hunger. This is his own-singular
forte. Here the character Duhshasan, from the short story ‘Duhshasan’, by
Narayan Gangopadhyay, became aware of the outcome.
But we do not get such type of protest in Narendranath Mitra. In fact,
Narendranath Mitra’s main intention was to justify the human relationship that
is based upon social situation. Nothing like inhibition or desire is there in his
stories.
Nabendu Ghosh (27th March, 1917-15th Dec., 2007) :
Another significant short story writer in Bengali literature is Nabendu
Ghosh. He is a writer of the early forties. Different ways were sought into the
process of story writing that was launched from the Kallol-yug. Till then the
authors did not lose faith on life. In such perspective Nabendu Ghosh is
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another addition, along with Narayan Gangopadhyay and Narendranath Mitra.
In him though the perspective was brittle, yet he had never pessimistic. These
were taken in totality as a holistic manner in the turmoil of war torn Bengal,
when war brought famine, black- marketing, and communal strife in the
forties, then a few people had kept faith in optimism.
Nabendu Ghosh was another committed writer along with others who
wrote stories upon that time’s social crisis. A critic has said about his
appearance in Bengali literature as :
ëë¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ Œ‰¬±V-¬ÛÀÚÀ¬ı˛± ’±À· ë˙øÚ¬ı±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ø‰¬øÍí-¬ŒÓ¬ ˝√√ͬ±» ¤fl¡Ê√Ú Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛
¸±é¬±» ¬Û±› ˛± ø·À˚˛øÂ√ , “±¬ı˛ ·ä ¬ÛÀάˇ Œ¸ø√Úfl¡±¬ı˛ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡fl≈¡˘ øÚø(Ó¬¬ı˛+À¬Û˝◊√√
Œˆ¬À¬ıøÂ√˘ ¬ı±—˘± ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ˆ¬ø¬ı ∏…Ó¬ ’Ó¬…ôL ά◊8˘º Œ¸ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ Ú±˜
ÚÀ¬ıµ≈ Œ‚± ∏º Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ¤-fl¡ ˛ ¬ı»¸À¬ı˛ Œ√‡± Œ·˘ ÚÀ¬ıµ≈ Œ‚± ∏ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡À√¬ı˛
˝√√Ó¬±˙ fl¡À¬ı˛ÚøÚº ·Ó¬±Ú≈·øÓ¬fl¡ ·ä Œ˘‡fl¡√À√¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬˝◊√√ ˚ø√ ˝√√ÀÓ¬Ú |œ ≈Mï √ Œ‚± ∏,
Ó¬±˝√√À˘ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¸•§Àg Œfl¡±Ú› ’±À˘±‰¬Ú±¬ı˛ ◊√√ ’¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛Ì± fl¡¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ ’¬ıfl¡±˙ ø˜˘Ó¬
Ú±º øfl¡c ¬Û¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ fl¡À ˛fl¡øȬ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ › ŒÂ√±È¬·ä ø˘À‡ øÓ¬øÚ õ∂˜±Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú
ø‰¬¬ı˛±‰¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ¬ı˛œøÓ¬õ∂̱˘œ¬ı˛ ¬¬ı“±Ò±Ò¬ı˛± ¬ÛÔÀfl¡ ¸˚ÀP ¬Ûø¬ı˛ √√±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛› ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¬ÛÀÔ¬ı˛
¸g±Ú ŒÚ› ˛± ‰¬À˘, Ó¬±ÀÓ¬ ¬ı¬ı˛— ¬Û±Í¬fl¡À√¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¤fl¡È¬± ’±¶§±√Ú›
Œ¬ÛÓ√√ÀÂ√ Œ√› ˛± ˚±˚ºíí17
His first novel, ‘Nayak O Lekhok’ (1942) is unique in Bengali literature.
Before its fragrance became fade, he had given another new composition,
‘Dak Diya Jai’ (1946). Any and every reader of Bengali literature, on reading
the two above mentioned text has to admit that, Nabendu Ghosh has proved
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a niche in this respect. Nabendu Ghosh has written in an obituary for his
friend, Narayan Gangopadhyay, about his the then condition of life :
ëë ≈X › ˜i§ôL¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı¬ıÓ«¬œ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬± ˛ Ó¬‡Ú ¸¬ı øfl¡Â≈√ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ;˘ôL ¬ı±ï À√¬ı˛ Ó¬±¬Ûº
‰¬±fl¡ø¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¬ı±Ê√±À¬ı˛ Œ‚±¬ı˛±¬ı˛ ˜±Úø¸fl¡Ó¬±› Ó¬‡Ú ’¬ı˘≈5º qÒ≈ fl¡˘˜ ø√À ˛ ◊√√√ Ó¬‡Ú
ά◊¬Û±7¡¡«¡Ú fl¡¬ı˛± ¤¬ı— ¸˜±Ê√ ¬ı…¬ı¶ö± ¬ı√˘±¬ı±¬ı˛ ¶§õü Œ√‡øÂ√ºíí18
Like Narayan Gangopadhyay he too was associated with Progressive
Writers’ Association and IPTI. Naturally revolution to him was not matter of
dream; rather he had a determination to life. He had reigned in Bengali
literature in almost two decades onwards.
In the 40’s people had come to know that the world belongs only to a
few. The protagonist Dilip in ‘Dak Diya Jai’ by Nabendu Ghosh, comes to a
big situationto whom literature belongs. He could admit that literature is the
reflection of beauty of life. But they are the unsuccessful homo-sapiens in the
twentieth century, who will write on their defeat, upon their tragedy. This is the
question that Nabendu Ghosh wanted to share with his readers. Common life
has been tainted with selfishness, cruelties and contemptible darkness.
Nabendu is secured in this society, nobody castes any look to any one,
nobody thinks for nobody, killing here is the law, violence here is the ideology,
greed, here, is natural. Standing upon this perspective the writer has strived to
find a solution. He has shown that man seeks liberation in religion. But he too
observed the game of power. Power took its place in the name of religion. He
felts that without humanism there can’t be any religion.
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He believed that only integrated conscious power can abolish the
defeat, defeat from pains. That is why we see in him a kind of mockery
against so-called social system, a humiliation against upper class society and
the administration and sympathy towards exploited downtrodden masses. A
critic has said about his mind-set, found in his stories :
ëëÚÀ¬ıµ≈ Œ‚±À ∏¬ı˛ ·Àä ¸±Ò±¬ı˛Ìˆ¬±À¬ı ÒÚœ˜±ÀS˝◊√√ ’Ó¬…±‰¬±¬ı˛œ, ˜±ø˘fl¡ ˜±ÀS˝◊√√
Œ¶§26√±‰¬±¬ı˛œº Ó¬±¬ı˛± Ȭ±fl¡±¬ı˛ ŒÊ√±À¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ˝◊√√7¡¡¡Ó¬ Ú©Ü fl¡À¬ı˛, ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ
øÚÀ˚˛ øÂ√øÚø˜øÚ Œ‡À˘º Œ˚ ’ôL…Ê√ ŒÎ¬±˜À√¬ı˛ Ó¬±¬ı˛± ‚‘̱ fl¡À¬ı˛ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ◊√√
õ∂À ˛±Ê√ÀÚ ¬ı…¬ı˝√√±¬ı fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ø¡ZÒ±À¬ı±Ò fl¡À¬ı˛Ú Ú± ’±¬ı˛ øÚÀ¬ı«±Ò ˜±Ú≈ ∏&ø˘ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ◊√√
Ê√Ú… õ∂±Ì ø¬ı¸Ê«√Ú Œ√ ˛ºíí 19
But Nabendu did not portray only the darker side of life. He has been
committed with the aesthetics that leads to life. That is why he had delineated
the characters of blind, lame, and beggars into his own writings with
sympathy. They too, had the intuition that takes them towards a
consciousness against the riches, as because their lives have been depended
upon their mercy. They are treated like animals by the riches. To come out of
this inequality one has to depend upon socialism, and it can be established
only by spreading love to humanity. In the stories of Nabendu Ghose, we
discover such type of love to their compatriot, eagerness of desire to get final
beatitude and the dream of love. But in his novel, ‘Banka Taloar’ written in the
year 1946, we see Parbati could not save the life of her husband and son
after selling her body as she had been tortured within an existence that leads
to nothingness. Here this novel is a reflection of tragedy that had engulfed the
lives of couples and their conjugal life in middle-class families. In each of his
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stories, we have seen the social consciousness, deep intuition, sympathy to
the exploited masses and the political identity. A few of his remarkable
collection of short stories are ‘Ei Simante’ (1945), ‘Postmortem’ (1946), ‘Ispat’
(1948), ‘Kanna’ (1950), ‘Sindi’ (1957), ‘Pancham Rag’ (1960) etc. There we
get pictures of epidemic, famine, the communal riots in the stories of ‘Ulukhar’
and ‘Kanna’. Though in Nabendu Ghosh’s story we notice pictures of crude
reality, yet we have some kind of optimism, too. In his story we have seen
world of collective struggle. In some of his stories we have seen the designs
of allegory. Such as, is found in his story ‘Aranye’, we have human behaviour
depicted in the persona of animals. In his story ‘Kalki’, published in
‘Shanibarer Chithi’ in 1350 B.S., we have seen the curses of world war. We
have class discrimination in haves and have-nots there, which is reflected in
the procession by the hungry-people. In a few of Nabendu Ghosh’s story we
have macabre resonance. The story ‘Postmortem’ is one such example. In the
story ‘Kalki’, mentioned earlier, we have seen gorily picture of famine with
flaws. In his story ‘Shyamrayer Mrityu’, we have seen how to protest against
religious fundamentalism. We have people here united against exploitation in
the name of religion, by the working people. After that there will not be any
exploitation by the ruling people in the name of religion upon the religious
fear. Under the leadership of people like Trilochan, people were united under
their shelters to voice protest always. In the story ‘Kanna’ we have seen
glimpses of catastrophe during the war. Here, the author has delineated their
character with pangs and sympathy with all the have-nots. This has become
philosophy of downtrodden people in general. In the story ‘Kanna’ by
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Nabendu Ghosh we have seen a labourer, which has a family with an old
mother-in-law, wife Mala and an infant child; on the other hand there is a
sense of duty towards the working life of a compatriot worker of a mill. Up to
where this can lead, has been depicted by the author, in a suggestive of
allegorical nuances. Here, Nabendu Ghosh did not keep any kind of plot in the
story ‘Kanna’. The plot is broken out of the thread of hunger and emotion, as if
the plot is not essential, it is less than the sentiment. Words of a critic, in this
respect, are remarkable :
ëë ëfl¡±iß±í ·äøȬ ¸•Û”Ì«Ó¬ ¸˜±Ê√ ¸˜¸…±˜” fl¡ ·Àä¬ı˛ Œ|ÌœÀÓ¬ ¬ÛÀάˇº Œ˚
¸˜±ÀÊ√ ’ÀÔ«¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ ø¬ı¬Û « ˛ ’¬ıÒ±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√ ˛, Œ˚ ¸˜±ÀÊ√ ÒÚœ¬ı˛± √±˘±˘ ø√À˚˛
˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ¸„∏‚¬ıX ˙øMï √Àfl¡ ¬ı±Ú‰¬±˘ fl¡¬ı˛±¬ı˛ 鬘Ӭ± ¬ı˛±À‡, Œ¸ ¸˜±ÀÊ√ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛
’¸˝√√± ˛Ó¬± Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¸¬ı«±¬ı ˛¬ı Ê√œ¬ıÚÒ√ı—À¸¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛Ì ˝√√ ˛ºíí 20
Just as mass protest, in his story, is discernible, so is his delineation of
social decay. On writing about love relationship Nabendu Ghosh did not
portray ordinary romantic stories, but its decay, as the off short of Bourgeois
effect upon lower middle- class and have-nots with sympathy and
compassion. In a word, it can be said that Nabendu Ghosh is a strong and
remarkable writer in the field of short story, a narrator of life and its battle.
Santoshkumar Ghosh (19th September, 1920-26th February, 1985):
Another bright star of contemporary writers’-group is Santoshkumar
Ghosh. The 40’s was affected by world war, communal riots, famine,
epidemic, and partition, the immigrant people achieved a broken
independence with pangs and troubles this was the real story of Bengali life
92
and society in the forties. These aforementioned things have changed the life
of the Bengalese. Together with this were added barren politics and broken
economics. All kinds of values were lost. There came an end to healthy
maintenance of life. Human relationships were affected by corruption,
opportunism, and hopelessness. Along with the male counterpart, women,
too, had to come out of their own home from social and family situation with
life-struggles. Santoshkumar Ghosh has arrived at this juncture as a multi-
dynamic one. Gainsaying the decaying society and life, its pain and distress,
Santoshkumar Ghosh felt it with his acute feeling of mind and expressed
these in his sharp compositions with ruthless expertise. Santoshkumar
Ghosh’s talent lies in his feelings for finer life, consciousness about the
society, ruthless analysis upon his heart, the delineation of personal
existence, and suggestive language. Though he has hailed from his own
home at Faridpur, his literary perspective was Calcutta city and life with its
urban consciousness. How his artistic mind developed, was caught in
remarkable syntax by a critic :
ëë1936 ‡‘©Ü±Às fl¡√À˘Ê√ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ Ï≈¬Àfl¡ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬± ˛ ¤À˘Ú ¶ö± ˛œˆ¬±À¬ı ¬ı±¸
fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬º ¬ıe¬ı±¸œ fl¡À˘ÀÊ√ ’±˝◊√√.¤.-ø¬ı.¤. ¬ÛÀάˇÚº 1938 ŒÔÀfl¡ 1948
‡‘©Ü±s, ’±Í¬±¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¸±Ó¬±˙ ¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ ¬ı˚¸ ¬Û «ôL Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ˚ ¸¬ı ’øˆ¬:Ó¬±
¸—¢∂˝√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú Œ˙ ∏ ¬Û «ôL Ó¬± ¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ·ä ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸¬ı˛ ¶ö±˚˛œ
ά◊¬Û±√±Ú¬ı+À¬Û ¬ı…¬ı˝√√+Ó¬ ˝√√À˚˛ÀÂ√º ¬ıdÓ¬ ¤˝◊√√fl¡±À˘ Ê√œ¬ıÚ ¸g±Úœ øÚ ˛Ó¬-’Ó‘¬5
¸√±Ài§ ∏œ ¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛ øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡ ·Àάˇ Ó≈¬À˘ÀÂ√Úºíí 21
93
He had used his sharp pen to depict the individual and social life. He
had great sympathy on human life. It had been tinged with a portion of pain
and a flaw against flows and foibles. Along with this, it is seen that his desire
for life is fall of death consciousness. This death sometimes, is the
culmination of compassion, sometimes end to the waiting, and sometimes a
fear to self annihilation. Along with Manik Bandyopadhyay and Narendranath
Mitra the other two who have tried to depict the inns and outs of their middle-
class and lower middle-class family are, Jyotirindra Nandi and Santoshkumar
Ghosh. He is tired-less with subject-form and analytical inner world of his
protagonists. The writer of today has to return the act of story writing this
was his literary wisdom. In general his concept comes in mind before his
stories are written. The thread of his story developed around his concept. In
his story we have seen unfathomable taste of a sea, where the glimpses of
broken moments are seen in functional mystery. Fine is his pen with stern,
steady and less spoken if it occupies him, and then it is not his flaw. Rather
this flaw belongs to the age and broken concept of the country and society
where to work for others left much to be pained.
In fact, he is more interested in his biographical portray of his
protagonists and characters. His search is for the truth of life. His method is
self analytical. Depiction of his characters are analytical, this self-biography is
the prime-motif in his own writing. It is full of death-consciousness. He is
careful with his self-referential experience and memory. He is expert in
delineating the flawless middle-class characters of Calcutta’s urban life. He is
expert in using it in details. He makes his characters, subjects and incidents
94
memorable. Linear portray of characters are there. Actually his subject comes
first around which his stories grow. He had no interest with plots. He neither is
interested in the craft of story writing. Santoshkumar, like other writers is not
an exception. He had started his writing from his early-college days. He had
marked his debut with poetry writing. A critic has said about his nature as :
ë똱Ú≈ ∏øȬ ‡≈¬ı ·yœ¬ı˛ øfl¡—¬ı± Œ¬ı¬ı˛ø¸fl¡ ÚÚ ¬ı¬ı˛— ’±D±¬ı±Ê√ , ‰¬=˘, ¬ı≈øX¬ı˛
Ó¬œéƬӬ± Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¶§ ¬±¬ı·Ó º Ó¬À¬ı ¤fl¡È¬± ø¬ı ∏À˚˛ øÓ¬øÚ ‡≈¬ı ¬ı˛±·œ¬¬Û≈ï ∏ ∏º Ù“¬±øfl¡ ø√À˚˛
øfl¡Â≈√ fl¡¬ı˛± Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¶§ ¬±¬ı ø¬ıï Xº øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ˚˜Ú Ù“¬±øfl¡ Œ√› ˛±ÀÓ¬ ’¬ÛÂ√µ, ’¬ÛÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛
Ù“¬±øfl¡› Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¬ÛÂ√µ ˝√√ÀÓ¬± Ú±º ¬ı±øÚÀ ˛ øÓ¬øÚ ¬ı˘ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛ÀÓ¬Ú Ú±, ŒÓ¬˜øÚ ¬ı±øÚÀ ˛
Œ˘‡±ÀÓ¬› ’Úˆ¬…ô¶ºíí22
He had many sides of his stories. He himself said that most of his
stories are auto-biographical. That is why he is not exception to other writers
of his time. Those who came before him and after his time are, Subodh
Ghosh, Achintyakumar Sengupta, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Narendranath
Mitra, Premendra Mitra, Jyotirindra Nandi, Sunil Gangopadhyay etc. The
writers who belonged to that time have some original ethos. Such as
Tarasankar’s belief in folk motif in Radh-society, Premendra Mitra’s urban
concern, Rameshchandra Sen’s emphasis on the riots of 46’s. In
Narendranath Mitra, we have seen suggestions of unspoken words, sharp
observation and his commentaries all these are remarkable in each of
them. In Narayan Gangopadhyay, we have seen social decay, along with
animalistic desire. In Santoshkumar Ghosh we have seen decay and mental
crisis in middle-class society, which is individualistic and based on his time.
His stories can be divided into three parts. In the early stage it is emotional
95
and romantic, in the youth he had become realistic. He had observed the
lower depth of Calcutta life; the crisis in middle-class society, everyday’s
failure and defeat. He had known the deep mystery behind society and human
mind. He had depicted pangs, compassion conflict, and human-fall in middle
class life with sharp observation. In the third stage, Santoshkumar became
more matured. He had proved his niche in delineating life and its world, man
and relation between man and its society, where we face uncertainty,
nothingness and helplessness.
Santoshkumar Ghosh is an urban writer building his stories thread by
thread in a different style. At that period, Calcutta was a space of blackout,
bombs with smells everywhere with gun powder. A war was over and
emerged communal riots. Partition took place, refugees crowded the Calcutta
streets. People took shelter in the footpaths of Calcutta. Economy broke down
with population explosion. Everywhere decay loomed large. Womanhood,
virginity, motherhood and positive qualities gave way to animalism.
Santoshkumar Ghosh is such type of writer depicting this urban life. We can
see the pictures of pre-independent and post independent Calcutta in his
stories. Those collections of short stories for which he will be remembered
forever are ‘Bhagnangsha’ (1939), ‘Shukshari’ (1953), ‘Parabot’ (1953),
‘Chinamati’ (1953), ‘Badir Jhanpi’ (1956), ‘Paramayu’ (1958), ‘Kusumer Mas’
(1959), ‘Dui Kananer Pakhi’ (1949), ‘Chirorupa’ (1961), ‘Amar Priya Sakhi’
(1960), ‘Phuler Name Nam’ (1961), ‘Chaya Harin’ (1961), ‘Trinayan’ (1964),
Bahendri (1964), ‘Baire Dure’ (1976), ‘Yubakal’ (1976), ‘Sandhya O
Shal’(1979), ‘Dupurer Dike’ (1980) etc. Santoshkumar Ghosh’s short stories
96
were collected in the volumes. In the first one there are 34 stories, in the
second volume there are 46 stories and in the third volume, the number of
stories is 35. He has written his stories from 1939-1952 in archaic language,
many of his remarkable short stories of this kind, were ‘Shit Basanta’,
‘Dakshiner Baranda’, ‘Kshana Nid’ etc.
Santoshkumar Ghosh excelled in diction, form and subject matter. His
language is moving, clairvoyant. He is deft in his choice of words, its usage
and suggestively. His words are musical. His success in short stories is
laudable, as modern society is not predetermined, it changes frequently by
various incidents, so is his writing which is not based on plot. A remarkable
picture and tune gain ground in his stories. It seems that the end of his stories
is a prime and to give it a clear shape, many words come along with
characterization. Everywhere we feel his clear insight and fine-psychic orders.
Here modern liberalism and progressive compassion is the main. A sharp
magnifying glass is in his foresight, social consciousness is covered
throughout his mind. He is ruthless in dissecting individual and society, though
he is compassionate on his society, yet it includes disdain, jealousy, and
sympathy. In his mind, there is a kind of materialistic consciousness along
with ideological insight, equally. He had seen women from lower middle-class
family, who are torn with poverty and driven by fantasy, in his inability to gain
her love that seems real in his creativities only, though with his breaking
hopes. In this earthly limitation this imagination is shirked and not ready to
accept anything. In comparing his individuality along with his contemporary
writers, a critic has said :
97
ëë¸Ó¬œÔ« ¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ Œ˘‡fl¡ ¬ıg≈À√¬ı˛ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ ¸ÀôL±¯∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛ Œ‚±À ∏¬ı˛ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛
mental attachment øˆ¬iß Ò¬ı˛ÀÚ¬ı˛º ŒÊ√…±øÓ¬ø¬ı˛f Úµœ¬ı˛ 댇˘Ú±í Ú±À˜¬ı˛ õ∂Ô˜
·ä¢∂Lö Œ¬ıÀ¬ı˛±˚˛ ά◊øÚ˙À˙± ‰¬ø~À˙º Ó“¬±¬ı ‘√ø©Ü ø¡ZÓ¬œ ˛ ø¬ıï ´ ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ˆ¬¶úd¬Û ŒÔÀfl¡
’Ú… øÓ¬˚«fl¡ Œfl¡±Ì øÚÀ˚˛ Œ√‡± Œ√ ˛º ¸˜fl¡±À˘ ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ¬ıÀ¸ ÚÀ¬ı˛fÚ±Ô ø˜S
Ó“¬±¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ-¬ı‘ÀM√√¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛øÒÀfl¡ ø¬ıô¶œÌ« fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛ÚøÚ ·Àäº Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì
·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ ø¬ı¯∏ ˛ ø¬ıô¶œÌ« ˝√√À˘› Œ˘‡fl¡ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ¤fl¡ ’:±Ó¬ fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ
õ∂±Ì¬ıôL ¬˝√√ÀÓ¬ Œ˚ ¬Û±À¬ı˛ÚøÚ, Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ë·g¬ı˛±Êí√ ˝◊√√Ó¬…±ø√ ·ä Ó¬± õ∂˜±Ì fl¡À¬ı˛º Œ˘‡fl¡
¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛ Œ‚± ∏ ¤“À√¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ¸•Û”Ì« ¶§Ó¬La ¬ÛÀÔ¬ı˛ ¸øg»¸≈
¬ÛøÔfl¡ºíí 23
Among his remarkable stories, the popular one, ‘Kanakadi’ was written
in the post-independence period. That a tainted disaster came in the heart of
Bengal and in its pity decay has been caught in a deft manner, by
Santoshkumar Ghosh, in this story. That a cruel selfishness and dropped out
values have broken the human ideologyhave been caught by him in the
conjugal life and in the persona of Manmath and Sabitri.
A sharp social analysis, bright, neat, suggestive language and indirect
diction, sharp mental chaos, one side integrity, steady voice and
characterization have elevated the story ‘Kanakadi’ in class of literary values.
The story, ‘Bhebechilam’ get sky-high height with its central voice along with
its form and content. This story seemed to be a ‘Baul song’ in the world of
universal middle-class people. The writer has cited the age in the middle of
the year 1930. The class picture of this story is a clash between the middle-
class and lower middle-class people and their mental turmoil. It is directed by
the decadent of the Bengalis’-world in the two wars with its effect upon
98
relationship, that is fate-oriented and commodity driven, as it seems in the
primary reading. In the world of Bengali short story writing, ‘Bhebechilam’ is a
class-apart writing. With its subject matter and form, it reflects the author’s
expertise in words and clarity of thoughts. As the story has no plot, no
ordinary narrative, that is why there is no central character. No personal
human being in specialty but a complex city has recognized itself with its
simplicity to the aliens.
Another famous story of Santoshkumar Ghosh is ‘Dvija’, which is
refugees’ life oriented. For a small shelter, women came out of their home
leaving all their respect along with the man to earn their livelihood, with broil to
their male compatriot. Male were busy to earn whatever they got in front of
them, with the recognition of a refugee only. Nishikanta, from the story ‘Dvija’
has delineated the voice of those refugees. Aniket and helpless Nishikanta
have recovered their lives and values in the hand of the author in his own
composition during the 40’s. We don’t know how much the disaster in financial
crisis lead the protagonists into oblivion in our society. In this society our
values are lost due to many reasons. There are many people like Shashanka,
Sabitri, Manmatha and Mallika in our society. In these stories the characters
are representing the society. A critic’s comment regarding this goes thus :
ëë·äfl¡±¬ı˛¬ı˛± qÒ≈ ø¬ıÀÚ±√ÀÚ¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ·ä Œ˘À‡Ú Ú±º Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛› ¤fl¡È¬± ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡
√±ø˚˛Q ’±ÀÂ√º ¬Û±Í¬fl¡Àfl¡ Ó“¬±¬ı˛± ¤˝◊√√ ¸˜±Ê√ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ ¸À‰¬Ó¬Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÓ¬±À˘Úº
¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ·Àä Œ¸˝◊√√ √±ø ˛Q˝◊√√ ¬Û±˘Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº øÓ¬øÚ ¤˝◊√√ ·Àä ¤fl¡
Ê√œ¬ıÚ√˙«ÚÀfl¡ Ù≈¬øȬÀ ˛ Ó≈¬À˘ÀÂ√Úº Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ Ê√œ¬ıÚÀ¬ı±Ò ¤¬ı— ‘√ø©Üˆ¬øe
ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ ¬±À¬ı ά◊À~‡À˚±·…ºíí24
99
Another important short story by Santoshkumar Ghosh is ‘Chinemati’.
This story was written after the war. A kind of artificial life has been
fictionalized here to hide the social decay, just as a pottery of Chinemati
(Porcelain) is susceptible to break with its attractive clay cover; such is the
characters of the story. Here the urban people are artificial in midst of rural
simple life. External glamour of the urban people is brittle, it is breakable. One
day it becomes clear like day light, bit by bit love breaks like brittle glasses. A
kind of concentration is required on the part of the reader to understand this
story.
In a word it can be said that Santoshkumar Ghosh is a powerful writer
in Bengali literature. He is unparallel in the field of short story; he is a skilful
short story writer. He will be remembered for his short stories for long. A
critic’s comments can be remembered here :
ëë¸ÀôL± ∏fl≈¡˜±¬ı˛ Œ‚± ∏ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ˘‡±¬ı˛ ø¬ı ∏ ˛ ά◊¬Û¶ö±¬ÛÚ± › ¬ı˛œøÓ¬ øÚÌ«À ˛ ¸Ó¬fl«¡
¸À‰¬Ó¬Ú › ‚øÚᬠ|À˜¬ı˛ ¶§±é¬¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˛À‡øÂ√À˘Úº ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ
¬ÛøÔfl‘¡» Ú± ˝√√À˘› ’Ú…Ó¬˜ õ∂±: ¬Û≈ï ∏ ’¬ı˙…˝◊√√º ¸±˜ø¢∂fl¡ˆ¬±À¬ı Ó¬±“¬ı ·äÀfl¡
Œ·±È¬± Ê√œ¬ıÚ-˜Ú¶®Ó¬±¬ı˛ √¬Û«Ì ¬ı˘± ˚± ˛ºíí 25
Subodh Ghosh, Jyotirindra Nandi, Narendranath Mitra, Nabendu
Ghosh and Santoshkumar Ghosh these five writers along with Narayan
Gangopadhyay have been recognized as gifted short story writers of 40’s. But
they had been recognized as matured writers in the post independent period.
Subodh Ghosh too, had changed his position and gained maturity. He has
become more interested in composing ‘Bharatprem-Katha’ than the analytical
100
studies of Fossil. He is no more seen in his forte that he had been shown
before. No such story now is found with sharp concept of life, as it was before.
He himself believed that later on he turned to the faith of God with new,
absolute illumination. Narendranath Mitra always was a writer who loves
solitude. We don’t get in him any kind of shrill and high pitch ethos. Rather
here, we get a silence, a silence that reflects his compassion with the lower
middle-class and middle-class people. The writers of the post independent
era, who were famous in writing Bengali short stories, were not interested in
plot-oriented stories; rather in creating the environment in sharp contrast with
narration, philosophy and intuition which is praiseworthy. One such author,
who belongs to this group, is Jyotirindra Nandi. Santoshkumar Ghosh has
given importance upon the complexities in human life during the war-torn
period with analytical studies on conflicts in the life of his society around him,
in his composition of short stories. He had a magnifying sight to dissect the
characters and their perspective. In his later life, we have seen him giving
importance to psychology and existence with broken psychosis and wise
diction. As a result, the stories have become self-centred. With Narayan
Gangopadhyay and Narendranath Mitra, there had been the presence of
Nabendu Ghosh, who had been in search of other subjects. On the one hand
he had been a leftist, yet emotional. Therefore his stories always had been
full of emotion.
There are both similarities and dissimilarities in Narayan
Gangopadhyay with these five contemporary short story writers as well as
101
with his antecedent writers. In this context a critic’s comment can be
remembered :
ëëŒÂ√±È¬·äfl¡±¬ı˛ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¬¬Û”¬ı«¬ıÓ¬œ« ¬ı±„√√±˘œ ·äfl¡±¬ı˛À√¬ı˛
’ÀÚfl¡&ø˘ ∆¬ıø˙©Ü… ¸øijø˘Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√º Ó¬±¬ı˛±˙ÇÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ Œ¬ÛÃï ∏√œø5,
’ø‰¬ôL…fl≈¡˜±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜±øȬ ’±¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ¬ıø˘á¬ ø˜˘Ú, ˜±øÚfl¡ ¬ıÀµ…±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ øÚ˜«˜
Ê√œ¬ıÚ±¸øMï √, Œõ∂À˜f ø˜ÀS¬ı˛ Ê√øȬ˘ ˜Ú·˝√√ÀÚ õ∂À¬ıÀ˙¬ı˛ ¸Ó¬fl«¡ ¬Û√À鬬Û
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ±¸øMï √Àfl¡ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¬ÛÔ Œ√ø‡À˚ÀÂ√, ÚÓ≈¬Ú ˙øMï √
ø√À ˛ÀÂ√ºíí 26
Every one of them has picturised their own time and space, on their
own. Writers like Subodh Ghosh, Narendranath Mitra, Narayan
Gangopadhyay, Santoshkumar Ghosh, Nabendu Ghosh, Jyotirindra Nandi,
have represented their characters with all their mental complexities and new
subject-matters, a sharp observation and crude realities that itself speak
volumes of their contribution to the world of Bengali literature. Their subject-
matters were famine, epidemic, riots, independence, exodus the mental decay
in middle-class people, which were the result of war and its macabre
condition. In fact every writer, here is socially conscious. They were interested
in coalescence of Art and social consciousness. The short stories of 40’s have
brought us the understanding of protest, tension, chaos and a question on life
in that time. In the last, we can say that those short story writers, who were
contemporary to Narayan Gangopadhyay, were self-willed on their own field
in the time of 40’s. All of them were absolute and talented writers with their
representative narration upon the text and context, point of view and with
different forte.
102
NOTES & REFERENCES :
1. Birendra Dutta : Bangla Chotogalpa: Prasanga O Prakaran,
Vol.-II, pp. 283-284.
2. Nirmal Das : Bangla Chotogalpa Prasanga, p.-38.
3. Jagadish Bhattacharya (ed.) : Subudh Ghosher Shrestha Galpa,
Introduction, p.-7.
4. Subodh Ghosh: “Sediner Alochaya” in Swapankumar Mukhopadhyay
(Pub.), Subodh Ghosher Manimukto, Janma Shatabarshiki
Sankalan, 2009, p.-29.
5. Jagadish Bhattacharya (ed.) : Subodh Ghosher Shrestha Galpa,
Introduction, p.-18.
6. Jagadish Bhattacharya : Amar Kaler Kayekjan Kathashilpi,
p.-139.
7. Himabanta Bandyopadhyay : Subodh Ghosher Duti Galpa: Kritagwata-
Akritagwatar Katha, (Article), Galpa Niye Upanyas Niye, p.-99.
8. Birendra Dutta : Bangla Chotogalpa: Prasanga O Prakaran, Vol.-II,
p.-126.
9. Pratapkumar Sen : “Panyachetanar Galpakar: Jyotirindra Nandi”, in
Ashish Pandey (ed.), Banglar Abhash, Sharada Sankhya, Vol.-VI,
Issue-III, 2009,1416 B.S., p.-266.
10. Nilotpal Jana : Nirbachita Chotogolper Nibir Path, p.-111.
11. Narendranath Mitra : Galpamala-1, Vol.-1, p.-11.
12. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay: Madhyahna Theke Sayahne: Binsha
Shatabdir Bangla Upanyas, p.-185.
13. Semanti Ghosh (ed.) : Deshbhag: Smriti Ar Stabdhata, p.-44.
14. Narendranath Mitra : Bindu Bindu, Abhijit Mitra, (ed.), p.-7.
103
15. Anjushree Bhattacharya : Narendranath Mitra: Jiban O Sahitya,
p.-20.
16. Jayanti Saha : “Narendranath Mitra : Bhalobasar Jiban Shilpi”, Sahitye
O Byaktitve, p.-70.
17. Amalendu Chakraborty : “Nabendu Ghosher Sange Sakshatkar”, in
Anilkumar Singha (ed.), Natun Sahitya, Bhadra, 1363 B.S., 7th year
Vol.-II, p.-59.
18. Nabendu Ghosh: “Bandhubareshu”, in Sachindranath Mukhopadhyay
(ed.), Kali O Kalam, Agrahayan, 1377 B.S., 4th year, Vol.-IV, p.-609.
19. Sarojmohan Mitra : Banglai Galpa O Chotogalpa, p.-290.
20. Birendra Dutta : Bangla Chotogalpa: Prasanga O Prakaran, p.-281.
21. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay : Madhyahna Theke Sayahne: Binsha
Shatabdir Bangla Upanyas, p.-216.
22. Dipesh Mandal : “Kanakadi O Chinemati: Chhaposha Bangalir Jibaner
Sankat”, in Shrabani Paul (ed.) Bangla Chotogalpa Paryalochana:
Bish Shatak, p.-240.
23. Birendra Dutta : Bangla Chotogalpa : Prasanga O Prakaran, Vol.-II,
p.-376.
24. Sarojmohan Mitra : Rabindrottar Chotogalpa Samiksha, p.-172.
25. Mo. Kutubuddin Molla : “Santoshkumar Ghosher ‘Kanakadi’”, in Dost
Mahammad (ed.), Adhunik Chotogalpa: Mane O Manane, p.-296.
26. Ujjalkumar Mazumder: “Narayan Gangopadhyay O Bangla Sahitya”, in
Sanjibkumar Basu (ed.), Sahitya O Samskriti, 6th Year, Vol. II, 1377
B.S., pp.-261-262.
104
CHAPTER - III
THE CHRONOLOGICAL DIVISION AND THE
THEMATIC DISCUSSION OF THE SHORT STORIES BY
NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY
The short story writer Narayan Gangopadhyay was a versatile genius.
Various subjects found spaces in the gamut of his short stories. Modern lives
have put the man in myriad and complex limbos. These complexities have a
considerable impact upon human mind. That is why the talk about mysterious
mind found words, in the hands of the writers, like Narayan Gangopadhyay,
that is not free from time space quantum in the process of life with reflection in
experiences. The entire mind of a writer thus gets its required literary element
from time-space. Short-stories with its small canvas reflect the contemporary
world, and its psychodynamic perspective. Narayan Gangopadhyay is a
writer, who is conscious about both time and Arts. His stories deal with
incident that happened in his spaces and time. He has delineated human life
along with their direct and indirect results in his short-stories.
His stories are the reflection of issues related to political perspective,
native politics, economics, social identity, science, philosophy, Arts with
renewed ethos and new-meaning. With the international perspectives, he
never forgot his own time in his composition. To him man is a resonance to
the heart, his quest of life is full. A critic, on his talent, has said :
105
ëëÊ√ø˜À ˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛À¬ı˙ ∆Ó¬¬ı˛œ fl¡À¬ı˛ ·ä ¬ıÀ˘ ˜≈* fl¡¬ı˛±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ’¸±Ò±¬ı˛Ì 鬘Ӭ±
Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À˚˛¬ıº ¸≈µ¬ı˛ ±˘ [ë¬ıœÓ¬—¸í], ˝◊√√¬ı˱ø˝√√˜ √±À¬ı˛±·± › øÚø˙fl¡±ôL
fl¡ «fl¡±¬ı˛ [ëÚSï ‰¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬í], ¬ıv…±fl¡˜±Àfl«¡øȬ ˛±¬ı˛ Œ√¬ıœ√±¸ [ë≈√–˙±¸Úí], ¬ı˛±˜·e±
¤À¶ÜÀȬ¬ı˛ ¤Ú. ’±¬ı˛. Œ‰¬ÃÒ≈¬ı˛œ [ëŒÈ¬±¬Ûí], ¬Û¬ı˛±Ì ˜G˘ [ë’±¬ı±√í], ¬ı≈ øfl¡ ¬ı˛±˚˛
[ëÊ√ij±ôL¬ı˛í], ’øÚï X › ˜˜Ó¬± [똷«í], fl¡±øÙ¬˘±øV ˜±øÁ¡ [ëfl¡˜˘±¬ı√Úí],
˝◊√√Ó¬…±ø√ Œ√±À ∏-&ÀÌ, ˆ¬≈˘w±øôLÀÓ¬ Ê√άˇ±ÀÚ± ˜±Ú≈ ∏&ø˘¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ¤˜Úˆ¬±À¬ı ’±“fl¡±
˚±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ¬Ûø¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ ˝√√› ˛±¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛ ¶§ ¬±¬ıœ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡ ¤À√¬ı˛ øfl¡Â≈√ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ø¬ı¶ú‘Ó¬ ˝√√ÀÓ¬
¬Û±À¬ı˛ Ú±ºíí1
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a witness to the contemporary, chaotic
times. He had started his journey out of such chaotic moments which came in
his creation, both as direct and indirect ways. He has tried to catch the
incidents like, freedom movement, world war-II, epidemic, political riot,
partition, Tebhaga movement, eviction, language movement, etc., in his short
stories. But the writer never lost his hope and we get words of optimism, even
at times, when he was dealing with the crisis and decay, which has been
reiterated in his own composition. A critic has said in this context :
ëëÓ“¬±¬ı˛ ·Àä ˜±Ú≈ ∏Àfl¡ ÚÓ≈¬Úˆ¬±À¬ı ¬ı“±‰¬±¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ¬ı˘± ˝√√À˚ÀÂ√º ¤˝◊√√ ¬ı“±‰¬± ø¬ıfl‘¡Ó¬
Œ˚ÃÚ é≈¬Ò± ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ı“±‰¬±,Œ¬ÛÀȬ¬ı˛ é≈¬Ò± ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ı“±‰¬±, ˜±Ú¬ıÓ¬±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ¬ı“±‰¬±,
Ú¬ı˛Ú±¬ı˛œ¬ı˛ ¸≈¶ö ¸•ÛÀfl«¡¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ¬ı“±‰¬±ºíí 2
The social realism changes from time to time and age to age. His
stories has caught these transforming world with all its complexities as the
author has sought to delineate many waves and their thoughts, with all their
psychoanalytical perspectives, that was his original forte. He was a man of
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experimentation and proved his niche in creating something new. A critic’s
comment in this context is remarkable :
ëë.....................’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ ≈·Ê√œ¬ıÚ › ˚≈·˜±ÚÀ¸¬ı˛ ¬ıUÒ± ø¬ı ∏˚Àfl¡ ’¬ı˘•§Ú
fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú ·äfl¡±¬ı˛º ‹øÓ¬À˝√√…¬ı˛ ’Ú≈ ¬ı˛Ì, ¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ õ∂¸Àe ø‰¬¬ı˛ôLÀÚ¬ı˛ ø¬ıô¶±À¬ı˛,
ø˙äœÀ‰¬Ó¬Ú± ŒÔÀfl¡ ά◊»¸±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ˆ¬±¬ıÚ± ˛ Ÿ¬X ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛
·äº....................... ¬ı±—˘± ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ ø¬¬ı˙±˘ ‹ï ´À «¬ı˛ ά◊M√√¬ı˛±øÒfl¡±¬ıœ Ó“¬±¬ı˛
¬Û «À¬ıé¬Ì‘√ø©Ü, ’Ú≈ ¬”øÓ¬˙øMï √, ά◊¬Û¶ö±¬ÛÚ±¬ı˛ ∆Ú¬Û≈Ì… › ’¸±˜±Ú… ‰¬ø¬ı˛S¸‘Ê√ÀÚ
ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ ¸œ˜±Ú±Àfl¡ ”√¬ı˛ õ∂¸±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úºíí 3
Narayan Gangopadhyay had been writing short stories in between
1935-1970, in almost thirty five years. The number of stories in thirteen
collections of short stories is about one hundred and fifty. These were
published in between 1945-1971. A few topics we have chosen from many
issues and subjects. These subjects have been dealt separately in a few
groups. But, there is more than one issue that can be found in many stories.
The title of these thirteen collections of short stories are - (1) Bitansa
(1945), (2) Bhanga Bandar (1945), (3) Bhogabati (1945), (4) Kalabadar
(1948), (5) Duhshasan (1952), (6) Svetkamal (1945), (7) Gandharaj
(1955), (8) Urbashi (1957), (9) Shubhakshan (1960), (10) Exhibition
(1961), (11) Chayatari (1966), (12) Banajyotsna (1969), and (13) Ghurni
(1971). These stories can be categorized in the following ways :
(1) First Part (1945-’52) − Here we are having the collection of short
stories, namely, ‘Bitansa’(1945), ‘Bhanga Bandar’(1945), Bhogabati
(1945), ‘Kalabadar’ (1948), and Duhshasan (1952).
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(2) Second Part (1954-’60) − In this part the collection of short stories
are, ‘Svetkamal’ (1954), ‘Gandharaj’ (1955), ‘Urbashi’ (1957),
‘Shubhakshan' (1960).
(3) Third Part (1961-’71) − Here we are having ‘Exhibition’(1961),
‘Chayatari’ (1966), Banajyotshna (1969), and ‘Ghurni’(1971).
These stories can be regrouped upon the main subjects, which are as
follows :
1. Contemporary context- world war-II, epidemic, riot, partitions,
August movement, communal riots, eviction.
2. Love- conjugal love, pre-marital love, post-marital love - its success
and failure.
3. Psychological – normal, abnormal.
4. Politics – human welfare, party ideology.
5. Educational – students’ community, teachers’ fraternity.
6. Supernaturalism- creation of perspective and mystery.
7. Values – crisis and ascension.
8. Protest consciousness – exploited against the exploiters.
9. Nature – regionalism and crude gory circumstances.
10. Optimism and mass consciousness – dream and expectation.
11. Class conflicts– social exploitation.
But this division can’t be said final. There are also other inns and outs
in his stories. Many topics have been repeated. Again, more than two things
have been jostled into two. Though the two subjects are mixed together, one
subject remains as prime issue other issues plays minor role throughout the
108
stories. Now, by studying various short stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay,
we shall try to highlight the subjects mentioned above.
Contemporary context :
Narayan Gangopadhyay had been moved by his age and
contemporary events, which have been reflected into his stories. That is why
a critic has said about him :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛± ˛Ì qÒ≈ õ∂øÓ¬ˆ¬±¬ı±Ú˝◊√√ ÚÚ, ¸˜¸±˜ø ˛fl¡ ≈À·¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬øÚøÒ ¶ö±Úœ ˛›
¬ıÀȬںíí4
In fact, the world war-II had left a water- mark into his writings with new
dimension. Though he had no direct contact with politics, yet, the new choices
had given him new impetus in the composition; war, epidemic, and mass-
protestin this war-torn perspective along with time-consciousness. Love to
life and love to human being, have arrived in his stories and novels. The most
famous novels and short stories written by Narayan Gangopadhyay, belongs
to the 40’s. Two memorable events in the 40’s are world war-II, epidemic and
famine. These two events moved human beings at large. These events, like
others, have been given impetus to Narayan Gangopadhyay’s writing.
In his own words :
ëë¬ı±—˘±À√À˙¬ı˛ ’±¬ı˛› ’ÀÚfl¡ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬˝◊√√ ’±ø˜› õ∂Ô˜ fl¡˘˜ ÒÀ¬ı˛øÂ√˘±˜
¬Û¬ı˛±ÒœÚ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ıÀ ∏«¬ı˛ ≈√–¸˝√√ ’ø¢ü˚La̱¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…º ’±ø˜ Ó¬‡Ú ¶≈®À˘¬ı˛ Â√±Sº øS˙
¸±À˘¬ı˛ ¸Ó¬…±¢∂˝√√ Œ√À‡øÂ√, Œ√À‡øÂ√ ‰¬A¢∂±À˜¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ¶£¬±¬ı˛Ìº ........... Œ¸ø√ÀÚ¬ı˛
Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬ı±˘fl¡˜ÀÚ Ó¬‡Ú ¤fl¡øȬ˜±S ¸—fl¡ä˝◊√√ ’±&ÀÚ¬ı˛ ’é¬À¬ı˛ Œ˘‡± ˝√√À ˛
109
ø·À˚øÂ√˘º ˚ø√ fl¡˘˜ Ò¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ˝√√ ˛ Ó¬À¬ı Ó¬± Œ√À˙¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… , ˚ø√ ø˘‡ÀÓ¬ ˝√√˚˛ Ó¬À¬ı
Ó¬± ¶§±ÒœÚÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¸—¢∂±˜Àfl¡ ¤ø·À ˛ Œ√¬ı±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…º ..... øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ‰¬±À‡ Ú± Œ√‡À˘
Ê√±ÚÀÓ¬› ¬Û±¬ı˛Ó¬±˜ Ú± Œ¸±Ú±¬ı˛ ¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛ ’±¸À˘ Œ‰¬˝√√±¬ı˛±È¬± fl¡œº Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ø¡ZÓ¬œ˚˛
˜˝√√± ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ≈√–¶§Àõü¬ı ˜Ò…ø√À ˛ fl¡Ç±À˘¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ’¬Û”¬ı« Œ˙±ˆ¬±˚±S±º Œ¸ø√ÀÚ¬ı˛
Œ¸˝◊√√ ’¸˝√√… ’±R¢-±øÚ ’±¬ı˛ ˚La̱¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¸˜ô¶ ¬ı±„√√±˘œ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸Àe ’±ø˜›
·Ê«√Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊ÀͬøÂ√, ë˚≈·±ôLÀ¬ı˛í ø˘À‡øÂ√ ëÚSï ‰¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬í, ë’±Úµ¬ı±Ê√±À¬ı˛í ø˘À‡øÂ√
ë≈√–˙±¸Úí, ëŒ√À˙í ø˘À‡øÂ√ ë¬Û≈¶®¬ı˛±í ’±¬ı˛ 눬±„√√±‰¬˙˜±íº ’±À¬ı˛± ’ÀÚfl¡·ä- øfl¡Â≈√
øfl¡Â≈√ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸º Œ˜±È¬ fl¡Ô±, ’±˜±¬ı ¬ı±—˘± Œ√ - ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ı ∏«º ’±ø˜
¬ı±„√√±˘œ ’±¬ı˛ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ı±¸œ¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ø˘‡¬ı—ø˘‡¬ı Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ≈√–À‡¬ı˛ fl¡±ø˝√√Úœ,
Œ¬ı√Ú±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛+¬Û, ¸—¢∂±À˜¬ı˛ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ , õ∂fl¡±˙ fl¡¬ı˛¬ı Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ’±˙±, ’±Úµ, ¶§Àõü¬ı˛
fl¡Ô±ºíí 5
World war-II in the 40’s have found spaces in the writings of Subodh
Ghosh, Narendranath Mitra, Nabendu Ghosh, etc., along with Narayan
Gangopadhyay with complex psychosis, the newness and realities in a new
wave that they had been living. This voiced a clear process into the world of
Bengali short story writing. The entire decade of 40’s has moved the chapter
of history with the war and its subsequent fate in the world of his protagonist.
War has robed off the entire life giving element from the human beings,
thereby started control and rationing system, black-marketeers gained
ground, even then with the crisis in common products. With this, a few
conscienceless people became rich, because they are the black marketeers,
being the kings of today. When the wretched human being had lost all their
survival belonging then the black kings own treasure and became richer. One
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of the remarkable stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay is ‘Khargo’ which
reflects the all devouring danger and helplessness.
Through this story, Narayan Gangopadhyay has shown that war has
snatched all human values from the affected human being and made them
demon. That is why when Khetu wanted from his friend Nilai, Rs. 2/- on his
way to Rohanpur station; Nilai welcomes him with country liquor. The cool
‘tari’, the country liquor, gave a sense of satisfaction to Khetu. With the
mixture of poison he had killed his two cows to peel off the skin of the cows.
On his way beside, Khetu, had seen a human skeleton which is not only a evil
omen to his own life but also a warning to the whole life of Bengal. With this
omen ward way, people like Harilal, became suckers and exploiters. Like
satanic idol, faith, love the hopefulness of life has mingled in the orchestra of
bugles with corruption, where from no one could escape— neither Khetu, nor
Bhomra. The Goddess of wealth, Bengal’s Lakshmi, became beheaded
(Chinnamasta) with the blood of human being. The author had delineated this
act of selfishness in his own writing.
With the world war-II there came famine, in the heart of Bengal decay
loomed all over. Food crisis gained ground peasants, wage laborers, have to
pass their life with half-food or nothing to eat. Out of starvation they swallowed
ill-foods, they died, and some of them came in exodus to Calcutta. Calcutta
witnessed the large number of people, migrating from their villages. The
starving people went door to door in search of starch extracted from boiled
rice. A critic has said over the crisis as :
111
ëëά±©Üø¬ıÀÚ ŒÙ¬À˘ Œ√› ˛± ˙˝√√¬ı˛¬ı±¸œ¬ı˛ ά◊ø26√©Ü ‡±√…¬ıd¬ı˛ ’øÒfl¡±¬ı˛ øÚÀ ˛ fl≈¡fl≈¡¬ı˛
’±¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ˜¬ı˛Ì¬ÛÌ ¸—¢∂±˜ ‰¬˘À˘±º ˙˝√√¬ı˛ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬± ˜‘Ó¬À√À˝√√¬ı˛ fl¡Ç±À˘¬ı˛
ø˜øÂ√˘ Œ√‡À˘±, ¬ı˛±Ê√¬ÛÀÔ Ê√À˜ ά◊ͬÀ˘± ˜‘Ó¬À√À˝√√¬ı˛ ô¶”¬Ûºíí 6
Those who were not behind the war, have to pay the price. War
brought not only tears, starvation, not even physical death, but also mental
loss and the premature death of values. The epidemic not only brought crisis
in food, but also broke down the familial lives in Bangladesh. The famine was
caused by human being. The greedy hoarders and black-marketeers have
created artificial crisis. Here, an intellectual’s comment is quotable :
“Foodstuffs became scarce and starvation was the result. There
was no complete disappearance of foodstuffs from the market.
Had it been the case it would have affected the poor and the
rich, the black and the white like in villages and cities....... It is
clear that it was the high cost of foodstuffs that killed more men
than did its actual non-availability.” 7
Though the production of rice in 1942-’43 was meager in Bengal, yet it
was not sufficient to create famine, Amartya Sen could not accept the dictum,
‘Famine due to food crisis’; because the production and distribution of food
products to cause famine in determining the perspective is regarded to be
important. According to him :
‘‘It seems safe to conclude that the disastrous Bengal Famine
was not the reflection of a remarkable overall shortage of food
grains in Bengal.’’ 8
112
The arrival of Narayan Gangopadhyay belongs to this period. Many of
his stories have dealt with the issue of famine. His story ‘Had’ has been
written in the occasion of the famine of 1350 B.S. On the one hand he saw
the affluence and on the other the starving peoples’ cry. On the one hand we
see the big palace of Raybahadur H.L.Chatterjee, stepping stones studded
with marble, silk screen in the window, a fragrance of scented Grandiflora in
the garden; on the other hand we see people starving beside enchanting park.
People of entire Bangladesh had to dwell in the footpath in search of a lump
of food. His story ‘Had’ has been on the one hand a depiction of helpless cruel
livelihood, on the other hand, the life of the riches a contrast picture to each
other.
Another important issue, which came due to the world war-II is, crisis of
cloths. That found space in the story ‘Duhshasan’. The crisis too, was man-
made. The price, in the market was sky high which the common people could
not afford. It was artificial. Here the writer has shown that those rich people
like Debidas, who are today’s Duhshasans, living upon the toil of the poor, do
not get punishment. The author has identified the criminals. His forte here
rests upon the dissection of their characters at large. Upon this a critic has
said :
ëë....... Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚ Œ¸˝◊√√ Œ¬Ûìı˛±øÌfl¡ ≈· ŒÔÀfl¡ ’±Ê√ ¬Û «ôL ‰¬˘˜±Ú ¤
≈À·¬ı˛ ’Ú…± ˛ ’ø¬ı‰¬±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸”S ά◊ƒ√‚±È¬Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úº ....... Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚˛
ë≈√–˙±¸Úí ·Àä¬ı˛ ˜±Ò…˜ ¬Û≈¬ı˛±fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ’Ú…±˚ ’ø¬ı‰¬±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ‰¬˘˜±Ú ¬ı˛+¬ÛøȬ
õ∂·øÓ¬˙œ˘ ¸˜±ÀÊ√ ¸ˆ¬…Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˜≈À‡±¸ ˘±ø·À ˛ ’Ú…ˆ¬±À¬ı õ∂√˙«Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Úºíí 9
113
These people, affected by the world war could not understand who had
been behind this curse. Those, who had been hidden there, as enemies of the
people, could not be divulged. That is why they had engaged at war amongst
themselves. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s story ‘Izzat’ has been depicted with
human values in self annihilation. The communal riot at that period moved the
rural people like infectious disease, who had so long been living in peaceful
co-existence. People at that period lost the power of judgment. People’s
dormant animalistic characters were exposed in these riots. In fact, communal
strife came out of religious fundamentalism. Sometimes it sheds blood. Non
existence of co-operation and disdain with other people belonging to another
religion is called religious fundamentalism. A critic has said :
ëë’‡G ¬ı±—˘± ˛ ø˝√√µ≈-˜≈ ˘˜±Ú ¸±•x√±ø˚fl¡ √±e± Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ø¬ıøÂ√iß ‚Ȭڱ øÂ√˘
Ú±º ·Ó¬ ˙Ó¬±sœ¬ı˛ Œ˙ ∏ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¶§±ÒœÚÓ¬± ˘±ˆ¬ ¬Û «ôL õ∂± ˛ ¬Û“±‰¬√˙fl¡ ¸˜ ˛ Ê≈√Àάˇ
¸±•x±√±ø ˛fl¡ ø˝√√—¸± ˛ ¬ı±¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ ◊√√ ˘±ø>Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ ø˝√√µ≈- ≈ ˘˜±ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ø˜ø˘Ó¬
¬ı±¸ˆ¬”ø˜ºíí 10
These stories, written under the riot perspective, show that
communalism, cast conflicts have no relation to religion. Cast discrimination is
the result of society and communalism is created by the black hand of
imperialists. A few people are benefited due to the clashes amongst humans.
A critic has rightly said :
ëë ≈Mï √ ¬ıÀe ø˝√√µ≈ ¬ı±„√√±ø˘ › ≈ ˘˜±Ú ¬ı±„√√±ø˘¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ø¬ıÀˆ¬√ øÂ√˘, ˜Ú±ôL¬ı˛ øÂ√˘,
øfl¡c ¸±•x√±ø˚˛fl¡Ó¬± øÂ√˘ Ú±º ≈√øȬ ¸•x√±À˚˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…˝◊√√ Ò˜« øÂ√˘,
….…‹øÓ¬À˝√√…¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ’ˆ¬…±À¸¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛º ˝◊√√—¬À¬ı˛Ê√ ¬ı˛±Ê√˙øMï √ ø˙鬱 ›
114
¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… Ò «œ˚˛ ¸±•x√±ø˚fl¡Ó¬± ’±˜√±øÚ fl¡À¬ı˛º Ó¬±¬ı˛± Œ˚˜Ú
ø˙鬱¬ı…¬ı¶ö±¬ı˛ ¡Z±¬ı˛± ø˙øé¬Ó¬ ’ø˙øé¬Ó¬ ’±˙¬ı˛±Ù¬ ’±Ó¬¬ı˛±Ù¬À√¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¬ı…¬ıÒ±Ú
∆Ó¬ø¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ Œ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛øÂ√˘ ŒÓ¬˜øÚ Œ‰¬À ˛øÂ√˘ ø˝√√µ≈-˜≈ ˘˜±Ú ’ÕÚfl¡…ºíí 11
Socially conscious writers, like Narayan Gangopadhyay, have
appealed to the civil society and its well wishers. With these stories the author
had taken his readers into the roots of communalism.
These stories were written in view of making people conscious about the
communal strife.
After that, much awaited Independence came ultimately, on 15th August
1947. Along with this, partition took place. After the partition Hindu’s and
Muslim’s life were at stake in both Pakistan and India. People from both
communities went in search of life towards protected areas. Both eastern and
western India was torn due to geographical reason. On remembering those
days, a critic has said :
ë붧±ÒœÚÓ¬± ø√¬ı¸ ά◊ƒ√˚±¬ÛÚ ˝√√˘, ˆ¬±¬ı˛ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ŒÓ¬¬ıe± Ê√±Ó¬œ˚˛ ¬ÛÓ¬±fl¡± ά◊ͬ˘
‰¬A¢∂±À˜ 15 ’±·©Ü ¤¬ı— ˆ¬±¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ŒÓ¬¬ı˛e± Ê√±Ó¬œ˚˛ ¬ÛÓ¬±fl¡± ά◊ÀM√√±ø˘Ó¬ ¬ı˛ ◊√√˘ 21
’±·©Ü ¬Û˚«ôLº øfl¡c ¤fl¡ ¸˜˚ fl¡ø˜øȬ Œ‚± ∏̱ fl¡¬ı˛À˘ ‰¬A¢∂±˜ ¬Û±øfl¡ô¶±ÀÚ¬ı˛
¤¬ı— ¬ı±˘≈‰¬ Œ¬ı˛øÊ√À˜KI◊ ¬Û±øͬÀ ˛ ˆ¬±¬ı˛ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ¬ÛÓ¬±fl¡± Ú±ø˜À ˛ Œ√ ˛ ¬Û±øfl¡ô¶±Ú
¸¬ı˛fl¡±¬ı˛º Ù¬À˘ ¬ıU ø˝√√µ≈ › Œ¬ıÃXÒ˜«±¬ı˘•§œ Œ˘±fl¡À√¬ı˛ ά◊¡Z±d ˝√√ÀÓ¬ ˝√√ ˛ Œ√À˙
¸—‡…±&ï ˝√√À˚›ºíí 12
Those who were evicted due to partition had borne the brunt of living in
new perspective. People, who came from East Bengal, could not accept this
country as their own and vice versa. A story like ‘Adhikar’ included in the short
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story collection ‘Svetkamal’ highlighted this issue. In this story the author has
shown that exodus came into force in partition in the year 1947, evicted
people in thousands came to crowd from East Bengal. Here in this story those
evicted people have took possession of uncultivated land. They not only
voiced protest against the ‘Jotdar’, but also put barriers against them. Most of
the stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay ended at last, with flogging canes. So,
a respected critic has said :
ëë……...øÓ¬øÚ› ˜ÀÚ ˝√√ ˛ ‰¬±¬ı≈fl¡ ˝√√“±fl¡Î¬ˇ±ÀÚ± ¸˜±ø5¬ı˛ ¬Û鬬۱Ӭœ º ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡
√±ø˚˛Q ¬Û±˘ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¤¬ı˛ ¤fl¡È¬± Œ˚±· ’±ÀÂ√ºíí13
After that India had to face another pathetic tragedy. Though India, the
secular nation, has given the Muslims shelters, but the evicted Hindus from
East Bengal has fled to India to survive along with their little belongings. That
British wanted rift between Hindus and Muslims was successful. The Hindus
and Muslims momentarily went against to their true self. Those educated
people forgot their human lessons; common people were affected by the
venom of partition. Faithlessness loomed large. This led to a rift between the
two communities. With the passage of time, emotional rift led to mutual
disbelief and mistrust. Writers at that period sketched the decay of values that
went due to caste discrimination.
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s stories were also of no exception. He taught
the other upcoming writers human values. That should be nurtured even at
the time of crisis. In fact communal riots have polluted the native environment.
Such an experience could be seen in the story ‘Ustad Mehera Khan’ from the
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collection of short stories, ‘Kalabadar’ (1948). Time goes by, ages change.
But at the backdrops of such crisis creates havoc in the life of an artist, have
been depicted by the author. In his stories, Narayan Gangopadhyay has
delineated fine philosophy of life, artistic consciousness and social sensitivity.
This story deals with the death of an artist by some animalistic beings that
were blind with religious barbarism.
Narayan Gangopadhyay has wanted to delineate such issues related
to his time, in many of his stories. The humanitarian writer expresses his
anger, hatred, rebuke, disdain, ridicule, through his various short stories.
A special time along with the soil of his motherland, man, society,
economics and administration are present in these stories. That is why
sociologists and historians have gained feedback by these short stories. But
though, his short stories were written from a particular perspective, these
have surpassed the acts of time and spaces.
Love conjugal love, pre marital love, post marital love - success and
failure:
ëëÒÚÓ¬±øLafl¡ ˜˝√√±Ú·À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ˝√√+√˚˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛Ó¬…Mï √º Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ ¤˝◊√√ ¬ıdøȬ¬¬
Ó¬±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± fl¡±ÀÊ√ ˘±À· Ú±º .................. ¤fl¡‡G ˝◊√√Ȭ, ’Ô¬ı± ¤fl¡È¬± Œ˘±˝√√±¬ı˛
¬ı˛Î¬ ’Ô¬ı± ¤fl¡¬ıô¶± ø¸À˜KI◊, ¤¸À¬ı¬ı˛ √±˜ ’±ÀÂ√ øfl¡c ˝√√+√À˚˛¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± √±˜
ŒÚ˝◊√√ºíí 14
Though Binay Ghose has said this, yet love to the world of art and
culture is an important matter. Love brings to the life mixed ebb and tide of
happiness and pain in the boredom and tiredness. Modern life is full of
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complexities and crisis. Here the real life is so contradictory, that none can
weave the words of love but even then man cannot forget or leave his feelings
of the heart. That is why with changes in time, the feelings for love also
changes. These have found spaces in the fictional literatures, like short
stories and novels of many writers. That is why a critic has said :
ë뉬ø~À˙¬ı˛ √˙Àfl¡¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ø‰¬øSÓ¬ Œõ∂˜ ˜±Ú¬ı˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ Œfl¡±˜˘ ’Ú≈ ¬”øÓ¬¬ı˛+À¬Û
Œ√‡± Œ√ ˛øÚ, Ó¬± Ú˚˛ ˙±¶§Ó¬ › ø‰¬¬ı˛ôLÚº ¬ı¬ı˛— Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ·Àä ø‰¬øSÓ¬ Œõ∂˜
é¬Ìˆ¬e≈¬ı˛, ¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ ’ø¶ö¬ı˛Ó¬± Œ¸˝◊√√ Œõ∂˜Àfl¡ ¢∂±¸ fl¡À¬ı˛º Œ˚À˝√√Ó≈¬ ¤˝◊√√ Œõ∂˜
ø¬ı˙-øÓ¬ø¬ı˛À˙¬ı˛ √˙Àfl¡¬ı˛ Ú ˛, Ó¬±˝◊√√ õ∂Ê√ij·Ó¬ ¬ı…¬ıÒ±Ú õ∂¬ı˘ ˝√√À ˛ ›Àͬ ‰¬ø~À˙¬ı˛
√˙Àfl¡¬ı˛ Œ˘‡fl¡À√¬ı˛ Œõ∂˜øÚˆ¬«¬ı˛ ·ä&ø˘¬ı˛ Œé¬ÀSºíí 15
Modern life is full of problems, crisis and pain. This type of short stories
and novels give lease of delight temporarily to both, the writer and the reader,
equally.
In the short stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay, too, we witness the
variety of love. Though he was born as a writer in the 40’s, yet his fictions
have depicted context of love, and romance. But it is rooted in the realities,
along with romantic passion. World war-II, famine and freedom movement’s
perspectives in his stories have been reiterated again and again. But love
could not a gain momentum in such crisis. That is why most of his short
stories on love do not have happy ending. There are conflicts, complexities,
crisis and sadness in love. Neither social love nor unsocial love there are
failure. Though conjugal love is sought, yet it is beyond apparent concern in
most cases. And sometimes, love has a tragic consequence by selfishness in
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its world, with new light of union in other occasion. In many stories love has
arrived in new dimension. A few short stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay,
such as ‘Nila’ included in ‘Bitansa’ (1945), here the heroine protagonist
compelled her lover to obey the general condition of love. In the story,
‘Shaibya’, included in ‘Kalabadar’ (1948), the writer has shown that there are
whirlpools, as a follow up of crazy love which brings the lover out of their
home. Yet with chance of meeting of a good man, positive inhibition raises in
the mind. Yet love has to lose its identity behind the background of class and
caste discrimination. Again the story ‘Ghasban’ (1954), from the short story
collection ‘Svetkamal’, is a tale, told of unsuccessful love when twenty years
old Shyamlal wants to build a family with Rukni, then Rukni’s father,
Ghatowal, told Shymal that his daughter, Rukni is already married when she
was only two years old, and now she will go to her in-laws’ house .
He could not forgive his lover’s trickery. He retaliated by killing her by a
buffalo. Not only that, he had also planned to kill her husband by the poison of
venomous snakes. With the primitive barbarization, Shaymlal is crazy,
stubborn. His retaliatory method, too, is uncivilized and full of violent
animalistic act. It may seem unnatural on his part but he had done this job
under the loving spree, because he will never give to anyone his lover. The
psycho words of Shyamlal have been told by the writer as :
ëë¬ı±Ó¬±À¸ ¬ı±ø˙ ¬ı˛±ø˙ ‚±À˜¬ı˛ ’±ÚøµÓ¬ ’±Àµ±˘ÀÚ ˙s ά◊ͬÀÂ√ ø˙¬ı˛ø˙¬ı˛Œ˙“±
Œ˙“±óº ¤ Œ¸˝◊√√ ô¶tÓ¬± Œ˚‡±ÀÚ øÚÊ«√ÀÚ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸± ‰¬À˘, ’±¬ı˛ó ’±¬ı˛ó ˝√√Ó¬…± fl¡¬ı˛±
119
‰¬À˘ øÚ–˙Àsº........ ‚±¸¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ø˝√√—¸± ‚±¸¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ˆ¬±À˘±¬ı±¸±¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬˝◊√√ Ú¢ü ’±¬ı˛
øÚ¬ı˛±¬ı¬ı˛Ìºíí 16
Adolescent love has found spaces in a story titled, ‘Ekti Chithi’ included
in the short story collection, ‘Subhakshan’, 1960. But this love has been lost
from the heart of the protagonist due to the crude realities. The play with dolls,
its marriage has built a dream-land into the mind of the girl. The pure love of
adolescence is lost from one’s mind and if it is sought to keep in memory, it is
called funny by the other. The dream of lovely doll’s house brings disasters to
her life.
In respect of conjugal love, by Narayan Gangopadhyay, it is seen that
there are gulf of mental differences between the husband and wife in post
marital stages. And again, in an ultimate moment love is found from the both
side. The story, ‘Dhvas’ is one of such stories (included in the short story
collection, ‘Gandharaj’, 1955). Standing in front of destruction both husband
and wife reconciled each other newly and imbibed with a new consciousness.
In the story, ‘Sei Pakhita’, (included in the short story collection
‘Chayatari’, 1966) too, shows the picture of the complexities of conjugal love.
Man losses the love from his own woman due to his own faulty act and again
returns by begging pardon. Though once he is turned down by his woman, yet
she can’t leave him forever. A sense of compassion took him back as a life-
companion. The wife is moved by the ill and confessing husband. His
husband is revived thereby. The story, ‘Madhubanti’ (included in the short
story collection, ‘Exhibition’, 1961) exhibits the separation of two lovers due to
partition in between two families.
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The consequences love ends with the stroke of selfishness. The
maiden sees everything as barrier, with the news of a job in a village that her
man has got. The condition of their union was a job. But this job became the
cause of separation between these two. His story ‘Halde Chithi’ (included in
the short story collection, ‘Chayatari’, 1966) is a delineation of such things. To
describe the inns and outs of conjugal love, Narayan Gangopadhyay has
shown a distance from the couple, without any romanticism. This context has
been dealt in the story, ‘Kandari’, (included in the short story collection,
‘Exhibition’, 1961). Rich man, wood-merchant, Akhil who is a middle aged
man, has married twenty three year old girl Alaka. But Akhil could understand
that Alaka is ‘cool’, disgusted to her husband and without any passion. Akhil is
torn with these complexities of conjugal love. Akhil feels thus :
ë븗¸±À¬ı˛ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ¶aœ¬ı˛ ˆ¬±˘¬ı±¸± ¬Û±› ˛± Œ¬ı±Ò˝√√˚ ¸¬ı‰¬±˝◊√√ÀÓ¬ fl¡øͬں ’ˆ¬…±À¸¬ı˛
˜Ò…ø√À ˛ ¬Û¬ı˛¶Û¬ı˛Àfl¡ ¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÚ›˚˛± ˚± ˛ -‰≈¬øMï √ fl¡¬ı˛± ‰¬À˘º øfl¡c Œ¸˝◊√√
’±( « øÊ√øÚ¸∑ ˚±¬ı˛ ’±À˘±¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬ ¶Û©Ü Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ¬ı˛+¬Û ŒÚ˝◊√√ ’Ô‰¬ ˚±¬ı˛
ŒÊ√…±øÓ¬˜«˚ ¬ı…±ø5 , ˚± ˙±ôL ’gfl¡±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬±- ˚±¬ı˛ ˙œÓ¬˘ ø¬ı|±À˜¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛
¸˜ô¶ ¶ß± ˛≈&À˘± ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛ ˙±øôLÀÓ¬ ‚≈ø˜À˚ ¬ÛάˇÀÓ¬ ‰¬±˚˛∑ ’øÚ26≈√fl¡ √±•ÛÓ¬…
Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛ Ó¬±Àfl¡ Œfl¡±Ô± ˛ ¬Û±›˚± ˚±À¬ı∑íí 17
The story ends with a dramatic note. Husband and wife could
understand the true spirit of love, standing in front of death. A critic, over this
story, has said :
ëëõ∂±Ó¬…ø˝√√fl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¢-±øÚÀÓ¬ Œ˚ Œõ∂˜ ’Ú±ø¬ı¶‘®Ó¬ Ó¬±Àfl¡˝◊√√ ÚÓ≈¬Úˆ¬±À¬ı ’±ø¬ı¶®±¬ı˛
fl¡¬ı˛± ˚± ˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ¬ÛÀÔ¬ı˛ ڱȬfl¡œ˚Ó¬±˚º ’±¸À˘ Œõ∂À˜¬ı˛ ’Ú≈ ¬”øÓ¬ÀÓ¬› ›Ó¬Àõ∂±Ó¬
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˝√√À ˛ Ô±Àfl¡ øÚ¬ı˛±¬ÛM√√± ’±¬ı˛ øÚˆ¬«¬ı˛Ó¬±¬ı˛ õ∂ï üøȬº ¤˝◊√√ ·Àä ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ Œ¸˝◊√√
õ∂ï ü±øȬÀfl¡˝◊√√ “√≈Àάˇ ø√À˚ÀÂ√Ú Œ˘‡fl¡ºíí 18
Love has been found no small space in Narayan Gangopadhyay’s
short stories. Complexities within self, the self analysis of the aged, the pain of
unfulfilled desire, or sometimes the reunion have been enlightened into his
own artifact. The deep crisis in the age, human mind is torn with doubt. So,
we find complexities and sadness in love, and we never get a smooth, fine
and easy sail in love. It is not possible for everyone to achieve what love is as
it is dreamt by the protagonist. In many stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay,
this failure has found spaces too. He has shown that love is a complex affair.
Here, it is difficult to understand what one gets and what one does not get.
Psychology normal, abnormal:
In a few stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay, we get mental
characteristics. In these stories, we get a clear picture with psychological
complexities. The myriad complexities in modern life, too, are reflected in
many of his short stories.
Human mind, its doubt, chaos, hopelessness, happiness and festivity
these create complexities in human life which is shown along with instincts,
inhibition and desire. Modern short stories want to unveil the mystery of
human mind. In this context Freud is applicable for his psychoanalysis
method. That is why a critic has said :
ëëøÊ√· ≈G ÙˬÀ˚˛Î¬, fl¡±˘«˜±'«, ’±˘À¬ıÈ«¬ ’±˝◊√√کܱ˝◊√√Ú › ˜±' õ-±Ç— ’ôLÓ¬ ¤˝◊√√
fl¡-Ê√Ú ¬ı…øMï √Q ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ fl¡Ó¬fl¡&ø˘ ¬ıX ”˘ ¸—¶®±¬ı˛Àfl¡ Œˆ¬À„√√ ø√À˚˛
122
ø·À˚øÂ√À˘Úº ˜±Ú≈À¯∏¬ı˛ ˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ø¬ı˛¬ı˛—¸±-‰¬±ø˘Ó¬ øÓ¬ÚøȬ ô¶¬ı˛, ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ
Œ|Ìœ¸—‚±Ó¬ › Ó¬»õ∂¸”Ó¬ ·øÓ¬˜ ˛ ¸—Àï - ∏ ±ÒÚ, ¬Û√±Ô«Ê√·ÀÓ¬ ¬ı˝√√ø¬ıÒ ‚Ú ¬ı±
’± ˛Ó¬ÀÚ¬ı˛ ’øô¶Q¶§œfl¡±¬ı˛ › ø¬ı√œÌ« ’Ú≈¬ı˛ õ∂‰¬G 鬘Ӭ±— ¤˝◊√√¸¬ı ø‰¬ôL± ›
’±ø¬ı¶®±¬ı˛ Ê√·ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ø√Àfl¡ Ó¬±fl¡±¬ı±¬ı˛ ˆ¬øeȬ±˝◊√√√√ ¬ı√À˘ ø√À ˛ ø·À ˛øÂ√˘º..........
¤¬ı— Ó¬±¬ı˛ Ù¬À˘˝◊√√, ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±fl¡±À˘, Œfl¡±ÀÚ±-Ú±-Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ˆ¬±À¬ı ¤À√¬ı õ∂ˆ¬±¬ı ¬ı±
’øˆ¬‚±Ó¬Àfl¡ ¤Î¬ˇ±ÀÚ± ¸y¬ı ˝√√ ˛øÚºíí 19
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) tried to unveil the mystery of human mind
in a scientific way. A new discipline as psychosis which is based on
consciousness, sub-consciousness and unconsciousness came to be
established. We notice the application of this in Bengali literature. We observe
this discipline that aims at unfolding the inner mind of man and woman, more
than any outer space, in Bengali literature. That is why a critic has said :
“A narrative that focuses on the emotional lives of its characters,
and explores their varied levels of mental activity. A
psychological novel concentrates less on what happens than on
the only and wherefore of action."20
It is applicable about short stories also. A few of Narayan
Gangopadhyay’s short stories deal with personal complexities, cruelties,
abnormalities, consciousness and primitive wilderness. A few stories which
has given importance upon psychosis are- ‘Durghatana’, ‘Phalashruti’, ‘Tas’,
‘Hariner Rang’, ‘Amanonita’, ‘Sheshchura’, ‘Banatulsi’, ‘Chalanamayee’,
‘Exhibition’, ‘Atmahatya’, etc.
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Decreased black shadow loomed large in the conjugal life due to an
animalistic and suppression. In the story ‘Durghatana’ depicts such condition
in the life of a couple with psychoanalytical credo.
The middle-class psychology has been delineated in modern terms
through the story, ‘Phalashruti’. A couple-writer got shelter in the house of an
unknown girl when they were cruising at Rajgir with a turn of incident; there
have been clashes between the instinct and inhibition. With this, there have
been psychic complexities and changes.
The main subject of the story, ‘Hariner Rang’ is the act of
consciousness and sub-consciousness of a dying female patient. Sometimes
she falls unconscious in pain, and sometime she is lost with the thought of
happy moments. As if it is a play of sorrow and joy between consciousness
and sub-consciousness. The presence of conscious mind does not last long
here.
The protagonist of the story, ‘Sheshchura’ is endangered by the
complexities of his mind and the act of sub consciousness. His sadness
comes out of his dream. It is a kind of obsession. Theory of dream and
analysis of dream is another branch of psychology. The protagonist of this
story is a matured man; aged about fifty years, named Bhupen Sen. He is
attracted by one of his neighbour-girls, Anakshi. Psychic abnormalities are
seen in his attire. Sometimes it turns into psychic disorder; he behaves
unnaturally which is incomprehensible. His sub-consciousness of mind is
caught in his dreams. As the impulsion is suppressed, so the dreams become
complex and suggestive. In ‘Tas’ and ‘Amanonita’, we have the
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psychoanalytical character of an educated man. The author has deftly dealt
with the psychoanalytical characters in the story, ‘Tas’. The task of a writer is
to exhibit his characters alive. In the language of a critic :
ë뉬ø¬ı˛SÀfl¡ ’±¬ı˛› ¬ıMï √ ˜±—À¸¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ Ó≈¬˘ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À˘, fl¡±ø˝√√ÚœÀÓ¬ ¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛
õ∂Ó¬œøÓ¬ ’±ÚÀÓ¬ ˝√√À˘, Œ˘‡fl¡Àfl¡ øÚ « › ¬Û鬬۱Ӭ˙”Ú…ˆ¬±À¬ı ˜ÀÚ±ø¬ıÀï - ∏À̬ı˛
’±|˚ øÚÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ıºíí21
With an axis of a simple game of Tas, an illicit relationship grows
between a man and a woman. Both are moved by symbolic gesture, forbidden
happiness, over act of theft in the game of Tas (Playing Cards). A kind of
addiction occupied them. A conscious mind occupies the sub-conscious mind.
They are forbidden by the consciousness and returns from a space without a
consequence.
‘Amanonita’ is a story of personal psychosis and the mental crisis.
Suspicion is a natural component in human being. It is covered in the depth of
sub-consciousness. It brings abnormalities and complexities with a stroke. It
makes the life of human beings ill and venomous.
The stories like ‘Durghatana’, ‘Bhanga Bandar’, ‘Lal Ghora’, ‘Tinjan’ are
the depiction of complexities of human mind. We find variety of people with
more variety of mood and motifs.
In the story ‘Bhanga Bandar,’ we do have the optimism, of Sridhar Mittir
with the dream of past confluence, who hopes, naturally that it will be revived
once again in the future. But when the direct reality breaks his hopefulness his
sadness gives him acute sadness. In acute crisis, Shridhar Mittir blamed the
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prostitutes for his present poor-condition, but later he himself had come to
seek their help. Here he is defeated, this mentality, is undoubtedly abnormal.
In these stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay, mental abnormalities do
not come alone; it also brings kind of gory circumstances. Here in these
stories, the author has dealt with the human crisis that brings disaster to the
human being with traces of psychological symptoms, which is sometimes
lethal. Actually the author has tried to unveil the mystery of unfathomable
spaces of human mind.
Politics human welfare, party ideology :
Any and every Art or literary works in some sense is political. Because,
it is impossible, to create a fictional literature, avoiding the present social and
political situations. It has to depict a particular people or particular life either in
a micro or macro canvass. It is doubtful whether there is any pure and a non-
political literature. A political fictional literature is that type of literature where
we find political conflicts, problems, crisis of a class and caste, socio-
economic situation and its disputes with plots and space of a country. It is not
aimed at propagating any political ideology, but an all-inclusive euphoria in a
country and its life. The growth of a human being’s consciousness depends
upon self consciousness. In modern times politics is essential for the
livelihood of a human being.
An artist, a writer is nurtured in this time and space, in its society and
country. That is why no artist can avoid political perspective. Narayan
Gangopadhyay, too, is of no exception. In fact, world war-II gave him a new
126
impetus to write stories in a new dimension. Direct relationship to life, a new
wisdom upon it, gave him new elements with a great turning point. His stories
have got fresh social thought, Marxism and social realities, in a finer mood.
According to him politics is for man, not man for politics. He is a tireless
passerby. He has sought meaning from his student life. He is a tireless seer of
truth of liberation of development. He had a rich experience of life. He had
observed from a close quarter both the philosophy of Gandhi and the politics
with bomb and pistol. But he never got the path of ultimate truth. To find
solace he had taken proximity in communist party, with this feeling he had
been introduced in mass movements.
The birth of political consciousness and its development rose from
liberal humanism and love to his people. His political consciousness is not
limited to any single party policies. He had written a good number of political
novels, too. Such as, ‘Timir Tirtha’, ‘Svarna Sita’, ‘Shilalipi’, ‘Mandramukhar’,
‘Mahananda’, ‘Sroter Sange’, and ‘Lal Mati’. The fiction ‘Lalmati’ is a
successful political novel. On his novels based on politics, a critic has said :
ëë ... ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬-øÚˆ¬«¬ı ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±˚ Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ ˚ӬȬ±
’±À¬ı·õ∂¬ıÌ Ó¬Ó¬È¬± ¸¬ı¸˜ ˛ ¬ıô¶øÚᬠÚÚº ˜±Ú¬ı˜≈øMï √¬ı˛ ¸±ÒÚ±Àfl¡˝◊√√ øÓ¬øÚ
¸±˜…¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ¸±ÒÚ± ¬ıÀ˘ ø¬ıï ´±¸ fl¡À¬ı˛ ¤À¸ÀÂ√Úº Œ˚ ¸¬ı Œé¬ÀS Œfl¡±Ú ø¬ıÀ¬ı˛±Ò
‚ÀȬøÚ, Œ¸‡±ÀÚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ ¸±˜…¬ı±√œ ˜Ó¬±√À˙« ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛ ø¬ıï ´±¸, ’±¬ı˛
Œ˚‡±ÀÚ Ó¬ÀN¬ı˛ ‰¬±À¬Û ˜Ú≈ ∏…ÀQ¬ı˛ ˘±ø>Ó¬ ˝√√¬ı±¬ı˛ ¸y±¬ıÚ± ¬ı˛À˚ÀÂ√ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ øÓ¬øÚ
˜Ó¬±√˙«Àfl¡ ’øÓ¬Sï ˜ fl¡À¬ı˛ ‰¬À˘ Œ˚ÀÓ¬ ‰¬±Úºíí22
127
His political thoughts, belief and faith have been delineated in some of
the short stories, these are, ‘Nishachar’, ‘Itihas’, ‘Nila’, ‘Mami’, ‘Kalnemi’,
‘Banduk’ etc. The protagonist of ‘Nishachar’ (included in the short story
collection, ‘Bitansa’, 1945) is an ideologue and a political worker who is the
active member of communist party. For many, a world with variety, he goes
on working; in keeping the proclaiming notice, inside his chest in a cool,
winter night he roams in the path of Calcutta. In the proclaiming notice, there
lies the power to spark the downtrodden.
‘Itihas’ (included in the short story collection ‘Bhogabati’, we see the
history is making its own stories in ups and downs, in vicissitudes, from past
to present and from present to future. Each incident is like a footstep in the
endless journey to the future. These footsteps are burning bright in Sebagram
of Jalianwala Bagh, Rangamati of Medinipur. A kind of way here, is telling its
future. This history is being told by Amaresh. From his voice, hymns are
chanted in the devotion of ‘Deshajanani’, like a priest.
In ‘Nila’ (included in the short story collection, ‘Bitansa’, 1945) two
communist party-workers, a young man and a young woman are seen
organizing communist movement. They organize the farmers against the
exploitation and torture. A clash took place against the owner of the sugar
mill. And ultimately the collective people won.
In the story ‘Mami’ (included in the short story collection, ‘Duhshasan’,
1952) we find that the hero of the story is a fresh, young and an active political
worker, who is indoctrinated into a communist party. This story tells the
beginning of socialism. He hears from the far away, certain echo of an age to
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come. He distributes all the landed property of his father among the farmers.
He dreamt of establishing socialism in the state. Manindra foresees in his
dream the golden harvest in thousands of bigha lands with the wheels of
tractors.
In the story ‘Kalnemi’ (included in the short story collection,
‘Svetkamal’, 1954) we see the country still under torture, even after
independence. Though the tea garden authority is able to put barrier in ‘Red
flag’, but they can’t obstruct the movement for freedom, and democracy.
Ultimately what wins, is the right of the people and consciousness of freedom.
The political consciousness and the protest and rebellion have taken
ground in the story ‘Banduk’ (included in the short story collection,
‘Kalabadar’, 1948). People irrespective of Hindus and Muslims had joined
together in the movement of ‘Tebhaga’ against the feudal lord. The people of
‘lower depth’ begin revolutions. Single person one by one in collective groups
begin the task of socialism society.
In the politically conscious stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay, we see
his liberal outlook, humanism and a communal mentality. It is the educated
middle-class society, who comes to lead the poor, lower depth people in most
of the times. Here, Narayan Gangopadhyay gives more stress upon human
relationship, more than theoretical politics in human well-being and their
liberation. This has made him great. This voice of the people is the voice
human beings, who are taken under careful scrutiny in social observation.
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On Education – students’ community and teaching fra ternity :
Narayan Gangopadhyay had delineated in his few short stories the
emptiness of so-called education system, its trickeries and corruption. In his
personal life a man like him was compassionate, heartiest to his students.
About this, a critic has said :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛±˚˛Ì¬ı±¬ı≈ ’Ò…±¬Ûfl¡ ø˝√√¸±À¬ı ¸≈‡…±øÓ¬ ’Ê«√Ú fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√À˘Úº Â√±SÂ√±SœÀ√¬ı˛ Œ˚
|X± › õ∂œøÓ¬ øÓ¬øÚ ˘±ˆ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√À˘Ú ¤ ˚≈À· Ó¬± ≈√˘« ¬ºíí23
That is why he was aware of the defects of educational system and the
injustice done to the students. The stories which dealt with the education
system are, ‘Mananiya Parikshak Mahashay Samipeshu’ and ‘Svet Kamal’.
The story ‘Mananiya Parikshak Mahashay Samipeshu’ is included in
the short story collection, ‘Exhibition’ (1961). In the story we see a talented
student, Svadhinkumar, has chosen the path of suicide, due to poverty.
Svadhinkumar has fared well always in his school time. He won a scholarship
in minor. But he could not purchase costly books for higher studies. That is
why it became impossible for him to come over to Calcutta for studies in
higher classes. He secured a job with shelter at Barabazar, in a tobacco shop,
in exchange of which he helped running of the shop all day long. That is why
Svadhinkumar did not get proper environment for his studies.
Naturally he was not able to write proper answer appearing in the
examination hall. Instead of it he addressed the examiner with his grief, telling
him the words of his mind and divulged that he is going to commit suicide
under the wheels of train.
130
This story deals with the injustice in society, along with compassion
and sympathy. In the answer script of the examination, Svadhinkumar has
written the words of his struggling life and its failure, instead of answering the
questions. He had a desire in higher education, but could not afford to
purchase books and study materials. With the utter failure, he decides to
commit suicide. Dreams remain unfulfilled. In this education system poor
students can’t study. This concept has been delineated by Narayan
Gangopadhyay, with a sympathetic eye. The appeal of this story is heart
rendering.
The story ‘Svet Kamal’, too, is one of such stories. The short story
collection, ‘Svet Kamal’ was published in the year 1954. Here, in this short
story, the author has portrayed the faulty education system and the desire of
the poor students to study, though they cannot do so. A protagonist named
Siddhartha could not complete his education due to poverty. To fulfill his
desire to study, his mother had to sell the ornaments that his mother had
owned, to collect the fees for examination. Talented student, Siddhartha had
fared well in the examination. But when the result was declared, he saw that
he got failed in English for only two marks less. But the rich man’s son got
distinction, by cheating from book who sat just behind him. Here, through this
story, Narayan Gangopadhyay, as a social reformer, has voiced his protest
against the utmost limit of corruption in education system.
With these stories on education, the author has penned down the
situation, which prevented the poor talented students to study. How social,
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economical pressure breaks a poor student’s dream for higher education is
depicted by the author in these stories.
Supernatural creation of perspective and its mystery :
The beginning of human civilization is marked by spirit demon, god,
heaven, and hell. Though it was overcome by the establishment through logic,
yet those supernatural things could not be totally discarded. Though rationality
got upper hand in rituals, yet side by side many superstitions are also situated
in human mind. That is why we can’t differentiate between unearthly and
supernatural belief from human spirit.
Supernatural consciousness has been mixed with literature, and
consciousness of realities. Though in reality there is no unnatural things yet it
has taken ground in people’s mind. Supernatural gods and its unearthly
stories deserve attention on part of the reader. The mystery behind such
stories attracted attention with curiosity. Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories,
‘Nishithe’, ‘Manihara’ or ‘Kshudhita Pashan’, deal with such mystery in stories.
About this type of story Narayan Gangopadhyay has said :
ë븱ø˝√√Ó¬… ¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Œˆ¬ÃøÓ¬fl¡ ·Àä¬ı˛› ¤fl¡È¬± ø¬ıø˙©Ü ˜” … ’±ÀÂ√º ¤¬ı˛± qÒ≈
’øÓ¬À˘Ãøfl¡fl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛ Ê√·» ¸‘ø©Ü fl¡À¬ı˛—’ø¬ıï ´±¸…Ó¬± › Œ¬ı˛±˜±À=¬ı˛ Œ˚ÃÔ ‰¬±Ó≈¬À˚«
¬Û±Í¬Àfl¡¬ı˛ ˜ÚÀfl¡ ’øˆ¬ˆ¬”Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ ¤fl¡È¬± ¸≈ ˆ¬ ’±Úµ˝◊√√ ¬Ûø¬ı˛À¬ı˙Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ Ú±º
’À˘Ãøfl¡fl¡ ·Àä¬ı˛ ’±¸˘ Œ¸Ãµ « Œ¬ı˛±˜±À= Ú ˛—’±¬ı˛› ·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛‰¬±¬ı˛œ
Œ¬ı˛±˜±Àk¬ı˛ ·˝√√ÀÚº Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ¸œ˜±ôL ¬Û±¬ı˛ ˝√√À˚˛ Œ·À˘ fl¡œ ’±ÀÂ√ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ∑ Œfl¡±Úƒ
’¬Û¬ı˛+¬Û ’:±Ó¬ ø¬ı¶ú ˛ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ’À¬Û鬱 fl¡¬ı˛ÀÂ√∑ õ∂fl‘¡øÓ¬¬ı˛
132
’ôL¬ı±À˘ ’±¬ı˛› Œfl¡±ÀÚ± Œ·±¬ÛÚ ˙øMï √ øÚø˝√√Ó¬ ’±ÀÂ√ øfl¡∑ Œ¸ øfl¡ S≈ï ¬ı˛ ˆ¬˚—fl¡¬ı˛,
’Ô¬ı± ˜±Ú≈À¯∏¬ı ¬ÛÀé¬ fl¡˘…±Ì˜˚∑
ά◊M√√¬ı˛ Œfl¡Î¬◊ Ê√±ÀÚ Ú±º Ó¬±˝◊√√ ’øÓ¬-õ∂±fl‘¡ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ fl¡äÚ± ˛ Œ¬ı˛±˜…±øKI◊fl¡
Œ‰¬Ó¬Ú± ¬ı±¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±Àµ±ø˘Ó¬, ø˙˝√√ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ºíí24
In a number of the stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay such issues of
supernaturalism are found. Among them remarkable are ‘Puskara’, ‘Hat’,
‘Bitansa’, ‘Had’, and ‘Type writer’. ‘Puskara’, deals with issues of
contemporary, cruel situation. Due to the war-torn famine, village from village
was driven into crematorium. Procession of death loomed large everywhere.
Kalipuja was organized to come out of such, epidemic, in Sukla Chaturdashi
in the month of Ashwin. A kind of supernatural reigned everywhere. A gory
perspective took place as association of ghostly darkness in moonlight night,
crematorium, and stinking rotten and half burnt corpse. The nasty smell of
floating corpse, a gory idol of goddess Kali, cry of jackals and dogs with all
these, ‘Kali’s Shibabhog’ is swallowed by a half naked woman, with curled
hair, in darkness with deep black skin. The author had created a supernatural
situation to depict the contemporary picture of the society.
In the story ‘Hat’, we too, become witness to the experience of an
accident that took place by Punjab mail. In the entire narration there had been
supernatural perspective. The story teller, here is the listener to the gentleman
who had narrated the experience along with his senseless body and a cut
hand with a ring. With the touch of the hand he felt terror of adventure and
death. After that he heard gory laughter and then falls senseless. Entire home
133
was dumbfounded in hearing the story. The supernatural Rasa is injected into
the readers mind.
In the story ‘Type writer’, by Narayan Gangopadhyay, we too, have the
feelings of supernatural Rasa in a finer adequacy. The discussion of the
vanished unmarried Sulata Paul, who was an office secretary of Das, were on
but this was put to an end with the arrival of rain, in the office. By this time
Das wanted to complete his task by the type-writer. It was amazing that the
name Sulata Paul, has been typed under the word ‘Tender’ without his
knowledge, whom Das had murdered and kept the dead body in a big cabin
‘trunk’ at the old garage in the farm house of Barakpur. When the narrator
asked him about that then he cried loudly saying ‘It’s not me! Not me’. In the
next moment when he comes out the road, he got killed in an accident. There
is no outer expression of the spirit entity but situation of supernatural is there.
The culprit has confessed his crime sub-consciously. In the story ‘Bitansa’ and
‘Had’ too, we face the supernatural situation. The uneducated Santhal of the
forest, believe in ghosts witches, chanting hymns and trickeries. The collie
supplier, agent Sundarlal, wanted to make them fool through unnatural
trickeries. Roy Bahadur seating in a big palace tells an unnatural story to an
unemployed youth, in the story ‘Had’. As the young man listening to the story
by the Raybahadur sitting in front of him being spell-bound vision of
supernatural elements. These elements included the beheading of unmarried
girls in total solar-eclipse, the power of the spirit, the fire breeze in ‘Tahiti
Island’, and the blood- showers, in the story ‘Had’.
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In these stories, reality breaks the cover of romance or supernatural.
Yet the supernatural elements have got a permanent place to the readers.
About this a critic has rightly said :
ë똱Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ˜ÀÚ±¬ı˛±ÀÊ√… Œõ∂Ó¬±R±¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ ø¬ıï ´±¸ Ô±fl¡±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…˝◊√√ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ˆ¬”ÀÓ¬¬ı˛
’±¸Ú› ¶ö±˚œ¬ı˛+¬Û ˘±ˆ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√º ˝√√˚Ó¬ ’g ø¬ıï ´±¸ øÚÀ ˛ ◊√√ ˆ¬”ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ·ä&ø˘
¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ºíí25
Values – its crisis and upliftment :
The stream of Bengali short story has a turning flow in the world war-II
and post-independence period. On the one hand war followed by exodus,
freedom movement, riot, famine, that put the Bengalese and Bangladeshis
into utter trouble; on the other hand the discovery of psychoanalysis by Freud
and Socialism in Russia, were giving the Bengalis’ mind the information of
new world. Money was the regulator of the society and human mind at that
time.
Due to this, the Bengalese had to face the crisis in values. Side by side
the effort to regain new values with new possibilities, all these have been
reflected in the short stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay.
The crisis of values in the individual in the short stories of Narayan
Gangopadhyay could be categorized into a few segments. For example :
1. The power of the individual upon one another in socio economic
perspective and its subsequent crisis in values.
2. The clashes between the man and nature, where nature is an
opponent of the individual the human being. Here, man, being
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defeated by the nature, with all their hopes and aspiration, creates a
crisis.
3. The clashes among divided selves and the conflict between inner
and outer life which creates the crisis in values.
In many stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay we observe the horrible
picture of decay and crisis. His first and second collection of short stories
,‘Bitansa’ (first edition, Bengali New-Year, 1352 B.S.) and ‘Bhanga Bandar’
(first edition, Bhadra, 1352 B.S.) were published at the time of world war-II.
The chief characteristic of these stories is that they are the mirrors of
contemporary social condition. The story ‘Had’, included in ‘Bitansa’, is a case
to be cited. In this story the crisis of values in individual being, due to the
discrimination between two classes, i.e. haves and have-nots between two
classes have been shown. In the story, ‘Had’ we find the selfish greed to
money by the rich people, when all over the country unemployment, the crude
war, with no option to survive by the middle-class people.
The crisis in values in the class consciousness of the upper classes
has been clearly delineated in the story ‘Bhanga Bandar’, in the collection of
short stories, by the same name, ‘Bhanga Bandar’ (1945). A financial port with
its glorious heritage and contemporary decay is the main theme of the story.
Here, Sridhar’s character is of a positive values – he wants to evict the
harlots, who are polluting the youth. He wants to escape the youth from the
grip of the harlots.
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But the contemporary society of the youth is avoiding their tradition in
values and consciousness. Here the crisis in person and society in sad
feelings of Sridhar is seen in this story.
The crisis in values that engulfed middle-class mentality was deeply
rooted in war, famine, partition and eviction that gave an assault to the
Bengali’s economic condition. In this respect a critic has said :
ë뉬ø~À˙¬ı˛ √˙fl¡ ¤fl¡ ≈√–¶§Àõü¬ı˛ √˙fl¡º......¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛ ·“±À ˛¬ı˛ ¸Àe ˙˝√√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸•Ûfl«¡
Œ¸˝◊√√ ’±fl¡±À˘ ÚÓ≈¬Ú fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ˚Ú øÚÒ«±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ Œ·˘º ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ¸Àe ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛
¸•Ûfl«¡ Œ˚ fl¡Ó¬‡±øÚ Œ˜øfl¡ Ó¬±› õ∂˜±øÌÓ¬ ˝√√À˚˛ Œ·˘º Œ¸È¬± Ù“¬±¬Û± Ȭ±fl¡± ’±¬ı˛
Ù“¬±¬Û± ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ fl¡±˘º fl¡±¬ı˛± ά◊ͬÀÂ√ ’±¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛± Ó¬ø˘À˚˛ ˚±À26√ ’gfl¡±À¬ı˛, ͬ±˝√√¬ı˛
fl¡¬ı˛± ˆ¬±¬ı˛º ¬ı˛±ô¶±¬ı˛ Ò±À¬ı˛ qÒ≈ fl¡Ç±˘ Ú ˛, ¬Û±˙±¬Û±ø˙ ·Àάˇ ά◊ÀͬøÂ√˘ Ê√?±À˘¬ı˛
˜ÀÓ¬± “√≈Àάˇ Œ√› ˛± ˚±¬ıÓ¬œ˚˛ ” …À¬ı±Òº &øȬfl¡˚˛ Œ¬ı±˜± Œ˚Ú ø¬ıÒ√ıô¶ fl¡À¬ı˛ ø√À ˛
Œ·˘ ÚœøÓ¬À¬ı±Ò, ¬Û±¬Û-¬Û”Ì…À¬ı±Ò, ˜±Úø¬ıfl¡Ó¬±À¬ı±Ò ¤¬ı— ˚±¬ıÓ¬œ˚˛ Œ¬ı±Òºíí26
The perspective of this story ‘Nakracharit’ has dealt with one such
crisis of values, is vehemently illustrated. Nisikanta Karmakar purchases the
stolen gold from the dacoits. He deprives not only the dacoits but also hoards
eight hundred mound rice which has been snatched from the common people,
for black-marketing. This rice is perished due to the summer water, and stink.
Actually what is perished and stink is nothing other than the humanity. The
then dark period and the degradation of human values are reflected in the
character of Nishikanta. The dark side of a human life is has been deftly
crafted in the story.
137
With the perspective of the crisis in values, such other stories are
there, in the short story collections ‘Kalabadar’ (1948), and ‘Duhshasan’
(1952). A significant story in the short story collection ‘Kalabadar’, is ‘Top’.
The teller of the story, tells how the rich people’s representative, Rajabahadur
has swallowed the lower-class people with the socio-economic perspective.
The story, ‘Top’ deals with the recklessness of rich people and the clash
between mental conflict and human values of middle -class people.
‘Bhanga Chasma’ is a significant story with the backdrop of world war-
II, included in the short story collection ‘Duhshasan’. Though world war-II is
not directly related to this country, yet the decay of human values have
evicted the people. The story ‘Bhanga Chasma’ is a tale of crisis in values.
Here, a highly educated school teacher joins a temporary service of sub-
deputy designation, left his teaching job. Side by side the hopeless picture of
a headmaster of a minor school has been illustrated. Here the story element
‘Bhanga Chasma’ is the suggestive of breaking human crisis. The real teacher
can identify the reprobate teacher through his broken spectacles.
The story ‘Keya’ (included in the short story collection, ‘Shubhakshan’,
1960) is a story of honest unemployed youth suffering out of financial crisis.
In the story ‘Dhanvantari’ (included in the short story collection,
‘Bhogabati’, 1945) we find the crisis, by Rs. 800/- monthly remunerated
compounder of a village dispensary and his family, with a weak wife and a few
such weak children. The compounder sells his humanity and values to survive
in the battle of life.
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With the studies of above mentioned stories, we see man has lost his
humanity and values due to the deep adversary. In these stories the author
Narayan Gangopadhyay has showed positive sign of human beings good
sense, humanity and values.
Consciousness to protest tortured against torturer:
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a representative short story writer of the
40’s, especially of world war-II. He has seen from very close quarter the
changing days. He has seen the crisis period of Bengali middle-class dotted
by the libertine voice.
Just as he has been moved by such incidents, he has voiced his
protest through his writings. Here we shall discuss a few short stories ting with
protest.
The story ‘Tirthayatra’ by Narayan Gangopadhyay, is a unique story
written in the perspective of famine. This story is a significant example of the
author’s protesting voice. It was written with the perspective of all devouring
famine of 1350 B.S. The family life of Bengal has been torn by the food crisis.
The animalism of man had taken extreme shape. With this the opportunist-
class agents of war began their gory, lethal activities to eradicate the hunger;
a few human being of animalism got down to enter into business in selling
women bodies. A hindu-brahmin, Narottam Thakur with a boat, full of women
is going to the city. His boatman is a muslim, named Farid. Farid Majhi is a
protesting character.
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The story ‘Duhshasan’ too, is written with famine perspective. But here
it is a little different. Here the protest, like ‘Tirtha Yatra’ is not direct against
injustice. Here having seen the character of exploitation, the exploiter
themselves are afraid of that with terror. They are anxious due to sin, with
conscience stricken.
The short story ‘Record’ by Narayan Gangopadhyay, is another
conscious raising protesting story. Here, we have seen deep belief,
suppressed anger and protest. The story ‘Record’ is published in 1959.
Almost whole 50’s of West Bengal was torn with movement. Here we are
having myriad crisis and the protest against this. Students’ movements, due to
various mismanagement in education system, unemployment and such other
issues were on throughout the Bengal. Here in this story, too, we are having
the issue on students’ movement. Any man who is educated and honest will
protest against a tainted history of human civilization and this voice of protest
will survive forever. The craze for freedom, protest against the shackles and
demand for liberation these demands are universal, the name ‘Record’, itself
suggest a type of permanence, we hear, the slogan of protest in the roadside.
In the world war-II, the Nazis of Hitler launched heavier attack upon the
protesting people and killed them severely. In protest the liberal people of the
country went underground and took the task of freedom fighter. A few of them
composed song of protest, and circulated these songs through gramophone.
The words and tunes caught thousands of people to protest that time. In this
story, it was shown that the concept of revolution is associated with
humanism. It is seen that only universal humanism is the international religion.
140
The voice of the exploited, against the exploiter, has the solution as an
international religion.
The short stories on protest, written by Narayan Gangopadhyay, often
end with lashes of protest. On behalf of the downtrodden, against the enemy
of the humanism, he fought as a true socialist, as long as he lived.
Nature: regionalism, gory devastation:
In the prose fiction genera of literature mostly in respect of the novel,
modern critic has identified one kind of novel, as regional novel. Here we got
the novel of the local colour or novel of the soil. This category has been called
by someone as regional novel. In the words of a critic, it can be said :
ëë’±=ø˘fl¡ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸, Ú±À˜˝◊√√ Œ¬ı±Á¡± ˚±˚, ¤ ˝√√ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ’=˘ø¬ıÀ˙À ∏¬ı˛
˜±Ú¬ıÊ√œ¬ıÚ±| ˛œ ¤fl¡ ø¬ıø˙©Ü ¶§±À√¬ı ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸º....Œ¸˝◊√√ ’=À˘¬ı˛ ø¬ıø˙©Ü ˆ¬”-
¸—¶ö±Ú, Ê√˘¬ı± ˛≈, õ∂±fl‘¡øÓ¬fl¡ ¬Ûø¬ı˛À¬ı˙, ˜‘øM√√fl¡±–Œ¸‡±Úfl¡±¬ı˛ ’øÒ¬ı±¸œÀ√¬ı˛
Ê√œ¬ıÚÀfl¡ Ú±Ú±ˆ¬±À¬ı øÚ ˛øLaÓ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛º Ó¬±˝◊√ Œ¸ ’=À˘¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈À¯∏¬ı˛ ∆√ø˝√√fl¡ ·Í¬Ú,
¬ˆ¬± ∏±¬ı˛ ά◊2‰¬±¬ı˛Ì, fl¡Ô± ¬ı˘±¬ı˛ ˆ¬øe, Ê√œ¬ıÚ˚±S±, ’±‰¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı…¬ı˝√√±¬ı˛, ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡
¬ı˛œøÓ¬ÚœøÓ¬, ’±˙±-ø¬ıï ´±¸-¸—¶®±¬ı˛, ¬ı±—˘± ˆ¬±¯∏±ˆ¬±ø ∏ ’Ú…±Ú… ’=À˘¬ı˛
˜±Ú≈¯∏À√¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¶§±Ó¬La… ’Ê«√Ú fl¡À¬ı˛∑íí27
The ‘space’ itself becomes a character as he deals in such a way with
nature as its nerve-centre by the spirit of such a region. That is why regional
novel though coined as regionalism surpasses the barriers of local color as
universal one.
The locality of Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short story ‘Bitansa’ is Santal
Pargana. The hillock, shadows of forests, the alcoholic uneducated Santals of
141
Shal, Mahua’s open and easy forest life is the space where Santals live. The
curse belongs to the tea-garden of Assam of the spell bound forest dwellers.
Their life is full of illiteracy, superstitions and blind faith. The crude, wicked
agent, called Sundarlal, enters into their innocent lives. He beguiled the
Santals with their ancient belief, their rituals and their own life style.
The enchanting beauty of Duars has been deftly delineated in the story
‘Banajyotsna’. The escaped rebel, a Bengali’s son, Mahitosh of the 42’s
August revolution is without any companion in the forest of Duars. A
Bhutanese girl, Shiwkumari saves his life. Slowly love began to grow, in
between these two, in the wild environment. The protagonist is imprisoned in
love with a perspective of moon lit forest night, by this mysterious girl. The
cruel fate swallowed the heroine as the protagonist went somewhere else by
the order of his leader. Her fire-full heart is extinguished by the forest-fire.
In many of the stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay, we get the picture of
nature and its perspective. But this perspective acts not only as an ornament
or a framework, but the incidents and the characters, here arrives as a
powerful introduction to its natural perspective. Then nature becomes not only
perspective but also as a character. Sometimes it controls the characters of
the story; sometimes it becomes reciprocal to the character, itself. Nature
brings a kind of powerful picture in his stories.
For example, in the story ‘Banatulshi’, Narayan Gangopadhyay
delineated, simultaneously the womanly love with love to nature and real
nature-thought; both as a unified picture in complex mind and the words of
humanities. Love to the woman and the beauty of nature, is same to each
142
other. The good sense love and its benevolent image can it be shown by love
to nature, is the focal point. Nature attracts the people; it also has a strong
attractive power like a woman. It is the woman who is a portrait of nature. How
much do we avoid our sight to nature from the desire to formless nature, this
nature turns its face to women, and otherwise the nature brings destruction,
because it becomes dangerous in primitive qualities. At the end of this story
the author has arrived at the conclusion, that, human love is comparatively
better than love to nature, because it’s all devouring.
In the story ‘Top’ we find many faces of nature. The writer was amazed
on seeing the beautiful sight of the forest of Terai as he was invited there for
hunting. After that when he went there at night along with Raybahadur, with a
rifle, he saw that entire sight is altered.
It seems that nature is in a game of enchantment with the hunter. Man
is full of gory euphoria, by giving a bait of a human child to hunt a tiger.
Everywhere primitive violence is awakening in dark night.
The story ‘Bhogabati’’s perspective is Radh locale. Here, along the
Radh, live the Santals. They are derailed from their life-style and happiness.
They are remained with the soil of their own land.
In the story ‘Hans’, there is a primitive power of nature to its opponent,
a human character. Nature wants to retaliate against human beings in active
liveliness. It changes colour. Like an enchantress sometimes it is deeply
beautiful, sometimes like wicked spirit.
143
Likewise we see that Narayan Gangopadhyay is representing nature
alive. As if nature and human beings are blended together in a life stream,
with variety of perspective.
Optimism and mass consciousness – dream and expecta tion:
Literature is not only the reflection of life, it is an inspiration too.
Literature is the mouthpiece of a community. Fiction-literature performs the
duty of awakening of a community. The optimism and the ideology of a
litterateur are reflected as mass awakening and mass consciousness in the
composition of literature. An eminent critic thinks that a litterateur should
perform the duty of a social reformer. He said this in the following way :
ë븱ø˝√√øÓ¬…Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸˜±Ê√À‰¬Ó¬Ú± qÒ≈ Ú¤ûÔ«fl¡ ˝√√À˘ ‰¬˘À¬ı Ú±º fl¡œ ‰¬±˝◊√√ Ú± ¤¬ı— fl¡œ
‰¬±˝◊√√— ’±¸À˘ ¤fl¡˝◊√√ õ∂Àï ü¬ı˛ ≈√ ◊√√ø√fl¡º ≈√ÀȬ±Àfl¡ ¤fl¡¸Àe Ú± Œ√‡À˘
Œfl¡±ÀڱȬ±˝◊√√ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛± Œ√‡± ˝√√˚ Ú±, ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ‘√ø©Ü ’¬Ûø¬ı˛26√iß ŒÔÀfl¡ ˚± ˛º Œfl¡±Ú
¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ’±√˙« ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ’Ú≈õ∂±øÌÓ¬ fl¡¬ı˛À¬ı Ê√±ÚÀÓ¬ ˝√√À˘ Œ‰¬±‡ Œ˜˘ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ı
¬ı±ô¶¬ı ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛ ø√Àfl¡º ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú Œ˙± ∏fl¡À|Ìœ¬ı˛ ’±RqøX› ‡≈¬ı ¸˝√√ÀÊ√ ‚ȬÀ¬ı
¬ıÀ˘ ’±˙± fl¡¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± fl¡±¬ı˛Ì ŒÚ˝◊√√ , fl¡øÍ¬Ú ¸—¢∂±À˜¬ı˛ øˆ¬Ó¬¬ı˛ ø√À ˛ Œ¸È¬±
‚øȬÀ ˛ Ó≈¬˘ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ıº ¤˝◊√√ ¸—¢∂±À˜ fl¡˜«œ¬ı˛ Œ‰¬À ˛ ˆ¬±¬ı≈fl¡, ¬ı˛±©Ü™ÀÚÓ¬±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬À˚˛
ø˙ä¬ı˛‰¬ø ˛Ó¬±¬ı˛ √±ø ˛Q Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ’—À˙ fl¡˜ Ú ˛º.....≈√–‡ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬Ûø¬ı˛S±À̬ı˛ ¬ÛÔ›
Ó“¬±Àfl¡˝◊√√ ¸fl¡À˘¬ı˛ ’±À· Œ√‡ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ı ¤¬ı— ¸fl¡˘Àfl¡ Œ√‡±ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À¬ı, Ó¬±˝◊√√
¸˜±Ê√À¸¬ıœ ¤¬ı— ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…À¸¬ıœ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¸˝√√À˚±· ¬ı±>Úœ˚˛º Ó¬À¬ı Œ¸È¬± õ∂fl‘¡Ó¬
’ÀÔ« ¸˝√√À˚±· ˝√√› ˛± ‰¬±˝◊,√√ ¬ı˛±©Ü™ÀÚÓ¬±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…fl¡˜«œ¬ı˛ ’±Rø¬ıÀ˘±¬Û
Ú ˛ºíí28
144
The writers have ignited the mass protest and mass consciousness in
many an occasion. In the stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay many problems,
crisis, pangs are seen in the realities reproduced by him. None the less he
hopes that some day or other this muddy attire will end, and a new lease of
life will be raised. In a few of his stories, we see the optimism and the world of
faith.
In the story ‘Banduk’, the poor downtrodden farmers have been
inspired centering on Tabhaga movement in villages with new hopes of life.
The real picture for survival of the movement in Bangladesh, have
been clearly depicted in Narayan Gangopadhyay’s story, ‘Banduk’. The
awareness of freedom that brought changes in the country has changed
times, too. Those who being half-fed, provided the space for exploitation, to
the higher classes, they are now indoctrinated to change their plight. This
story has delineated the sense of right, determination to survive, has been
caught. That is why the element, Banduk, which has so long provided
incentives to exploit, today it has been directed against them. The man is not
poor by birth, the rich people are also not riches by birth to establish this
truth, the man need not offer helpless prayer; rather, one has to take up the
task to protest where lies the settlement of humanism.
In the story ‘Sainik’, we see that the Santal people protesting against
Feudal Lord. This story is based upon two generation of Palgram,
Kumardahagram and Devicot Rajbansha, the Elephant-King of Assam,
Nilbahadur and the Santal. The soldiers of the new age have been assembled
145
upon the hillock of Palgram. In their hands are bow and arrow. The basic truth
of capitalist civilization lies here.
Even in the story ‘Itihas’, we get the spark of light though the death of
the son of a historian, who is searching for truth, in the movement of 42’s. He
hopes that this Bengal, torn among violence, will rise up again. It will revive
with new power. Someday or other, the sun of liberation will shine lights once
again, everybody will survive with new inspiration.
In such stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay we see one kind of
optimism, amongst the crisis, in a kind of faith, hope and good sense. This
optimism is his forte. In such stories, we have found him in true sense with his
own angle of vision. With this angle of vision, he believes that someday or
other, injustice, inequalities and exploitation will be abolished forever. To bring
a new era the struggle is going on. His artistic mind hopes such new arrival as
a kind of renaissance.
Class Conflict – social exploitation:
In many stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay we have the changing
scenario of social realities. In social humanities there have been class
conflicts and exploitation, only the shape changes. Actually the lower class
people associated with production is mainly being the subject for exploitation.
The history of civilization upheld the class conflicts between exploited and
exploiters. Just as the rich people bring new ways and means of exploitation,
so is the method of those downtrodden to survive with this class conflicts. The
society is evolved in progress in this way with class-conflicts. The conflicts
146
aggravated with the two world-wars, bringing economic crisis. Due to the
world war II Bengal suffered out of famine, which brought a new exploiting
class of hoarders, black-marketers, profiteers, and agents.
In the stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay, we have seen class-conflicts
and exploitation of capitalistic civilization. He has deftly delineated class
conflict, class struggle, exploitation and breakage in society and its decay.
Now, we will discuss over the issues of class inequalities, class-
characters and exploitation in Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories. Feudal
zamindars used to sustain their zamindari by exploitation and torture upon
their subject. In the story ‘Sainik’ we see, blood ignited the sin of Feudal Lord,
an M.A. in History, Indra Choudhury as posterity to ‘Debikot Rajbansha’. To a
feudal lord, a few hundreds of subjects are valueless to live in a village. To
him the lives of his subjects are without any value. The zamindar wants to
keep up the process of exploitation through feudal process. This story depicts
the class-conflicts between the last oppressing zamindar of Debikot
Rajbansha and his helpless subjects.
Common people has come the victim of war market, by black-
marketeers. This concept can be identified in one of the famous stories,
‘Nakracharit’, by Narayan Gangopadhyay. Nishikanta, the Mahajan of Golpara
market, is a hoarder. He had been deft in black-business. Though the
common people do not get rice, his stock-room is full of rice; he sells these
with four-five time double, bucks to the army. He has the administration in his
pocket for which he is safe and goes on black-marketing up to huge profit.
147
He wants to be over-rich with the ill effect of war. The author has
clearly illustrated the village exploiters in the war-market.
Another representative character of this exploiter class is, Debidas of
‘Duhshasan’. Cloth merchant Debidas, in the crisis of cloth hoards cloth in the
war-market by de-clothing the poor woman. He wants more and more profit.
The exploiting class was supported by the administrative class at that time. A
critic has so said :
ëë√±À¬ı˛±·±-¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı˛ ¸Àe Ó¬±¬ı˛ ’ôL¬ı˛e ¸•Ûfl«¡º õ∂˙±¸ÀÚ¬ı ¸Àe ˜Ê≈√¬Ó¬√±À¬ı˛¬ı˛
’qˆ¬ ’±“Ó¬±Ó¬º õ∂˙±¸Ú-¬ı…¬ı¶ö± Œ˚ Œ¸ø√Ú õ∂˝√√¸ÀÚ ¬Û˚«¬ıø¸Ó¬, ¤˝◊√√ ¸±¬ı˛
¸Ó¬…È≈¬fl≈¡ Œ˘‡fl¡ Œ‰¬±À‡ ’±„≈√√˘ ø√À ˛ Œ√ø‡À ˛ Œ√Úºíí29
On the one hand, hardships due to the crisis in hand played havoc in
the life of lower depth people, on the other hand a group of opportunist, selfish
people, tried to become rich with the help of the government.
The exploitation of the affluent capitalist people against the working
class is a general truth. In the story, ‘Nila’, we see that Hiralal, the owner of a
sugar mill, blown to riches by strangling the art of making molasses. Hiralal is
a rich businessman; his business is spanned all over India, with rice mills and
jute mills etc. The cultivator sells the sugarcanes in a minimum, low price, to
the sugar mill; still they are beguiled in the weight of sugar canes. Poverty and
ill health have made the villages wretched, on the other hand the sugar mill of
Sitaganja have blown to richness through exploitation. Here, the
representation of capitalist people has been characterized in the persona of
Bhaskar, who is the manager of the sugar mill.
148
A class of people belonging to value less, cruel agents could be seen
in stories like ‘Bitangsa’, ‘Tirthayatra’, ‘Bhogabati’, ‘Dim’,etc. Their death sticks
of exploitation have brought fatal blow to Bangladesh.
Siddheswar, the father of a student in ‘Luchir Upakhyan’ is happy upon the
failure of his son. He informs to the tutor that education is nothing to business.
It is only wastage of money. This story has delineated the black-markeeter in
the time of world war. The tutor is the representative of middle-class people.
Businessman Siddheswar becomes rich and makes huge profit by mixing
stone particles in rice. Though the representative of the middle-class knows
everything, yet he remains silent without any protest.
Social inequalities have been shown in the story ‘Had’. On one side
there is iron gate, stepping stones of marble, silk curtains in windows, the
sweet smell of Grandiflora on the other hand a hungry of poor colony in the
nearby Manoharpukur park. For a handful of rice, there are scrambling and
broil. In between these two classes, there is the narrator of the story, who is
an educated unemployed middle-class youth. Due to the economic
exploitation and unequal distribution there are conflicts in the society, where
we see that people do not hesitate to give up even their religion for the sake
of life, they only want to survive. A critic has said in this regard :
ëë í76- ¤¬ı˛ ˜i§ôLÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ¬Ûœ¬ı˛’•§¬ı˛, Œ‰¬Ã ≈ √√±øÚ¬ı˛ øÚfl¡È¬ ¬ıø¸ ˛± ˜≈ ˘˜±ÚÒ˜«
õ∂‰¬±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛Úº Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ◊√√ õ∂‰¬±À¬ı˛¬ı Ù¬À˘ › ˜i§ôLÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ Ù¬À˘ ≈ ˘˜±Ú ÒÀ «
√ø¬ı˛ À|Ìœ¬ı˛ ’ÀÚÀfl¡ √œøé¬Ó¬ ˝√√Úº õ∂ÔÀ˜ Œ·±˜±—¸ ‡±› ˛±¬ı˛ ά◊¬Û¬ı˛ ŒÊ√±¬ı˛
149
Œ√› ˛± ˝√√˚˛ Ú±º Ó¬‡Ú ø˝√√µ≈¬ı˛± fl”¡˜«¬ı‘øM√√ [ ø¬ı˛øÊ√άƒø˘ ’ԫά'] ’¬ı˘•§Ú
fl¡ø¬ı˛ÀÓ¬Ú, ¤‡Ú Ó¬±˝√√± øϬ˘± ˝√√˝◊√√ ˛±ÀÂ√ºíí 30
The stories with hopes and mass-consciousness bear the sense of
social commitment and responsibility of Narayan Gangopadhyay. Here, we
can see his special angle of vision. The specialty is of socialism and
faithfulness. He has proved his social consciousness by delivering the
exploiter class through his various short stories.
In this way we see that Narayan Gangopadhyay laid effort to voice
struggle for survival, in many of his short stories. This survival is to live
against sexual perversion, to live the life of homo-sapiens by keeping faith
upon a powerful belief, to live in an establishment of healthy human
relationship.
His communist thought has given him a kind of progressive, protesting
and deep analysis to build a healthy human society and human feelings in
future through many of his short stories.
150
NOTES AND REFERENCE :
1. Birendra Dutta : Bangla Chotogalpa : Prasanga O Prakaran, p.-285.
2. Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay (ed.), Kaljayee Bangla Galpakargan:
Punarbichar, p.-84.
3. Mrinalkanti Mandal : Narayan Gangopadhyayer Chotogalpa: Bishay O
Ruper Mulyayan, p.-209.
4. Jagadish Bhattacharya : Amar Kaler Kayekjan Kathashilpi, p.-152.
5. Narayan Gangopadhyay : “Shilpir Sv adhinata”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al.
(ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, pp.-19-20 (Part III).
6. Manas Mazumdar : “Narayan Gangopadhyayer Chotogalpe Dwitiya
Mahayuddha O Manvantar-chitra”, in Sanjibkumar Basu (ed.), Sahitya O
Sanskriti, Narayan Gangopadhyay Smriti Sankhya,1398 B.S., Vol.-27,
p.-413.
7. Kalicharan Ghosh : Famines in Bengal (1770-1943), p.-39.
8. Amartya Sen : Poverty and Famines, p.-63.
9. Anandamayee Singha: “Duhshasan: Ajker Mahabharat”, in Ujjalkumar
Mazumdar (ed.), Galpacharcha, 2014, p.-902.
10. Sandip Bandyopadhyay: Itihasher Dike Phira: Chhechallisher Danga,
p.-21.
11. Tarak Sarkar : Bangla Upanyase Deshbhag O Deshtyag, p.-07.
12. Narayan Paul : Deshbhager Bali Bangali, p.-7.
151
13. Alok Roy : “Galper Sandhane Galpakar” in Tapas Bhowmik, et al. (ed.),
Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Baimela,
Jan.-April Issue, 1992, p.-15 (Part-I).
14. Binoy Ghose : Metropolitan Man. Madhyabitta. Bidroha, p.-50.
15. Prasun Ghosh : “Bangla Chotogalpe Premchetana : Challisher Dashak
Theke Sampratik Kal”, in Pulakkumar Sarkar (ed.), Shubhashree, 48th
Year, 2009-2010 Issue, p.-263.
16. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.1045.
17. Ibid, pp.-212-213.
18. Bhaskar Choudhury : Chotogalper Andarmahal, p.-135.
19. Alok Roy (ed.) : Sahityakosh: Kathasahitya, p.-179.
20. Harry Shaw : Dictionary of Literary Terms, p.-308.
21. Krishnarup Chakrabarty : Bangla Kathasahitye Manobishleshan, p.-3.
22. Biswabandhu Bhattacharya : “Manusher Janya Rajniti”, in Tapas
Bhowmik, et al., (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay
Sankhya, Baimela, Jan.-April Issue, 1992, pp.-147-148.
23. Bijanbihari Bhattacharya : “Adhyapak Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Bijanbihari Bhattacharya (ed.), Bangla Sahitya Patrika, 2nd year,
Calcutta University, 1970, p.-2.
24. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Sahitye Chotogalpa, in Asha Devi, et al.,
(ed.), Narayan Gangopadhyay Rachanabali (Vol.-XII), p.-526.
25. Amalkumar Ghosh : Bangla Sahitye Aloukik O Atiprakrita, p.-5.
26. Shripantha : Day, p.-13.
27. Alok Roy (ed.) : Sahityakosh: Kathasahitya, p.10.
152
28. Abu Sayeed Ayyub : Sahityiker Samajchetana, Byaktigata O
Nairbyaktik, pp.-55-56.
29. Manas Mazumdar : “Narayan Gangopadhyayer Chotogalpe Dwitiya
Bishwayuddha O Manvantar- chitra”, in Sanjibkumar Basu (ed.), Sahitya
O Sanskriti, Narayan Gangopadhyay Smriti Sankhya,1398 B.S., Vol.-27,
p.-419.
30. Nirmalkumar Basu : Biallisher Bangla, p.-53.
153
CHAPTER- IV
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE SHORT STORIES
OF NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY
The impact of time and space influences upon the mind of the
litterateur. Due to which the complexities of lives and its ambiences is
depicted through the pen of a particular author. Everything like the psyche,
talents, life circle, time and social perspective appears as imageries, which is
reflected into the mirror of a particular literature. The author, who lives in a
particular space and embarks upon its subject, is basically collected from his
own social perspective. The main basis of all types of development in human
is the activities of consciousness, which is related to real struggle and real
activities. The basic source of consciousness is hidden in the relation, a
relation between an Individual and a society. Long back, when the man
created society and started living, from then on his world of thinking and
power of feelings became active, as a result of different types of activities that
took place in his social life. As a result of which the social consciousness is
created among humans. This social system is his context of writing with life
and Arts, which is created out of his own experience from the society he lives.
That is why literturer which is close to life, is the literturer concerned
with life. Short stories as a genre from its very inception, is an art of social
consciousness. The subject of inquiry of short stories like a novel is the
154
society and man. The sharpsight of an author is extended towards his human
experience, along with the known situation, and his affinities with lives around
him amidst immediate social transformation.
The social development is closely related to literature. The enthusiasm
with contemporaries and social inspiration is active as a source of creativity in
literature. It is evident from the social-force and as a follow up with its relations
and position, his appearance in life and livelihoods and above all from his own
point of view. A critic has said :
ëëŒ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ¸—·Í¬ÀÚ¬ı˛ Œ|Ìœô¶¬ı˛, ’Ô«ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ’¬ı¶ö± ¤¬ı— Ê√œ¬ıÚ ›
Ê√œø¬ıfl¡±¬ı˛ ¬Û…±È¬±Ì«¸˜” √√ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ ¬±À¬ı ˘é¬Ìœ ˛º ¸˜±Ê√ ›
¸˜fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ’Ô«ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ø¬ı¬ıÓ«¬ÀÚ¬ı˛ Ò±¬ı˛±øȬ› Œ˘‡fl¡ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ¢∂˝√√Ì fl¡À¬ı˛Ú Ó“¬±¬ı˛
’ôL¬ı·¬ı˛ÀÊ√º ¸˜±Ê√ø¬ı:±ÚœÀ√¬ı˛ øÚfl¡È¬ ά◊ø~ø‡Ó¬ fl¡±¬ı˛ÀÌ˝◊√√ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡
˜” … ’Ô«¬ı˝√√ ˝√√À ˛ ›Àͬº Ù¬À˘ ¸˜±Ê√ø¬ı:±ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏ ˙±‡± ø˝√√¸±À¬ı
븱ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı ¸˜±Ê√Ó¬Ní (Sociology of literature) Ò±¬ı˛Ì±¬ı˛ ά◊æ√¬ı ˝√√ ˛ºíí 1
That is why those literaturers are considered as surbordinate by the
sociologist, if they don’t take lessons or materials from the society around him.
An author has to be socially conscious if he or she wants to be a real author.
This doesnot mean that the authors should report only the incidents
happening around them. The meaning social consciousness is having a
sociological point of view. True literature is that, which tries to look inside the
people, their struggle, their quest for life, social evolution and the social
system around them.
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The world of literature gets its limitation if it is devoid of time and space.
That is why we can have a look at the contemporary Bengal, when the author
like Narayan Gangopadhya arrived. The turning point of this age began in
1941. The gust of world war shook the then Bengal, at this situation, a number
of incidents took place, which is to be mentioned— the Japanese invasion,
(1941), August movement (1942), the wave of world war II (1939-1945), the
famine in 1350 B.S. (1943), the fratricidal riots (1946), the partition and
rebuted independence (1947) and the exodus (1947-1950)— all these have
shook the roots of Bengal. As a result, the moral, social, and economic
situation of Bengal has been devasted. All these laid a compact impact upon
literature where the individuals have not got priority. Priority was given to the
places inhabitated by people, life and society, the zeitigist and limitation in life.
Beyond all these, there are social flows of life and as a follow-up its unlimited
time and space have been focused in the fiction literature. The flow of social
life, space consciousness and Art consciousness makes such a world of Art,
which is not merely aestheticals. It is something more than that. Not the
protagonist out of any age but the age, out of a protagonist gets predominant
role in a literature, of a particulars age. Autobiographics plays a major role as
elements in such type of literature. Like decay of social life, changes, chaos,
the diversity in folk life, its mystery, the mental strife among individual, the loss
of values— everything becomes the elements in fiction-literature.
Though the dictum, literature is the mirror of the society, is oft quoted,
yet its deep truth, cannot be gainsaid. At the root of creating literature, there
are various conflicts that take place in society. This may be said to be the
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inspiration of creating literaturary works. The contemporary world with time
and space has been dealt in several short stories, by Narayan
Gangopadhyay. A few more time honoured writers have also appeared at that
period. About them a critic has said :
ë눬±¬ı˛ ±À˜…¬ı˛ ø¬ı‰¬˘Ú, ˜”˘…À¬ı±ÀÒ¬ı˛ ø¬ıÚø©Ü, ¸≈¶ö Ê√œ¬ıÚÀ¬ı±ÀÒ¬ı˛ ’¬ı¸±Ú,
’¬ıé¬À ˛¬ı˛ õ∂øӬᬱ, ø¬ı¬Û «À ˛¬ı ø¬ıÊ√˚, ¶§±ÒœÚÓ¬± ¬Û¬ı˛¬ıÓ¬«œ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ıÀ ∏«¬ı˛ ¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛
’±Ô«ÚœøÓ¬fl¡, ¬ı˛±Ê√ÚœøÓ¬fl¡ ˜ø˝√√ ±¬ı˛ ’¬ı¸±Ú – ¤˝◊√√ ¬ÛȬˆ¬”ø˜ÀÓ¬ ’±À˘±‰¬…˜±Ú
Œ˘‡fl¡¬ı± Œ‰¬±‡ Œ˜À˘ Ó¬±øfl¡À˚˛ÀÂ√Ú, Œ√À‡ÀÂ√Ú é≈¬t ¶§À√ ˆ¬”ø˜, ’¬ı±fl¡
Œ˜À˘ÀÂ√Ú ˆ¬±À·…¬ı˛ ¬Û√±‚±ÀÓ¬ºíí2
In the post world war -I period, the national political consciousness,
social thoughts and economic system has left deep water-mark in colonial
India. As a result of world war-II, in the third decade of twentieth century
several new elements emerged in Bengali literature. A few new faces has
emerged in Bengali short story is genre with complexities, conflicts of
twentieth century and its nature. These things have laid deep impact upon the
life of people, which came to be mixed in the unfathomable depth of
contemporary literature. The moral consciousness, emotion and exstasy, right
and wrong, the pure and impure mind, the internal conflicts in the construction
of life— have got indirect expression in literature in both, of that age and its
beyond. The short story writer, Narayan Gangapadhyay is of no exception.
We can know how the socio-economic crisis of that period created an adverse
thinking in him, through his short stories. A deep attachment to human
consciousness has left a deep mark upon his short stories. As its counter part,
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several classes which are circled around the axis of the society, has been got
primary importance in his short stories. A renowned critic has rightly said :
ëëø˙äœ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚ Œ˚˜Ú ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ŒÓ¬˜øÚ Î¬◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ ¸˜±ÀÊ√¬ı˛
’±Ry¬ı˛œ ά◊2‰¬ø¬ıÀM√√¬ı˛ Œ˙± ∏À̬ı˛ ¬ı˛+¬Û ά◊ƒ‚±øȬӬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú, …………….
˜±Ú≈¯∏Àfl¡ ¸—¢∂±˜œ Œ‰¬Ó¬Ú±˚ ά◊¡Z≈X fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú, ë˝√√±Î¬ˇí, ëÚSï ‰¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬í õ∂ˆ¬‘øÓ¬
ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä…………….ºíí3
The war that spanned upto six years has changed the situation of the
society and the lives in Bengal, which has been crashed due to the August
movement. The euphoria of communism thoughts famine, riot and the
devided freedom, unemployment, poverty, the crisis in middle class society,
black marketing, exploitation by the foreign rulers, and the act of priviledged
class of society— all have made the life and society of Bengal anew form, as
may be known from the author. The deep wounds of latent in the depth of
society have got new shape in the hands of the young authors like Narayan
Gangopadhyay. Their main subjects of their short stories were class conflicts,
the struggle for survival, the deep outery of the famine-effected people, cloth
crisis, self -search, and protest-thoughts, they did not hide themselves behind
the mask, rather they met the world of reality face to face. They depicted the
picture of the society with finer touches. The stories seemes to have come
more close to the soil. Though, we know that short stories can’t reflect the
inns and outs that are known to be there in a big canvass of the genre, like a
novel. Yet, short stories reflect the ethos of a country’s time and space. The
complex pattern of human society of the present and the reactions in human
mind, as its follow up— everything has been voiced in the pages of novels.
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These things, political, economic, cultural, and the social condition, coming
out of time and space, leaves much to be the subject of introspection in
fictional literature, because of its own advantage.
Short stories by socially conscious writer Narayan Gangopadhyay are
wounded pictures of the then shattered Bengali-life. The 40’s have left a mark
in his stories. He had that farsight to depict what had been happening in the
society around him. The chaos, doubt, and the search have been sentenced
in his created Arts. The curse of war and its reactions, the fall out of famine,
the changes in values, due to economic, social, and moral degradation, have
been deftly depicted in his short stories. He has done from his insight, which
has grown out of his relation to life and society around him.
Narayan Gangopadhyay is an expressive literary artist of deep limbo of
life. But he was not satisfied only with the superstructure of life, but also, was
in search of a mind, which has embarked upon a psyche, that belonged to the
superstructure. His primary aim was ‘Human beings’. On the one hand, he
had lashed on the follies and foibles of contemporary society; on the other
hand he became passionate with deep faith and compassion to the people.
The national life of India at that period had undergone a long lasting impact
that was caught with remarkable syntax by Narayan Gangopadhyay. A kind of
despair, with social, economic and over and above in the field of literature and
culture, saw its decay. Though the canvass of short stories is not bigger like a
novel, yet it has embarked upon a remarkable space with contemporary time.
A comment by a critic of distinction is quotable :
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ëëŒ˚ Œfl¡±Ú Œ√À˙¬ı˛ fl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…-˙±‡± ˛ ≈√ ◊√√ Ò±¬ı˛±˝◊√√ó ŒÂ√±È¬·ä › ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ ó
¸˜±Ê√¬ıX ˜±Ú≈À¯∏¬ı˛ Ê√œ¬ıÚ, ¸˜±Ê√ˆ¬±¬ıÚ±Àfl¡ ¸•Û”Ì« ¢∂±¸ fl¡À¬ı˛ ◊√√ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¬Û”Ì«Ó¬±
¬Û± ˛º õ∂Ô˜ ø¬ıï ´ ≈X-¸˜fl¡±˘œÚ, ≈√˝◊√√ ø¬ıï ´ ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ˜Ò…¬ıÓ«¬œfl¡±˘œÚ ¤¬ı— ø¡ZÓ¬œ˚˛
ø¬ıï ´ ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ø‰¬ø˝ï Ó¬ Â√˚øȬ ¬ıÂ√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ fl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ ˙±‡± ≈X › ≈ÀX¬ı˛
·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛Ó¬˜ Ó¬±»¬Û «Àfl¡ øˆ¬øM√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ ◊√√ ø¬ıfl¡±˙ › ø¬ı¬ı‘øX¬ı˛ ¸”ÀS ¤ø·À˚˛ÀÂ√ ¬ıÀ˘
˜ÀÚ fl¡ø¬ı˛ºíí4
In a word, literature can be said, to be a documentation of history. A
critic has said on the age, when Narayan Gangapadhyay took birth :
ë븘fl¡±˘œÚ ¤fl¡ ’˙±ôL ≈À·¬ı˛ ¸±é¬œ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±˚˛º..........
Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ’flv¡±ôL Œ˘‡ÚœÀÓ¬ fl¡‡ÀÚ± õ∂Ó¬…é¬, › fl¡‡ÀÚ± ¬ı± õ∂26√iß ¬±À¬ı ¬Ûø¬ı˛¶£¬≈Ȭ
˝√√À ˛øÂ√ ¤fl¡˝◊√√¸Àe Ó¬»fl¡±˘œÚ ≈·˚La̱ › ≈·Àõ∂¬ı˛Ì±¬ı˛ ¬ıdøÚᬠõ∂øÓ¬26√ø¬ıºíí5
In his literature, several incidents have found spaces—world war-II,
famine, riot, mass movement against imperialism, partition, eviction, the
Tebhaga and Telengana movement under the leadership of communist party,
etc.
Now, let us enter into the short stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay in
the light of above mentioned critique.
An exemplary story, titled ‘Itihas’, in the collection of short stories of
Narayan Gangapadhyay, named ‘Bhogabati’, published in 1350 B.S. This
story was composed in the perspective of all destructing, all engulfing social
milieu. It was composed, in the light of August-movement that played havoc
with the national patriotic consciousness of Bengal.
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The subject matter of this story has encoded the contemporary struggle
of Bengal, with its history, along with deft artifact. The past golden era has laid
its foundation in the contemporary streams of life. In the story, the August
movement of the 42’s and the flood of Midnapur is only a perspective.
Moreover, the shock over the death of his son is belittled, in the mindset of a
retired school master, Amaresh. That is why Amaresh, a head master for last
thirty years, could write with new zeal, heartening with hope, even after the
death of his son :
ëë..............¤˝◊√√ ø˝√√—¸± Œ¡Z ∏ Ê√Ê«√ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ¬ı±—˘±› ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ õ∂±Ì ¬Û±˝◊√√À¬ı ’±¬ı±¬ı˛
Ê√±ø· ˛± ά◊øͬÀ¬ı ÚÓ≈¬Ú ˙øMï √ ˘˝◊√√˚±, ÚÓ≈¬Ú Œõ∂¬ı˛Ì± ˛ ’Ú≈õ∂±øÌÓ¬ ˝√√˝◊√√ ˛±Ø√√ ’gfl¡±¬ı˛
¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛ ’±fl¡±À˙ ¶§±ÒœÚÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¸” « Œ√‡± ø√À¬ıº ‰¬¬ı˛ ¸¬ı«Ú±À˙¬ı˛ ¬ÛȬˆ¬”ø˜ÀÓ¬
≈√·«øÓ¬¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛ ˘À¢ü ¸˜ô¶ Ê√±øÓ¬ ’±ø¸˚˛± “√±Î¬ˇ±˝◊√√À¬ı ¸¬ı«Ê√ÚœÚ ‹Àfl¡…¬ı˛
Œ¬ı√œÀÓ¬º........ Œ√À˙ Œ√À˙ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±À¸¬ı˛ ˝◊√√˝√√±˝◊√√ ø˙鬱ºíí6
Here, we can observe the mind of a history-conscious, idealist. He had
been writing the history of powerful ‘Panchagour’ tradition to let everyone
know about the glorious past of Bengal. Amaresh was interested to revive the
history, gainsaying the realities. But that the reality creates more history is
exemplified by the death of Lokesh. Here, the fate-oriented history engulfed
by the almighty’s passive silence played the key role. The shock over the
death of his son, the flood in Midnapur, and the 42’s August movement has
made the perspective of the story, yet the cry in search of truth, coming out of
the conflict in August movement, the chaos by the castes, the oath taking by
blood-letters— all these have been caught with all its inns and outs. The
pangs of life, the effort to resolve all types of humiliation by the community
161
has been dealt with compassion in the story. The historian, Amaresh, could
no more gainsay, that he is documenting the history of the Bengalee who
have been purging on blood-stained days of Kalinga-war. The ugly shape of
the crisis, in Gourbanga’s Bengali in the moments of 42’s August movement,
due to the authors love and pride, had been gaining ground in the hands of
the author. The author has raised issues of legacy to the Bengali life and
culture, as if with a close self-analysis of entire Gourbanga; because, history
is made with the perspective of conscious gregarious society struggling in the
time and space.
New histories are made with the changes of time. That is why in the
conscious psyche of Amaresh, it is thought out that though it is a matter of
pride, to know the past with Hindu-power, it cannot be said to be greater than
real contemporary life, but life with a mission, is understood in the death of
Lokesh. The critic has said, about this story as :
ëë¬ÛÓ¬Ú-’ˆ¬≈…√ ˛ ¬ÛLö± ˛ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ Ó¬±¬ı˛ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ fl¡±ø˝√√Úœ ¬ı˛‰¬Ú± fl¡À¬ı˛ ‰¬À˘ÀÂ√º
’Ó¬œÓ¬ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú, ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú ŒÔÀfl¡ ˆ¬ø¬ı ∏…Ó¬º Œ¸˝◊√√ ø‰¬¬ı˛ôLÚ ˚±S±¬ÛÀÔ ¤fl¡
¤fl¡øȬ ‚Ȭڱ ¤fl¡ ¤fl¡øȬ ¬Û√ø‰¬À˝ï ¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬º..............ˆ¬±¬ıœ fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ¬ÛÔøÚÀ«√˙
Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬ı˛Mï √ø˘ø¬ÛÀÓ¬º Œ¸ ¬ı˛Mï √ø˘ø¬Û ¬ı˛‰¬Ú± fl¡À¬ı˛ ‰¬À˘ÀÂ√Ú ‹øÓ¬˝√√±ø¸fl¡ ’˜À¬ı˛ º
Œ√˙ Ê√ÚÚœ¬ı˛ ¬Û”Ê√±˚ Ÿ¬øQfl¡ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± Ó¬±¬ı˛ fl¡F ŒÔÀfl¡ ά◊2‰¬±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À26√
˜±Ó‘¬˜Laº ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±À¸¬ı˛ ˜˝√√» Œõ∂¬ı˛Ì± ’¬Û¬ı˛±ÀÊ√ ˛ ά◊»¸±À˝√√¬ı˛ ’±Úµ¬ı˛ ˝√√À˚˛
é¬ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À26√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ fl¡ÀFº øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ˝√√+√ø¬ÛG øÂ√iß fl¡À¬ı˛ øÓ¬øÚ ˜±Ó‘¬¬Û”Ê√±¬ı˛ ¬Û”̱«UøÓ¬
ø√À ˛ÀÂ√Ú ¬ıÀ˘˝◊√√ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ fl¡ÀF±2‰¬±ø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˜±Ó‘¬¬ıµÚ± ˜La ˝√√À ˛ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√ºíí7
162
But new history is not made with the thought down memory lane, but
with a patriotic fervour by the contemporary space, in motherland– this truth
has been delineanted in the death of Lokesh.
Due to the world war-II a few black-marketeers had accumulated bucks
and riches, with an artificial crisis over daily essential commodities. The
common people’s life has gone astry with the hoarders and black -
marketeers. To survive with the rights to life, national people had started
agitation all over Bengal. Glimpses of these elements could be viewed in the
short stories of Narayan Gangopadhyay.
Common people had been moved the havock created by the war, as a
followup to their ill fate. Not only that the dishonest businessman has
accumulated money by unfair means, but also made the common life
enlarged. A ruthless picture of it could be viewed in Narayan Gangapadhyay’s
pratoganist Rajani, in the story, ‘Dim’, included in the short story collection,
‘Duhshasan’ (1952). To provide the foodings of Armymen, in the war, the
contractor, Pyarilal, has to accumulate five hundred eggs. But when at the
festival times of new years, the demand for these eggs become larger and it
becomes the nightmare to the contractor. But he had to collect these eggs at
any cost. Because the Sahib has given him an overcoat made of Kashmiri fur.
So he had arrived Rajani’s door in the winter breeze, on foot. Rajani, came
out shivering with torn cloths. The contractor urged him to collect three
dozens of egg by any means. The old man Rajani’s son, Nibaran, had gone to
pull rickshaw, on the city. He is out of sight for two months. At home there
163
remained his ricketry grandson, grand daughter with his daughter-in-law,
Saroda.
There are shortage of woods to keep the shivering body warm with
broil, the helpless old man, comes out of home in the chilly weather to escape
from the argument with his daughter-in-law in this matter and collects a few
eggs, in lieu of ten annas. But it is our custom that the poor will serve the rich,
ignoring his personel comfort. So, Rajani, sitting beside fire place with
wounded legs, swallows the cool rice with eatable leafs only. He controlled his
greed to take eggs. It will be a mere fashion to take eggs, as because he
belongs to a poor family. That is why when the malaria affected son of Saroda
mourned to take eggs, Rajani tried to throttle his neck with anger. And to save
her son’s life, Saroda injured his head with an iron rod. With acute pain, with
acute cry, Rajani was plunged into the fire place. As a result Rajani died, like
a snake, and Saroda, dumb found, stood beside the smell of burnt body. A
critic, on the story ‘Dim’ has said :
ëë ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ø¬ıï ´¢∂±¸œ é≈¬Ò±¬ı˛ ’±&ÀÚ Ó¬‡Ú ¸±¬ı± ¬ı±—˘± ;˘ÀÂ√º ·äøȬÀÓ¬ øά˜
ŒÊ√±·±Àάˇ¬ı˛ ¬ı˛+¬ÛÀfl¡¬ı˛ ˜Ò… ø√À ˛ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ Ó¬œ¬ıË ¬ı…e Œ¸±2‰¬±¬ı˛ ˝√√À ˛ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√º Œ¸
¬ı…e ø¬ıï ´Ò√ı—¸œ ≈ÀX¬ı˛ ’fl¡˘…±Ì ¬ı˛+À¬Û¬ı˛ ø¬ıï ÀXºíí8
With the world war-II, famine occurred in the heart of Bengal. People’s
life became disastrous. This has further been aggravated into famine of 1350
B.S. Everywhere, it was seen the crisis in food. Daily labourers, farmers and
the owners of a few lands sold their lands and passed their days with a little
food or no food.
164
Diseases like malaria, cholera, pox, etc broke into the people who have
eaten, uneatable things, to survive. Many people left their homeland and went
to the city for survival. Kolkata became overcrowded with the exodus; the
famine striken people filled the streets of Kolkata. The history of famine is not
new to our contry. According to a few historians, more or less twenty two
occasions have witnessed the dreaded famine. Many ‘Duikhya’, ‘Akalya’, have
been found, nurturing the death ridden memory in some families of Bengal.
The famine of 1350 B.S. is still in their memory as a nightmare. This sub-
continent had suffered due to famine from decade to decade. Sometimes this
death is locale; sometimes its arrow went towards a section of hungry people.
Why such famine occurs! There are processions of hungry people under the
sky of Kolkata. Many investigations took place of and on famine of 1350 B.S.
Economists have opined different notion regarding the cause of famine, with
direct and indirect testimonials. Statisticians have made arithmetics over it.
Even the doctors of the hospitals too, have dissected the reports on how
death variants inside and outside the human body. Almost everyone has
pointed out the cause and effect relation more or less in the same vein :
(a) There was less production of foodgrains below the level of
requirement, in the 42’s. Beside this, the export rate was higher
than import, in Cylon and a few other countries.
(b) The whirlwind and flood, in West Bengal have made the situation
worse.
(c) Solvent farmers, the family man and the hoarders had hoarded the
grains.
165
(d) Govt, too, did not take any initiative to recover the hoarded grains.
(e) Crisis of money-lenders in villages.
(f) The corruption which spreaded everywhere in the society.
Due to all these, the war stricken Bengal became a looting ground,
inhabitants of a town or the suburb some how were free from the hunger.
Because, the food grain-merchants took the initiative to supply the gains, for
which a few lakh people and their families were benefited. In the city, relief
camp, were opened, food was distributed in charity. The number of this in the
entire Bengali rose daily. Peculiar foods were supplied in the name of
hotchpotch, which were not eatables. So, more or less 30 lakh people laid
their lives, due to the famine of 1943 that came out along with epidemic,
which was man made. Most of them were villagers, landless farmers, the
marginal cultivators, poor familymen, artisans, fishermen, small shopkeepers,
boatmen and those who survived on grinding and husking paddy.
World war-II, mass movement, famine, riot, eviction, and at last the
blood stained partition—the decade of forty is a nightmare. As if the relations
of village to the cities thereby became ascertained over agin. The fake,
artificial relationship between men to men came to the forefront. Beside the
road side, not only the deads’ skeleton, but also the values came to be piled
up like waste products. This famine was man made. In fact people had to face
the living hollowness but nature too, had a role to play there. The acute greed
and dishonesty sometimes had created the man made crisis. Sometimes, the
tricks of the hoarders too, were responsible to this kind of crisis in food grains.
This famine was created by the combine effort of the rulling government and
166
exploiter merchants. More responsible were the people than the static nature
which has created this dreadfull famine and with this the mostly affected
object was a people’s social psychology; because, people came out of their
values in the face of acute food crisis.
In the month of August, 1943, hungry people came in large number to
Calcutta. At first, relief camps were set up by the non-governmental
organization and thereafter the charges were taken by the government.
Though, the Bengal of 1942-1943, witnessed small amount of food grain
production, yet it was not enough to create famine. A critic has said :
ë븬ıfl¡±¬ı˛œ Ó¬Ô… ’Ú≈˚±˚˛œ 1943 ¸±À˘¬ı˛ Ó≈¬˘Ú± ˛ 1941 ¸±À˘ ¬ı±—˘±À√À˙
‰¬±À˘¬ı˛ Œ˚±·±Ú fl¡˜ øÂ√ , øfl¡c Œ¸ ¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ ’±fl¡±˘ ˝√√˚øÚº....... ¬ıdÓ¬ qÒ≈ ‰¬±À˘¬ı˛
Œ˚±·±Ú ˝√√±¸ Œ¬ÛÀ˚˛øÂ√˘ ¬ıÀ˘ Ú ˛, ¬ıKI◊Ú ¬Û «±À ˛ ˜±¬ı˛±Rfl¡ ≈√Ú«œøÓ¬,
’ø¬ı ‘¯∏…fl¡±ø¬ı˛Ó¬± ¤¬ı— ¸¬ı˛fl¡±ø¬ı˛ ”√¬ı˛√ø˙«Ó¬±¬ı˛ ’ˆ¬±¬ı › ‰¬¬ı˛ ·±øÙ¬˘øÓ¬ ¤˝◊√√
≈√øˆ¬«À鬬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ” Ó¬ √± ˛œº ’±¬ı ¤‡±ÀÚ˝◊√√ ¤ ˜i§ôL¬ı˛ õ∂fl‘¡øÓ¬¸‘©Ü Ú ˛, ˜Ú≈ ∏…¸‘©Üº
¸¬ı˛fl¡±¬ı˛ ¤¬ı— ˜Ê≈√Ó¬√±¬ı˛¬ı˛± ¤ ¸˜À ˛ S≈ï øȬ¬Û”Ì« ÚœøÓ¬¢∂˝√√Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ › Ó¬±À√¬ı˛
≈√Ú«œøÓ¬¬ı˛ Ù¬À˘ ≈√øˆ¬«À鬬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ø¶öøÓ¬ ∆Ó¬¬ı˛œ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ºíí9
That is why the cost of rice became abnormally higher. It can be
surmised that there were stock of rice, if any one could pay he or she could
have had rice. But it was out of reach to the common people, farmers, and the
day-labourers. So, driven out of hunger, people had to move door to door to
get ‘Phyan’ (The starch extracted from the boiled rice). A critic has said from
his own experience :
167
ëë’±ø˜ 1350 ¤¬ı˛ ˜i§ôL¬ı˛ Œ√À‡øÂ√º Œ√À‡øÂ√ qÒ≈ Ú ˛, Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˚La̱ ¬ı±À¬ı˛±-ŒÓ¬À¬ı˛±
¬ıÂ√¬ı˛ ¬ı ˛À¸˝◊√√ Œˆ¬±· fl¡À¬ı˛øÂ√º ≈√À¬ı˘± Œ¬ÛÀȬ ˆ¬±Ó¬ Œ√¬ı±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú… ŒÂ√±È¬ Œ¬ı±Ú ›
ˆ¬±¢üœ ¤¬ı— ¬Û±Î¬ˇ±¬ı˛ fl¡À˚fl¡Ê√Ú ¸˜¬ı ˛ œÀ√¬ı˛ øÚÀ˚ Œ¬ı˝√√±˘± ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬¬ı˛±Ó¬ Ô±fl¡ÀÓ¬
Œ¬ıøάˇÀ ˛ Œ‰¬Ó¬˘±, Œ˜±ø˜Ú¬Û≈¬ı˛, ø‡ø√¬ı˛¬Û≈¬ı˛ fl¡ÀKC±À˘ ˘±˝◊√√Ú ø√À˚˛øÂ√º Œfl¡±ÀÚ±ø√Ú
‰¬±˘ Œ¬ÛÀ ˛øÂ√, ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ±ø√Ú ˙”Ú… ˝√√±ÀÓ¬ øÙ¬À¬ı˛øÂ√º ά± ˛ G ˝√√±¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˛±Î¬,
˜±ÀÁ¡¬ı˛ √√±È¬, ø‡ø√¬ı¬Û≈¬ı˛, › ≈√·«±¬Û≈¬ı˛ ø¬ıËÀÊ√¬ı˛ ›¬Û¬ı˛ fl¡Ó¬ø√Ú ˜¬ı˛± ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ˜≈‡
Œ√À‡øÂ√ qÒ≈ Ú˚˛, Ó¬± øάø„√√À ˛ Œ˚ÀÓ¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√º ¸” « ›Í¬±¬ı˛ ’±À·˝◊√√ √¬ı˛Ê√±˚˛
√¬ı˛Ê√± ˛ ë ¤fl¡È≈¬ Ù¬…±Ú Œ√À¬ı Œ·± í ¬ıÀ˘ Œ˚ ø‰¬»fl¡±¬ı˛ qÀÚøÂ√ Ó¬± ’±Ê√› fl¡±ÀÚ
¬ı±ÀÊ√º ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ¬ı≈ÀÁ¡øÂ√ Œ¸È¬± ø‰¬»fl¡±¬ı˛ ’Ô¬ı± fl¡±iß± øÂ√˘ Ú±, øÂ√˘ ¬ı“±‰¬±¬ı˛ Ê√ÀÚ…
≈√ ˛±À¬ı˛ ≈√ ˛±À¬ı˛ ’±Ó«¬Ú±—√ ά◊À¬Û±¸œ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ˜¬ı˛Ìfl¡±˘œÚ Œ˙ ∏ ’±À¬ı√Úºíí10
No writer could be traced who has not written any story with this
perspective. As if the war, epidemic, hunger and struggle for freedom have
changed the point of view of those writers. Narayan Gangopadhyay, too, was
not exception. The femine, created by a few men, with its cruel follow ups
could be viewed in his short story ‘Had’ (1944). This story is one of the best,
from his collection of short stories, ‘Bitansa’, published in 1352 B.S.
The narrator of the story has come to Raybahadur, H.L. Chatterjee, a
rich businessman, to get a job, with a letter from his father. Mr. Chatterjee was
his father’s friend of his boyhood. But instead of giving him a job, he exhibits
him the various bones that he has collected. He has collected these bones
from various parts of the world, in lieu of huge money. It is his hobby.
Raybahadur, lives in an ambience of broad roadways by asphalt near
Monoharpukur park of Ballygunge in a picturesque beautiful house, with black
168
staircase, made of marbel, with coloured windowpanes, windows with silk-
cartains, orchids in tubs of porcelain, the sweet smell of magnolia and with
two guarding frightful dogs. On the other hand the cry of hunger, a little away
from Manoharpukur Park, on the one hand, the riches and a terrific solvency,
and on the other hand, the cry of hungry people— ‘Phyan dao’. Cry over a
handful of rice. The awkwardness of testing water from the highdrain, clashes
among them, making hue and cry— scrambling to all these, the sweet smell
of magenolia overlapped with the emitting bad smell of waste products. The
enchanting beauty of Manoharpukur Park has been swallowed by the colony
of hungry people, a pile of waste product among the clean city, where
screams and broils are suck to it, lice are picked up from each others head,
taking dirty water from the highdrain, like the beast.
In this story, the author has given picturesque description of the
famine. The author had an eye on the people scrambling over food from the
dustbin, than the fancy, luxurious world of Raybahadur, with burnt tobacco,
can not come near them. Beside this, with skinny hands and legs, a boy is
sucking a piece of bone. This too, is a bone of a human. It is alike the bone of
‘Tahiti’. But they have got only bones like that which has been collected by
Raybahadur. Storm over the sky, rain of blood, might have taken place, out of
the rich people’s tortured act over the rickety people, who either, was not
mantra-proofed, or whose mouths have been hungry for long. Hence, the
author has symbolized the famine stricken people in the characterization of
dogs who were in search of foods, has clearly depicted by the author with his
contemt and curse on the tricksters who acted like enchanters.
169
In this story, the contemporary world of war and famine had been
grasped. Just as dogs broil, turning the dustbin to have a fill, like this those
destitutes too, make quarrel at the time of search of food. It is so even though
they did not have anything to eat. They swallow, hotchpotch hastily without
chewing. Lump of it stucks to the throat, even then they scream for more.
Famine stricken people cry out for little ‘Phyan’ only from door to door. People
have been burnt in this fire of hunger, their voice become harsh with high
velocity. Two to three people are deadly in search of food in the dustbin. A
child with a swallowed belly and stick-like legs and hands is licking a bone.
Job opportunity due to economic depression has become unobtainable
without any backing. Jobs are nowhere available. The war- aeroplanes of
Japanese were above the sky of Kolkata and the British aeroplanes take vigils
on these— the lion has wings. During the war, lights were put off. There were
only a few such lights, were on still within a barricade. The author walked up
with such moral on his shoulder. A circle of light is lit under the lamp-post.
Four layers of truth are there in the story. No sooner than the difference
between the middle-class’s life and thoughts is seen with contemporary
society there also difference with upper-class is created. There is no
connection with realities in the dream state of the world.
Suggestivity is hidden into the naming of this story. Raybahadur has
been collecting bones throughout his life. In his almiraha, there is a bone of a
woman from ‘Tahiti Island ’. It is not having mystic power of charms &
incantations. But this bone is destructive. Adjacent to this there are bones
also into the dustbin found by the hungry-man. These two bones are
170
reciprocal. The author seeks to find out comparison between these two. There
is a sign of goodness and badness. These second bone is constructive. That
is why the critic says rightly :
ëëfl¡±øͬ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ˝√√±Ó¬-¬Û± ’±¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˘≈ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± Œ¬ÛȬ›˚±˘± ‹ ŒÂ√±ÀȬ± ŒÂ√À˘¬ı˛
˝±√√ÀÓ¬ ¤fl¡ È≈¬flƒ¡À¬ı˛± ˝√√±Î¬ˇº ¬ı˛±˚˛¬ı±˝√√±≈√¬ı˛ ëøfl¡Î¬◊ø¬ı˛À˚˛±¬ı˛ ’¬Û”¬ı« Ú˜≈Ú± ø˝√√¸±À¬ıí ˝√√±Î¬ˇ
¸—¢∂˝√√ fl¡À¬ı˛Ú, ˜La&À˘± ¬Û±ÚøÚ ¬ıÀ˘ ˝√√±Î¬ˇ ø√À ˛ 뒂ȬÚí ‚È¬±ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú Ú±º
øfl¡c ά±©Üø¬ıÚ ŒÔÀfl¡ ‡±√…¸—¢∂˝√√ fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ˚ ëøÓ¬Ú ‰¬±¬ı˛Ê√Ú ’˜±Ú≈ø ∏fl¡ ˜±Ú≈ ∏í Ó“¬±¬ı˛±
¬Û±¬ı˛À¬ı ¬Á¡Î¬ˇ Ó≈¬˘ÀÓ¬, ¬Û‘øÔ¬ıœÈ¬±Àfl¡ ¬Û±ÀåI◊¬ ø√ÀÓ¬ºíí11
Though the narrator belongs to a lower middle-class, yet he is a
sympathetic & compassionate to the lower-class destitute. That is why at the
end of the story there are pain-full utterances of war and famine into the sky
with the bones of Tahiti; likewise, there are spontaneous utterances of the
revolutionary ideas. The main attainment from this story ‘Had’ is this. Here, on
the one hand the author has portrayed the naked capitalist Bourgeois state of
people by projecting the character, Raybahadur; on the other hand he has
given a sign of revolution on the coming days through the character of the
jobless young man. Here, the tortured poor people have been presented as a
symbolical expression. There is no difference between the bone collected by
Raybahadur and the bone lying in the dustbin. Because of blackmarket after
famine the poor, helpless people have to sacrifice their lives due to hunger,
similarly because of superstitious belief, an unmarried, virgin girl had to
sacrifice her life in ‘Tahiti’ for her bones as described by Raybahadur.There is
a similarity between these two sacrifices, if observed from the social point of
view. Moreover, a deep sign of cheating is hidden in the act of licking bones
171
by the small child. Bone is in this story is, the prototype of exploitation and
injustice. There is ‘Bibhatswa rasa’ in the co-existence of famine and the act
of collecting bones.
Though the story ‘Nakracharit’, included in the short story collection
‘Bhanga Bandar’ (1945), is written on the background of famine, it is the
delineation of a character. This story was written in the perspective of war,
famine, and epidemic. Though Narayan Gangopadhyay, has written a few
stories based on famine, this story is different. Nishikanta Karmakar is the
example of broken social structure with black marketeering by influencing
society and system of law, to gain self-interest. Nisikanta Karmakar went on
running his business, with the help of lascivious, inhuman inspector, Ibrahim
Mian. Even in these days of famine he has hoarded eight hundred maund rice
by Rs. 12 per Kg; if he is able to sell these rice by Rs.40, instead of Rs.12 per
Kg., then he will not only be reddening, but also be deep and bright red
coloured with money, because now it is the time of war. It is the opportunity to
be rich. He has robbed the rice from the mouth of the ordinary man – on the
other hand villages are being depopulated due to the crisis of food. The wife
of Matipaul has committed suicide because of starvation; she had nothing to
eat, by her only cloth that she used to protect her naked body, she has
hanged herself. To Nishikanta it seemed as dreadly fear. Matipaul too, could
not survive without food :
ë댬ÛÀȬ¬ı˛ ;±˘± ˛ √±› ˛± ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ı≈øÁ¡ ‡±øÚfl¡È¬± ˜±øȬ fl¡±˜Àάˇ Œ‡À ˛øÂ√˘, ¤fl¡¬ı˛±˙
fl¡«√˜±Mï √ ¬ıø˜ ·±À˘¬ı˛ ≈√í¬Û±À˙ Ê√À˜ ¬ıÀ ˛ÀÂ√ºíí12
172
Nishikanta gets horrified with these dreaded scenes. As if, the
countless nacked women’s bodies are hanging from the top of bamboo trees,
a kind of nightmare to Nishikanta. This type of picturesque illustration by the
author is flawless. The lone work by Nishikanta is to bring darkness in every
household of the village. Is not that Nishikanta responsible for the incidents!
The consciousness of Nishikanta thinks:
ëë.... ¬ı“±˙Á¡±Àάˇ¬ı˛ Œˆ¬Ó¬¬ı˛ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¤‡≈øÚ Œ¬ıø¬ı˛À ˛ ’±¸À¬ı ˜±—¸‰¬ « √√œÚ ’ø¶ö ˚˛
fl¡Ó¬&ø˘ Â√± ˛± ”øÓ«¬-øÓ¬À˘-øÓ¬À˘ ˚±¬ı˛± Ú± Œ‡À ˛ qøfl¡À ˛ ˜¬ı˛ÀÂ√√√ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛
Œõ∂Ó¬À√˝√√º....... Œ¸˝◊√√ ˜”øÓ«¬&À˘± ’±Ó«¬Ú±√ fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊ͬÀ¬ı󒱘±À√¬ı˛ ‡±√…,
’±˜±À√¬ı Ê√œ¬ıÚ øÚÀ˚˛ Œ˘±Àˆ¬¬ı˛ ˆ¬±G±À¬ı˛ Ê√˜± fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√± Ó≈¬ø˜º ŒÓ¬±˜±¬ı˛ 鬘Ӭ±,
ŒÓ¬±˜±¬ı˛ ‡Ó¬, ŒÓ¬±˜±¬ı˛ ’±˝◊√√Ú ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ø˝√√—¸±¬ı˛ ˝√√±Ó¬ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ı“±ø‰¬À ˛ÀÂ√√√
ŒÓ¬±˜±Àfl¡º øfl¡c ¤‡Ú∑ ¤‡Ú∑ ¤‡Ú∑íí 13
The sting of conscience of human being, the guilt-feeling for one’s sin
and fear-psychosis for the wrong act, is deftly depicted through the character
of Nishikanta. He has many roles to play. He is the president of Union board,
a businessman, greedy for money and also a black-marketeer. By business
we mean, a hoarder. He has kept eight hundred maund of rice with him, to
sell in the war market. This man is cruel, cunning and dishonest. The author
has delineated his character in a suppressed mockery.
This Baishnaba Kulatilaka, fallen from his youth, Nishikanta is such a
shrewd; who is not only satisfied by purchasing the goods from the robbers,
but does not think twice also to defraud them. The author has also exposed
the hidden sense of sin in greedy Nishikanta, with great ingenuity. He could
173
not withstand the sight of rotten rice with its awkward smell, by the water
dropping out of the shades. Actually, bad smell & putrefaction is contacted
into his humanity. Nishikanta remembered:
ëëøͬfl¡ ¤˝◊√√¬ı˛fl¡˜ ¤fl¡È¬± ¬Û‰¬± ·g˝◊√√ Œ¸ Œ¬ÛÀ ˛øÂ√˘ ’±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡¬ı±¬ı˛º ø˙¬ı¬Û≈À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˝√√±È¬
ŒÔÀfl¡ Œ¸ øÙ¬¬ı˛øÂ√˘º Œ‰¬±À‡ ¬ÛÀάˇøÂ√˘ ˜±Àͬ¬ı˛ ˜±Á¡‡±ÀÚ ·ø˘Ó¬ ·ï ¬ı Œ√ √√
’±·À˘ ¬ıÀ¸ ’±ÀÂ√ ¤fl¡È¬± Œ‚À ˛± fl≈¡fl≈¡¬ı , ‰¬±¬ı˛ø√fl¡ ŒÔÀfl¡ ˙fl≈¡ÀÚ¬ı˛± ά◊Àάˇ ά◊Àάˇ
Œ¸˝◊√√ ˜Î¬ˇ±È¬±Àfl¡ ŒÍ¬±fl¡¬ı˛ ˜±¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬©Ü± fl¡¬ı˛ÀÂ√ , ’±¬ı˛ fl≈¡fl≈¡¬ı˛È¬± ’¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡ õ∂‰¬G
ø‰¬»fl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ é≈¬Ò±Ó«¬ ˙fl≈¡Ú&À˘±Àfl¡ Ó¬±øάˇÀ ˛ Œ¬ıάˇ±À26√ºíí14
The author has reflected the darkness of this age, of all the people and
their time in the persona of Nishikanta. It has got a new dimension through a
significant symbol. Nishikanta had lost all the sense of humanity. The author
had mocked this character through its follies and foibles. Thus Nishikanta is
exposed. Externally he is a crooked mahajan, a hoarder of looted foodgrains,
a businessman of cut-cloths and a president of union board. Always lying
within Harinam— jatha dharma, tatha jay .But he knows that irreligion is an
extra matter. Every sin will be dissolved through ‘Astaprahar kirtan at
Harisabha’. Man like Motipaul had to die to collect piles of eight hundred-
maund of grains.
That the post world war society is such a disgraceful and perverted that
is delineated in the act of companionship of Bishakha to Nishikanta. Even
Nishikanta had peumitted the relationship to the inspector. If ‘Daroga’ is
satisfied then he will be benefited undoubtedly. The lost identity of Bishakha
as sebadasi identifies the decay and devaluation of society. With this, we can
174
count this story as a testimony of social calamity. That is why a critic has said
about this story :
ë똱Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ’øÒfl¡±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ¸•Û√ ‰≈¬ø¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ ˚±¬ı˛± ˜Ú≈ ∏…QÀfl¡ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ ø¬ı¬Ûiß,
˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ é≈¬Ò±¬ı˛ ’iß fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ ’¬Û‰¬˚˛—√ø¬ıfl‘¡Ó¬ ï ø‰¬, ø¬ıfl¡˘±e, Œ˘±ˆ¬œ, ˆ¬G
˙fl≈¡Ú¸‘√˙… Œ¸˝◊√√ øÚø˙ fl¡ «fl¡±¬ı˛À√¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬ ˜˜Ó¬±˝√√œÚ ŒSï ±ÀÒ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ Œ˘‡Úœ
¤‡±ÀÚ ;À˘ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√ºíí15
A situation like famine does not come always. But when it comes it can
perish not only human beings, but to a whole country and its people. The
contemporaneous to world war-II, famine has occurred. It leads the human
beings, their families, society and communities to destruction. It was a
complex social situation. The famine of 1943 was man made and took place
as a result of the conflict between exploited, and exploiters. Its lone incident
that had shattered Bengali’s life and Bengali-ethos was epidemic. This
dreadly epidemic had surpassed the deadness of famine of 1276 B.S. in
respect of death toll. Those who survived had to beg and scramble for food
with dogs from dustbin.
The dreadfulness of famine is depicted in Narayan Gangopadhyay’s
story ‘Puskara’, included in the collection of short stories, ‘Duhshasan’ (1952).
Man is the son of Nectre, (Amrita). This pious word of Upanishad is mocked in
world war-II. That world war has created famine in Bengal is still considered
as a nightmare. The famine of 1350 B.S. after 1276’s, is memorable in the
history of mankind, when crisis had engulfed man and humanities. In the one
hand, the wrath of nature and on the other hand the faulty government-policy
175
is unthinkable at this time. Man in thousands became evicted as refugees in
1943’s famine. To get a handful of rice they had to sell their humanities.
Scarecity destroyed the nature—a few became begger and other had to sell
their bodies. Somewhere parents had to sell their children. Some had sold
their wives— this all-round decay had moved the writers of that time.
This story “Puskara” by Narayan Gangopadhyay is a remarkable story
in the perspective of epidemic and famine. This crisis was supposed to be
overcome by the Puja of Goddess Kali at crematoriam. This was done by
Balai Ghosh, who under the spell of superstitions, had persued the matter to
the representative of the doctrine of priests, Tarkaratna.
Under the perspective of rotten smell coming out of perished dead
bodies in the night of Shukla Chaturdashi and in cloud-coverd black sky, the
priest is waiting with ‘Shibabhog’, in chanting religious hymns. In the midnight,
the deity herself, with violent teeth, is taking this ‘Shibabhog’. This
superstitious fact, when was circulated, the self-satisfied Balai Ghosh, gave
many things and Rs.500 as honorarium to Tarkaratna, who solved his anxiety
with hunger. But under this false devotion to god and hypocrisy, a cruel truth
had been divulged, which was heart-rending. When Tarkaratna was moving
ahead in the night of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, his carrier was blocked. The mad
women belonging to Dom community was mistaken by Tarkaratna, as
crematoriam goddess Kali, could not digest the offered food to the deity of
luchi and meat. She had blocked the road before the carriage of Tarkaratna,
attacked by cholera. She had snatched the food offered to the deity, out of
176
hunger but could not steer clear of death. She was at pains, seeking a drop of
water with open tongue, like the godess Kali.
Though there is an acute description of dreadliness in the method of
prayer to the crematoriam goddess Kali, yet the author has deftly delineated
the picture of famine and epidemic during war. Here, the author is ruthless in
describing the beguiling and deceptive priesthood who were greedy. This
story is remarkable for its excellence though it was torn by the variety of
subject matters, descriptive qualities and acute analysis of the society.
Another story ‘Tirthayatra’, included in the collection of short stories
‘Bhanga Bandar’ (1945), is a terrific display with the perspective of femine.
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s story is remarkable for its delineation of time and
space. The gamut of these stories includes— world war-I, world war-II,
freedom movement and post independent period. The affect of world war is
extended into the human beings, foodless, clothless, homeless and begging
state of plough.
On the other hand, the people of Bengal were crying out of hunger
mourning ‘Oh food! Oh food!’ Human beings’ beastliness came to the forefront
with the human blood-greedy agents’ satiety to meet their hunger, by making
women as selling goods. The famine of 1350 B.S. has blown out the sacred
light of lamp in house to house of Bengal. The light was only radiated in the
red-light area of Calcutta city even at the time of black-outs. The food crisis
has crippled village life. A big destruction thereby has brought into the social
life of women. A critic has said in this regards :
177
ëë ‰¬A¢∂±˜ ø¬ı˛ø˘Ù¬ ˝√√±¸¬Û±Ó¬±À˘ Œ˚ ¸¬ı ≈√–¶ö Ú±¬ı˛œ Ô±Àfl¡, Œ√‡± ˚± ˛ Œ˚ Ó¬±À√¬ı˛
’øÒfl¡±—˙˝◊√√ Œ˚ÃÚ ¬ı…±øÒÀÓ¬ ’±Sï ±ôLº ˝◊√√˝√√±À√¬ı˛ ¤fl¡Ê√ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡À˘¬ı˛± ˝√√˚º Ó¬‡Ú Œ¸
˝√√ͬ±» ŒÂ“√άˇ± ˙±Î¬ˇœ¬ı˛ ’±“‰¬˘ ˝√√˝◊√√ÀÓ¬ 2 øȬ Ȭ±fl¡± ¬ı±ø˝√√¬ı˛ fl¡ø¬ı˛ ˛± Ú±¸ «Àfl¡ Œ√˚º ¤
Ȭ±fl¡± Œfl¡±Ô± ˝√√˝◊√√ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±˝◊√√˘ øÊ√:±¸± fl¡¬ı˛± ˝√√À˘ Ê√±øÚÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛± ˚±˚ ˝◊√√˝√√± Ó¬±¬ı˛
¸ôL±Ú ø¬ıSï À ˛¬ı˛ √±˜º õ∂Ô˜ ¸ôL±Ú ø¬ıSï ˚˛ Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ Œ√˝√√ ø¬ıSï ˛ ˝◊√√˝√√±˝◊√√ ≈√–¶öÀ√¬ı˛
Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ·øÓ¬ ˝√√˝◊√√ ˛± “√±Î¬ˇ±˝◊√√ ˛±ÀÂ√ºí’16
In the story Tirthayatra, too, we see that the priest has taken over the
job of agents to live by leaving their ancestral profession to meet their hunger.
In the name of tirthayatra, the women were taken to the hands of agents. The
so-called high-born Hindu, Narottam had forgotten the least human religion,
which is found in dreaded Meghna’s terrible boatman, Farid. As if, the violent
act has been spreaded over the mind of the people with the water of Meghna,
like the Kaliyanaga. That is why though the cry of women in boat entered into
ear of the priest, but without any follow up action. Though the tear-out of
Sukhi has touched him for a little moment, yet the account of Rs. 150, given to
her father, becomes greater to him. Though Narottam out of greed takes over
the job of priest to make the women as goods, yet Farid, the illiterate boatman
could not forget his mother, sister, wife and daughter-in-law. He could not
tolerate the satanic and lowness of Narottam hidden behind the face
pretending to be an honest man. Inspite of food-crisis, Farid protected and
returned the village women to their villages.
Durgapuja was celebrated during the past years in the month of
Ashwin. In every household there was happiness. But this year in the month
178
of Ashwin, is a separate one with war and famine. Everywhere there are crisis
of food. People died, out of hunger, in the streets the good lamps are
extinguished due to famine. Everywhere darkness prevails. Neither the lamp
nor the oil, not evens the people, who can light the lamp. When everyone was
about to die, then the maidens from Bengal went to the cities for survival.
Those maidens, who have not yet died, still have to light the lamp. But it is not
at the altar of basil plant, but in the brothel.
The agent Narottam wants to send the housewives of Bengal, the
grihalakshmis, to the new address of light, in brothels. Though the author has
delineated crude narrowness, violence, the lost values, crisis in human
concern, yet at the end of the story, he had made humanism and optimism
victorious.
Another consequence of world war-II was crisis in cloths. During those
days, there was not only food crisis, but also crisis of cloths to be worn. With
this perspective the story ‘Duhshasan’ was written. The author has kept the
name of the collection of short stories on the title of this story, published in
1952. It is a symbolic story, rendering of the epic’s charatcter, Mahabharata’s
Duhshasan. Though it was written on that epic’s character, it depicts the
dreadfulness of the crisis over cloths. The black-marketeers, the hoaders, and
profiteers were given birth due to the imperinilism, exploitation and mal
administration and like the vultures, which eats rotten dead bodies. These
three idols’ birth took place out of the world-war perspective. This story is a
witness to all these things.
179
Greedy Debidas, the crooked businessman, is an opportunist who
takes advantages of the crisis of cloths in the then Bengal. He is a wholesale-
dealer of cloth. Around eight to ten mobs of cloths are dependent on him. A
few days back, the things were different. If a pair is not liked, then ten pairs
were brought down. But in the war market people flocked with request having
tears in eyes for a pair of cloth. Situation became more aggravated.
Government has fixed the cloth’s rate. But it was next to impossible to sale
the cloth in the fixed rate without any profit. So the shops were under lock and
key. No return even if anyone gripped the legs of the cruel-hearted cloth
merchant like Debidas. That is why when requested for at least a cloth, from
his nephew, Gourdas, Debidas cuts across that, if the demand is met, and
then there would be a crowd. Moreover, cloths cannot be sold with more
money than the original price, because a few cases have already been filed.
At a time, a constable of an outpost, Kanai Dey, arrived at his door.
Kanai Dey is on the one hand, a constable, on the other hand, a Muhuribabu
and a watchman with a stick in his hand and a turban on his head. He has
come to Debidas to collect subscription. The inspector of Thana, Sachikanta
informed orally through the messenger, Constable Kanai Dey, to give
donation of Rs. 50 and requested him to come and enjoy the yatrapala, a
dramatic performance.Though Debidas gave him Rs. 50 with certain
unwillingness, yet he attends the show. At the evening the engulfing lights of
yatrapala are enticing. Everywhere crisis of Kerosene, villages are drenched
into darkness. Without light the life of villagers are shattered. Those poor
black peoples are the only spectators in the yatrapala.
180
The yatrapala was organized under the inspiration of Darogababu.
Famous Baikuntha Adhikari’s group has come over here in lieu of one
hundred and fifty rupees. With costly cigarettes, a fine pubjabi and with wine,
the age of Sachikanta has become lessened. As if he is in the bubbling youth.
The theme of yatra is religious. The title is ‘Duhshasaner Raktapan’. Gambling
with Duhshasan, for that Arjuna’s shameful face and the resolution to drink
the blood from Duhshasan’s chest by Bhimasen, to tie up the knotted hair of
Panchali— all these things are there and will be acted with skill in this show.
On the way to return his home after the yatra was over, Debidas saw a
sixteen year old young girl was coming :
ëë ‚±ÀȬ¬ı˛ ø√fl¡ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¤fl¡øȬ Œ ∏±Î¬ˇ œ Œ˜À˚˛ Ê√˘ øÚÀ ˛ ’±¸øÂ√ º ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ·˘±
qÀÚ˝◊√√ ø¬ı≈√…» ·øÓ¬ÀÓ¬ Â√± ˛±˚ ø˜ø˘À ˛ Œ·˘ ’±¬ı±¬ı˛ ’±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ¸Àe˝◊√√ ‰¬˜Àfl¡
ά◊ͬÀ˘± Œ√¬ıœ√±¸ ’±¬ı˛ Œ·Ã¬ı˛√±À¸¬ı˛ ‘√ø©Ü—√ Â√ Â√˘ fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊ͬÀ˘± ¬ı˛Mï √º
Œ˜À˚øȬ ¸•ÛÌ« Ú¢üº Œfl¡±ÀÚ±‡±ÀÚ ¤fl¡‡±øÚ fl¡±¬Ûάˇ ŒÚ˝◊√√— √ fl¡±¬Ûάˇ ¬Û±¬ı±¬ı˛
ά◊¬Û± ˛› ŒÚ˝◊√√º ≈À·¬ı˛ ≈√–˙±¸Ú øÚ˘«7¡¡¡ ¬Û±˙¬ı ˝√√±ÀÓ¬ ¬ı¶a √√¬ı˛Ì fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ Ó¬±¬ı˛ºíí17
The maladministration has been deftly exposed in the persona of the
characters from literary epic, Mahabharata, Draupadi’s snatching off cloths by
Duhshasan. A question occupies Gourdas’s mind if there would be any
expiatory punishment with him like Duhshasan, who had robbed off Bengal in
clothing, through bloodshed! Perhaps, there is a fear psychosis in his mind
about Bhimasen after watching the consequence of Duhshasan in the yatra,
who drinks blood by splitting Duhshasan’s chest. Perhaps this is the reason
why his face has turned pale. Sin susceptible Debidas is afraid. The author
181
has characterized Debidas as a deft psychologist. A group of people went
over the ridge of agricultural land to work in a draught-ridden land. The
sunbeam covered their identities with sickles. Debidas became afraid of
himself, without any reason. Why they are sharpening their sickles!
Narayan Gangopadhyay has delved deeply in his own belief on the
possibility of revolution and promise. The crisis in cloth along with famine, war
and crisis of food, which had otherwise made things more horrible, can be
summarized in the following reasons :
1. The mill owner has curtailed the rate of production in the name of
less profit.
2. The corruption and apathy of government’s administration.
3. The trap of black-marketeers. The black-marketeers have increased
the price of cloth by bribing the government-officials. That led to the
crisis in cloths. As a followup, an artificial crisis of cloth came to the
foreground of Bengali community’s common people.
So, the symbolic application of Duhshasan has made the story more
meaningfull. The present day Duhshasan has been the persona of corruption
and maladministration. The thing that has become truth in the feeling of the
author is that those Duhshasans have been there age after age in different
images. The actual example of this kind of people is like Debidas and
Sachikanta. They are making the society nacked by stealing of cloths
everyday. Thus, the story ‘Duhshasan’ has become a social document that sin
does not leave anybody, has been gripped by the author.
182
At the same time he has cautioned the selfish people like hoarders and
black-marketeers through this story.
From 1350 B.S. to 1354 B.S., from 1943 to 1947— these five-year is a
crisis period of Bengal as well as India. The golden Bangladesh has been
burnt in war, epidemic and femine, control and black-marketing, partition and
the humiliation of women. The stories written within the span of these five
years have been epitomized with all these. The famine ridden, war stricken
Bengal’s cry has been clearly drawn here, in these stories. The acute socially
conscious Narayan Gangopadhyay’s stories have been a representation of
such pictures.
In the socio-political scenario of Bengal, Tebhaga movement holds a
remarkable space. But what is the reason of this Tebhaga movement! It was
then the period ruled by the British. A dark age engulfed the rural life of
Bengal. The farmers’ life has become intolerable. Over the head,
maladministration loomed large. Black marketeers’, zamindars’ Mahajans’
exploitation was everywhere; with hunger, half fed, along with illiteracy,
ignorance and the superstitions— life of the rural people became horrible. But
a time came, when the farmers rose on their feet. The whole Bengal was
agitated.
This storm became acute in the North Bengal. Paddy, land, and the
new dawn have made the farmers hopefull. Years of pangs made people rose
to action. This has been turned into revolution. Almost nineteen districts of
undevided Bengal has joined in the Tebhaga-movement in season of
183
harvesting paddy-crops, in the year 1946-47. The seed of Tebhaga-
movement was sawn in Adhiyar movement.
The world war-II brought revolutionary stream not only in the political
life, but also in economic sector too. This revolutionary force has further
strengthened the bond with labour and peasant movement. After world war-I,
new organization was formed for the sake of the labour, in the name, ‘All India
Trade Union Congress’ (AITUC), which had a lasting impact upon the country
India, along with whole Bengal too. This organization took its incentives from
Russian revolution with socialist credo and Communist priorities. Naturally this
political party took the leadership in the peasants’ movement. People
irrespective of caste and religion came under the shelter of communists’
umbrella.
As a result, under the inspiration of socialist revolution in Russia, this
movement got a new dimension. It was in the last part of world war-II before
the dawn of Indian independence. With the progress of war this trade union
movement got pace. In 1947, for the interest of workers, Indian trade union
act and contra industrial act was passed. Many workers were sacked to keep
the profit for the industrialists of their own interest. As a result, discontent took
place among the industrial workers, which saw lock out one by one and got
extensive in the year 1946. This strike became more prominent with this was
added the peasants’ movement of Bengal, Tebhaga-movement came into
existence for the first time in June, 1940, by Pradeshik Krishak Sabha in
Panjia, when the mass movement was in back seat due to communal riot. The
volunteers moved from village to village with slogans, ‘Inkeelub zindabad’,
184
‘Tebhaga Chai’ etc., side by side, the movement spreadout. Peasants from
Bengal, who were exploited and tortured by the zamindar and Jotdar,
demanded two third of the crop and organized themselves. In the language of
a critic :
ëë¤Ó¬fl¡±À˘¬ı˛ ˆ¬œÓ¬ ˙øÇÓ¬ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ √˘ ’¬ı˘œ˘±Sï À˜, øÚ–˙Ç ø‰¬ÀM√√ ¤ø·À˚˛
¤˘º ëÊ√±Ú ø√¬ı Ó¬¬ı≈ Ò±Ú ø√¬ı 򱒼 ˝√√…“±, Ó¬±¬ı˛± ¬ı˛±Ê√ øMï √¬ı˛ ø˝√√—¶⁄ ’±Sï ˜ÀÌ Ê√±Ú
ø√ º Ê√±Ú ø√˘ ø˝√√µ≈, ˜≈¸˘˜±Ú, ’±ø√¬ı±¸œ, ¸±“›Ó¬±˘, ¬ı˛±Ê√¬ı—˙œ Ú±¬ıœ ›
¬Û≈ï ∏º fl‘¡¯∏fl¡ ˙ø˝√√À√¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ÀMï √ ¬ı˛ø‰¬Ó¬ ˝√√˘ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸º
¤˝◊√√ ˝√√˘ ŒÓ¬ˆ¬±·±¬ı˛ ˘Î¬ˇ±˝◊√√º ¤Ó¬ ¬ıάˇ ¸—·øͬӬ fl‘¡¯∏fl¡ ¸—¢∂±˜ ’±¬ı˛
Œfl¡±Ú›ø√Ú Œ√‡± ˚±˚øÚ ¬ı±—˘±˚ºíí18
Before that the farmers had to give half of the total rice product, and
the seeds, grains, and other costs had to be bore by the farmers themselves.
As a proest, Tebhanga-movement was started. They demanded two third of
total product and the ownership of lands. This movement grew intense in
1947 at Dinajpur, Rangpur, Jalpaiguri, Jashohar, Maldaha, Khulna,
Maymansingha, and Medinipur in the harvest-season. The Bhagchashi of
Uttarbanga, the Adhiars knew that if for once the grain goes to the custody of
the Jotdar, they will get nothing in return. So the voice raised, ‘No more rice to
Jotdars, take rice to your own granary’. Where the rice was gone to the Jotdar
it was decided that the Jotdar will be given a legal notice to return proper
portion of the rice to the farmers. Naturally, the Jotdar refused the notice.
Those Bhagchashi with the witness of ten-people devided the crops into three
whereby two parts have gone to the producers and the Jotdar was given one
185
part. Due to this, the rulling class raised to their feet, arrests in villages
follows, the women were molested. Such like tortures went on. That women,
too, plunged into this movement has been told by a critic as:
ëëŒÓ¬ˆ¬±·± ’±Àµ±˘ÀÚ¬ı˛ ά◊M√√±˘ Ó¬¬ı˛e ’ÀÚfl¡ ’:±Ó¬ fl‘¡ ∏fl¡ Ú±¬ı˛œÀfl¡ ˜¬ı˛ÌÊ√ ˛œ
¸—¢∂±À˜¬ı˛ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛±ˆ¬±À· ¤ÀÚ “√±Î¬ˇ fl¡ø¬ı˛À˚øÂ√˘º ¤˜øÚ ¬ıœ¬ı˛ Ú±¬ı˛œ øÂ√À˘Ú ‡“±¬Û≈À¬ı˛¬ı˛
˚À˙±√±¬ı˛±øÌ › Œfl¡Ã˙˘…±º Í≈¬˜øÚ ˛±¬ı˛ qfl≈¡¬ı˛‰“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¶aœº ¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı øÚ˜«˜
&ø˘¬ı ∏«Ì Ó≈¬26√ fl¡À¬ı˛ Ó“¬±¬ı˛± ¤ø·À˚ ¤À¸ÀÂ√Ú, õ∂±Ì ø√À ˛ÀÂ√Ú, øfl¡c ø¬ÛÂ≈√
˝√√ÀȬÚøÚºíí19
The movement was started in the month of December, in 1946. But it
was not a plain and smooth sail. Everywhere there were barriers. But it can be
authoritatively said, this movement has rocked the barriers of communal
feelings through class-consciousness and class-struggle. Not only the farmers
but also the middle-class peasants with the rich ones stood beside the
Bhagchashi.
The demand of the Tebhagha movement was only a little one’s
undoubtedly. But and the perspective its force and follow-up was not only an
economic one. A new renaissance, a new consciousness, a new class-
consciousness, rose within the life of the peasants as a result of long one-
decade of the movement.
But it is true that this movement did not take place in a day. At the root
was active, on the one hand, the foreign rules and the immense exploitation
and atrocities of the jotdar and on the other hand, the effort to arise the rebels
organizes them. That is why the movement, has brought the rebels free to
186
face the foreign imperialist administration a political colour. That is why in the
last analysis; the movement of Tebhaga was anti-imperialist, anti-feudalism.
The blood-stained Tebhaga by the martyrs has kept glorious heritage for the
future.
Naturally, the impact of Tebhaga-movement was terrific upon the
country and its race. Many emotional and compassionate short stories were
written upon Tebhaga-theme. The experience with that movement was direct.
That is why the tune of those short stories is true in colour. The writers from
Bengal too, took this Tebhaga theme in their creation. Those days with
Tebhaga, too became live in these short stories. The farmers’ self-sacrifice,
the battle, and their life style, and culture have become the theme of those
short stories. Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short story, ‘Banduk’ is one such
story with the perspective of Tebhaga. This story is included in the short story
collection, ‘Kalabadar’, published in the year 1355 B.S. There is a strong
protest and resistance on Tebhaga-movement which is delineated in this
story. The narrative of this story goes like this – under the leadership of
peasant leader, Rahaman, after taking rice into their own custody, invites the
owner of land to take only one third of the total rice.
Against these four exploiters— Jamindar Loknath Saha, Fazal Ali,
Brindaban Paul and Nur Rahaman, the whole peasant community rose to
their feet. Their demand is— ‘Two third of grains’. It is not their begging or
prayer; it is their demand, their due rights. Lokenath Saha, felt that the time
has changed. Yet he and more three Jotdars and Zamindars tried to console
them. But the farmers today had reached to the ultimate point of toleration
187
after suffering. Because those farmers themselves have grown these crops
bearing heat of the sun, and with wet body in rain. The owners of lands do not
understand the good and bad of the soil. So, it is not acceptable that they
themselves would take half of the total grains that the farmers have produced.
So under the leadership of Rahaman, the farmers today are indomitable.
Fazal Ali wanted to devide and rule between the united Hindus and Muslim-
community by creating communal riot with a motive to disintegrate their unity.
But Rahaman was not trapped. So, the Mahajans have appointed hired
murderer to kill Rahaman.
If the peasant who will be in the meetings beside the edge of a pond,
among them Rahaman could be choosen for an assassination. Because, the
owners of the lands understood that nothing could be gained so easily. These
people have become enraged; they have become happy over the thoughts of
victory. When the other days, they had been waiting for the gun fire of death,
the meeting under the leadership of Rahaman with a note of five words ‘Jan
Debo, Dhan Debo Na’— they uttered the slogan very strongly. The
determination, the oath, took them with that bunch of words. Here the author
has voiced this revolution through those words. The movement of change is
near. The power to exploit to suppress the people is now handed over.
Rahaman, today is empowered with ceased power. The pain and regret of the
deprived people has come out as piece by piece from the people’s broken
heart. Man is not born poor; even man is not born rich. To establish this
human endeavour is on. The craze is uttered out of the movement with the
dream of land, soil and harvest, in this story. That is why the critic has said :
188
ëë ë¬ıµ≈fl¡í ·Àä¬ı˛ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ ‘√ø©Üˆ¬øe, ¸y¬ıÓ¬, ¤˜Ú Ó¬N øÚøV«©Ü øˆ¬øM√√ˆ¬”ø˜¬ı˛
ά◊¬Û¬ı˛ “√±øάˇÀ ˛ ŒÚ˝◊√√º ’±ÀÂ√ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ ¸˜À ˛¬ı˛ ¬ı±—˘± Œ√À˙¬ı˛ ¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ¸ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛
·ˆ¬œ¬ı˛Ó¬±Àfl¡ ¬Û «À¬ıé¬À̬ı˛ Ó¬œ¬ıËÓ¬±ºíí20
In the story we can find the sense of justice and self respect, it is the
history of awakening of peasant-consciousness, their agitation and
helplessness. The protest to save their produced crops had taken an
extensive shape, which was penned in this story. Actually, the total product
was the demand of the peasants. Yet, they do not want to deprive the land
owners. That is why they have no objection to give them one third of the total
product, in the name of religion. But they do not want to carry these grains
themselves. The so called owner of the lands could carry these by themselves
or by any other men. The mass movement had inspired the common men, in
with class consciousness. The story delineates the process of uprising by the
common people. That even a bad character and anti-social element could be
ambibed into social revolution, is shown in the character of Raghunath. Not by
an individual, but by awakening collectively a class-conflict can be
succesfull— this theory is shown in this story.
‘Bhanga Chashma’, is another significant story from the short-story
collection, ‘Duhshasan’, published in 1952, written with the perspective of
world war-II. The world war-II, famine and the movement of 42’s have
snatched the people’s foothold from their roots. The mainstream of Bengali
short stories has then become rich with these changes. The story was based
upon post world war-II perspective. People from villages rushed to the cities
due to the famine and epidemic after the world war-II. But these could be
189
averted. This plight was thrashed upon due to the administration and Jotdar
that made the country a crematorium. If action could be taken in time, then the
premature death of lakhs of people could be averted. The government’s relief,
that is why, seemed to the writer a farce. The mind becomes full of humiliation
and protest. The writer himself experienced this. Here in this story as if the
writer is a satirist, with his sharp flogging, proud faces of civilization and
education becomes pale.
The control system of foods, the profiteering hoarders, the black-
marketeers created the corrupted, polluted society. It lays impact upon the
education system and the educative live’s ideology and the moral-sense. The
writer has shown this with utter sympathy upon the life of the teachers, with
their ideology and moral sensibility. The author has expressed the uncertainty
and destructive forces over the activities of teachers, into the persona of the
central character of the story. The story is narrated in the first person. The
hero is a successful student, an M.A., who has got first class. But though he
had secured good marks, yet he did not get any job. To maintain his livelihood
he does a job in the subarb with the salary of Rs. 60/- per month. Added to it,
he takes two tuitions each with Rs. 20/-. He had to succumb in the war-torn
market to run his family. But with this Rs. 100/- total, he feels at every moment
that he can’t run his family in a healthy way. War has extended its selfish
hand everywhere. People have become victim to this. That is why, he felt
better to take the charge to give relief-work from village to village as a grade-
officer of Sub-Deputy, rather than the noble profession to build the future
citizens. Though he did not want to serve the job as a Hakim along with a
190
school teachership, yet he could not leave it as there were pecuniary benefits
in that job. He had to run through his bicycle to discharge the relief woks from
camp to camp. Moreover he had to select the needy people, requiring relief-
measures. For this work, he is respected by many people. That is why this job
got the better one than the job as a school teacher. But in his mind he could
realize that it is not an easy task to become a Hakim. Yet he is engrossed in
the job of a Hakim which fetches him pride. He, with the reverence that she
got from the common people becomes like a tiger who has tasted human-
blood. In his mind, he thinks that now, he has become able to earn the reward
that he was supposed to get with a first class M.A. degree. But, sometimes,
he is struck with a nostalzia due to the bore-dom of this work. In weaker
moments his mind reminds him about the ethics of a school teacher, he thinks
himself as a clown. Though he is struck with consciousness yet he becomes
habituated with the current job. Though in a boring and tired atmosphere, in
happiness and sorrow the extra income brought him certain kind of
satisfaction.
When he was enjoying the designation of a Hakim, he met one head
master, who had worn a torn longcloth-Panjabi. He was black and white
beared up to his chest. He had a broken spectacle upon his eyesight. The
gentleman is not normal, red-eyes with reckless glance, is supposed to take a
look at the school that he had made to educate the pupils. But soon, famine
took place and a number of pupils died out of hunger, and a few fled to the
city in the hope of getting food. Today, half of the school building has been
broken. But the priest of education, that headmaster, does not believe that his
191
students are no more. That is why, the devout of education is still teaching his
students English, in a loud voice. And soon the Hakim flew away stealthily.
There is a crisis of conscience within the heart of the central character. This
guilt-feeling is recognized by himself :
ëëŒ˚Ú Œ‰¬±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ¬Û±ø˘À˚ ˚±ø26√ ’±ø˜º ˜ÀÚ ˝√√˘ ø¬ı√…±¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ Ó¬œÀÔ« ’±˜±¬ı˛
Ô±fl¡¬ı±¬ı˛ ’øÒfl¡±¬ı˛ ŒÚ˝◊√√— √ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ŒÂ“√± ˛±ÀÓ¬› ¤‡±Úfl¡±¬ı˛ ¸¬ı øfl¡Â≈√ qø‰¬Ó¬±
˜ø˘Ú ˝√√À˚ ˚±À¬ıº ’±ø˜ ¬ıËÓ¬‰≈¬…Ó¬, Œ˘±ˆ¬œ, ¶§±Ô«¬Û¬ı˛ºíí21
The central theme of the story ‘Bhanga Chashma’ is the decay of
educational system and the fall of ideology due to the exploitation and
maladministration caused by imperialism of the world war-II. The world war-II
had struck our education system and bound our citizens to rush to cities for
bread and butter. Due to famine that brought hopelessness and anarchy into
the schools, which were lacking in number of students, that too, motivated a
few teachers to come out of their ideology. That was caught by the writer in a
befitting manner to us. In fact, famine was caused by the war. That is why this
manvantar was maha-manvantar. Before that Bangladesh has experienced
manvantar. But the range of later famine of 1350 B.S., was man made, that
reduced man to inhuman concern. No such destruction took place like this
famine. So, of this famine a critic has said :
ëë˜i§ôLÀ¬ı˛ ˝√√±Ê√±¬ı˛ ˝√√±Ê√±¬ı˛ ˜±Ú≈ ∏ ¬ı±d‰≈¬…Ó¬ ˝√√˘º ¶§Ê√Ú ˝√√±¬ı˛±À˘±º ˝√√±¬ı˛±˘
ÚœøÓ¬À¬ı±Ò › Ú≈…ÚÓ¬˜ ˜±Ú ˜ «±√±º............ ¤˝◊√√ ≈√øˆ¬«Àé¬ ¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ›
¸˜±Ê√Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ ŒÚÀ˜ ¤À¸øÂ√˘ õ∂¬ı˘ ’øˆ¬‚±Ó¬ºíí22
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In ‘The Statesman’ of 12th August of 1943, a naked picture of a dead
mother and her child was published, the title of which was ‘Bengal Foodless’.
People rushed to the cities only to get a little food. In the hope of getting a
little rice, they stood in queue in front of the control for twenty four hours to get
a little rice. A few succeeded and a few died. Row of dead bodies was fallen
in the road. That the broken economy of the villages will affect the education
system is natural. One who is a real teacher, whose myopic vision with his
spectacle, describes the right values. With this he can point out the crisis in
values that has engulfed the other teachers. This story is character-based,
upon society, time and psychological. With the perspective of psycho analysis
he has depicted the corruption, rampant in society and its decay, its history.
Along with the war and the famine, there is communal riot, disdain that
has made environment more poisonous. One such bitter experience of a
communal disdain, could be viewed in the story, ‘Ustad Mehera Khan’, from
the collection of short stories ‘Kalabadar’. The musical qualities of a family
friend went under the shadow of hatred against Muslim religion. This story
was written upon 1946’s communal riots. How a communal riot, could lead a
man into a loss of conscience, is described deftly in the story. This story is
revolved around the axis of an expert musician. He was not an ignoble artist.
He was an ustad in great demeanor. The father of Shankar, Jagannath
Choudhury, was a good judge of music, which led Mehera Khan to bring him
in his own house fifteen years ago. Immediately after that, during the riot
between Hindus and Muslims in pre-independent period, days became
changed. Chaotic moments loomed large everywhere. Though, Mehera Khan
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could sense the pain that change is inevitable in culture and music, as he is
standing in modern times. The author has portrayed that in a befitting manner:
ëëfl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬± ˛ øfl¡Â√≈ø√Ú ÒÀ¬ı˛ ◊√√ ¸¬ı«Ú±˙± √±e± qï ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ ø˝√√µ≈ ˜≈ ˘˜±ÀÚ¬ı˛º
õ∂±¸±√¬Û≈¬ı˛œ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬±, ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡ fl¡˘fl¡±Ó¬± ¬ı˛+¬Û±ôLø¬ı˛Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ ¸≈µ¬ı˛¬ıÀÚº Ó¬±¬ı˛
¬ÛÀÔ ¬ÛÀÔ ¤‡Ú ø˝√√—¶⁄ Ê√±ÀÚ± ˛±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ é≈¬øÒÓ¬ ¬Û√¸=±¬ı˛ºíí23
After the death of Jagannath Choudhury the attitude towards the
modern song of his son, Shankar, had been observed by the old expert
Ustadji, Mehera Khan, who had been feeling pangs over the loneliness. Yet
within this too, he had been living with his ideals as an ordinary, common
man’s life style in utter most mental agony. He led his life jingling on the
strings of sitar, because it was his heart. But after that, communal riot has
changed everything. Faithlessness, mistrust, took lead role in the society. The
reflection of communal riots was witnessed by Kolkata too. That Ustadji who
had been revered by everybody in obeying manner, felt changed when
neigbouring boys, cautioned him over the identity of Mehera Khan, then in the
music-devotee they saw a factious community in him. Mehera Khan is nobody
but a Muslim only, as if becoming a Muslim is his sole crime. If any clash
occurs, in the name of communal identity, if Ustadji becomes communal
hostile, like the Bibhishan! These unfounded thoughts have engulfed Shankar
and his conscience. This feeling he had divulged to his wife, Rama. But Rama
did not adhere to it. If he did not say anything about his feelings on Ustadji he
could be saved, but after telling it to his wife, Rama, she got enraged.
Everywhere the awakward situation, poisonous environment, raised doubt in
194
his mind on Ustadji. His wife is a devotee to Ustadji; she had a great respect
on him and his Sangeet Gharana.
But due to the communal riot, the caution by the boys of the locality—
‘Bibhishan is in your house’, has add fuel to the fire. Gradually Shankar was
becoming a changed person— Ustadji is not a genious, he is only a Muslim
that is why he could not be trusted. Shankar is suffering out of the crisis of
suspicion. That is why when Shankar knocked at the front door of Ustadji’s
home; someone seemed to have fled though the back-door. Opening the door
Ustadji did not divulge the name. He is truth-bouned; the doubtful mind of
Shankar could not recognize his own man. He snatched the belongings and
shelter of Ustadji calling him a traitor. Communal riots not only alienated each
others community, it has made the human brutes. That Shankar told Ustadji to
go out of his home is the best example of it. Shankar could turn him out in the
name of poisonous communal riot.
In the following morning Ustadji could not be seen anywhere. He had to
go out of his home with his only resort, a Tanpura. When he was in search of
Shankar’s, house, hungry, tired and blur-visioned— two men stretched him
into a narrow dark-street to assassinate him. Ustadji was killed in the hands of
Hindus. A genious singer Mehera Khan’s life was thus put in an end, in
Calcutta’s maddened communal riot. Human concern was, thus defeated in
the hands of cruel animalistic instinct, Mehera Khan, the great genious was
killed ruthlessly, who is neither Hindu, nor a Muslim, nor a Christian, who is
only an Artist.
195
Religious fundamentalism brings communal thinking. Sometimes, it
becomes a bloody gore incident that brings communal riots. Dogmatism in
one’s own religious belief and renunciation over another religion is the
meaning of religious fanaticisam. Though, religion has nothing to do with any
community. Yet casteism is always associated with fanaticism. Fanaticism is
not a part of religion. But how fanaticism could take a gory shape, could be
viewed in the communal riot of 1946. Of such antagonism, we can quote from
Rabindranath Tagore :
ë븘±ÀÊ√ ÒÀ˜« ˆ¬± ∏± ˛ ’±‰¬±À¬ı˛ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ø¬ıˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ’ôL ÀÚ˝◊√√º ¤˝◊√√ ø¬ı√œÌ«Ó¬±
’±˜±À√¬ı ¬ı˛±ø©Ü™fl¡ ¸•Û”Ì«Ó¬±¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ¬ı˛±Òœ , øfl¡c Ó¬±¬ı˛ Œ‰¬À ˛ ’qÀˆ¬¬ı˛ fl¡±¬ı˛Ì ¤˝◊√√ Œ˚
¤˝◊√√ ø¬ıÀ26√À√ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛ ˜Ú≈ ∏…Q¸±ÒÚ±¬ı˛ ¬ı…±‚±Ó¬ ‚øȬÀ ˛ÀÂ√º ˜±Ú≈À¯∏ ˜±Ú≈À¯∏
fl¡±Â√±fl¡±øÂ√ ¬ı±¸ fl¡À¬ı˛ Ó¬¬ı≈ øfl¡Â≈√ÀÓ¬ ˜ÀÚ¬ı ø˜˘ ˝√√ ˛ Ú±, fl¡±ÀÊ√¬ı˛ Œ˚±· Ô±Àfl¡ Ú±,
õ∂ÀÓ¬…fl¡ ¬ÛÀ√ ˜±¬ı˛±˜±ø¬ı˛ fl¡±È¬±fl¡±øȬ Œ¬ıÀÒ ˚± ˛— √ ¤È¬± ¬ı¬ı«¬ı˛Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˘é¬Ìºíí24
Man’s primitive instincts, naked violence could be viewed in such riots.
People lost all sense of human values. They have been reduced to creatures
and animals. Sometimes they have crossed the natural instincts that could be
viewed in an animal. Civilization’s finer feelings and sensibilities had been
wiped away. In the name of religion, by imbibing communal clashes, that has
been searched out by those, now trying to snatch profits. These things have
been deftly delineated into the hands of those writers.
Many bright short stories have been written in this line. Samaresh
Basu’s ‘Adab’ was published in 1946 and Ramesh Chandra Sen’s ‘Sada
Ghora’ in 1947. These stories were written, not only as a protest but these are
196
also manifestation of self analysis. How, the communal riots make the life
terrible; can be assessed through the story, ‘Izzat’, included in the collection of
short story ‘Kalabadar’, published in 1355 B.S., by Narayan Gangopadhyay.
The story is written with the perspective of riots; it is a unique example of
artistry and its aesthetic values. In a small town where illiteracy and the peace
of ignorance prevail, brings communal feelings. People are under the spell of
the world war, could not believe who is behind these communal riots! The
assassins, the self-seeking persons who were hidden inside the masks
among their own people, were not unveiled till then. They were dreadful
enemies of humanity. That is why they have been engaged in the haunting
against each other. The selfish people create riots to fullfil their own interest.
About this a critic has said :
ëë1926 ¸±À˘ ¬Û“ ˛øS˙øȬ ø˝√√µ≈-˜≈ ˘˜±Ú √±e± ˝√√ ˛º ¤˝◊√√ ¬ıÂ√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ÚÀˆ¬•§¬ı˛ ˜±À¸
Œ√À˙ ¸±Ò±¬ı˛Ì øÚ¬ı«±‰¬Ú ’Ú≈øá¬Ó¬ ˝√√À˚˛øÂ√˘º øÚ¬ı«±‰¬ÀÚ Œˆ¬±È¬ ’±√±˚˛ fl¡¬ı˛¬ı±¬ı˛ Ê√Ú…
¸±•x√±ø˚˛fl¡Ó¬±Àfl¡ ¬ı±øάˇÀ˚˛ Œ√› ˛± ˝√√˚˛ºíí25
The wave of communalism engulfed the then Bangladesh and its
villages too, like infectious disceases. Such is a village, where the tomb of a
Fakir and Dakate Kalir Than, remained co-existed peacefully like neighbours.
Even people then lost their sense of judgement. The clash with religion did not
gain upperhand. But the destructive force of riot, thrashed upon here too. That
is why a Moulabi performed ‘Waaz’ crossing a mile of distance, in a
Madrassa. Then and then the Muslim people got enraged. The worst rowdy
and desperate young, Dhala Mantai of the Muslim lane came to Jagannath,
the Brahmin of Hindu-namahasudra, that he is prohibited to perform the rites
197
of Kalipuja at the Dakate Kalir Than. Their Muslim religion will be disturbed
with the beatings of Dhak and Dhol. But Jagannath Thakur and his troops
were not behind. Like the people belonging to the upper class, religion is not
only an ornament to them. It is almost like a pride to them. So, preparation
was going on to keep ‘Manat’. (Offerings) to the goddess Kali, with a built in
clay idol in the coming lunar-day of the new moon (Amabasya), on the other
hand, sharpening of sickles, spade, knife went in full swing. The Hindus called
aloud ‘Jay Kalimaikir Jay’. On the other hand, it echoed as ‘Allah Ho Akbar’ by
the Muslim. Not only this, to run court cases, Dhala Montai inspired the troop
of Mantai, encouraged by Habib Mian. Because, as one and half bigha-land
was encroached from Jagannath Thakur, he inspired Dhola Montai. That is
why he said :
ëë¤Àfl¡˝◊√√ ¬ıÀ˘ ¸±¬Û› ˜¬ı˛ , ˘±øͬ› ˆ¬±„√√À˘± Ú±º ˆ¬±ø·…¸ Œ˜Ã˘¬ıœ ¸±À˝√√¬ı ¤À¸
Œ¸ø√Ú ›˝◊√√ ¬ı˛fl¡˜ ·¬ı˛ ·¬ı˛ ¬ı≈ø˘ qøÚÀ ˛ Œ·À˘Ú, Ú˝◊√√À˘ øfl¡ ¤˜Ú ¸≈À˚±·
ø˜˘Ó¬ Œfl¡±Úø√ÚØ√√ ˜ÀÚ ˜ÀÚ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ø¬ÛÀͬ ˝√√±Ó¬ ¬ı≈ø˘À ˛ ø√À˘Ú ˝√√±ø¬ı¬ı ø˜¤û±,
Ó¬±ø¬ı˛Ù¬ fl¡¬ı˛À˘Ú øÚÀÊ√Àfl¡º ¸fl¡˘Àfl¡ Œ˘ø˘À ˛ ø√À˚˛ øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ¶§±Ô« ά◊X±¬ı˛ fl¡¬ı˛±¬ı˛
‰¬±˝◊√√ÀÓ¬ ¬ı≈øX˜±ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±Ê√ ¸—¸±À¬ı˛ ’±¬ı˛ fl¡œ ’±ÀÂ√ºíí26
But when Dholai, prayed to Habib to protect the shame of his family
with a pair of cloth, he was denied, he will not get it without thirty two rupees.
Man could be used in the name of religion, in the name of class-conflict they
can be used in the riots. But Habib does not want to pay for the clothings for
women. So when man remains half-fed, be unavailable of any clothings,
though there are grains in the field, even Dhola Montai, does not get
clothings, being the weapon-like man of Habib Mian and with these both the
198
communities’ people conceived to kill Habib. Both of them understood who is
behind this communal riot.
But always people like Habib is saved due to the self-sacrifice of the
common man. As the wife of Habib Mian died, she was veiled with a beautiful
coloured sharee and a milky-white bedsheet. They have witnessed this in
clean day light. But due to that unavoidable circumstances both the contestent
unearth the grave at mid-night to steal the cloth.
But Habib Mian and his men had grabbed them. Habib discovered that
two of them were Dhola Montai and Jagannath. Nobody could kill them, as the
gang got stunned to look at the understanding of Kali and Fakir, which is the
understanding between Hindus and the Muslims.
Infact fanaticism comes in human life from two ways— one is
dogmatism and superstition and another is severe caste-enimity, which brings
terrific communal riots. The main criminal of fratricidal riot which is also known
as ‘Great Calcutta Killing’ of 1946, was Sahid Surabordi. To the Bengali
people that time was very essential and heart-rending. That is why, against
communal riot, narrowness of mind like communalism, many wonderful short
stories were written on that period.
‘Abad’ by Narayan Gangapadhyay, was based upon communal riots.
Actually, a few narrow-minded, selfish people remain behind the communal
riots.
Here in this context, a Muslim or a Hindu has a little role to play. Yet
the innocent, common people become the victims of this kind of clashes.They
199
loose faith and respect to each other, the relationship among them breakes
for ever. We can cite the written remark of a critic :
ëë¬ı±„√√˘±˚˛ ø˝√√µ≈-˜≈ ˘˜±Ú ¸•Ûfl«¡ Œ˚ ’±Ê√› ¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡ ˝√√ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛ Ú±, Ó¬±¬ı˛
¤fl¡øȬ õ∂Ò±Ú fl¡±¬ı˛Ì› ˝√√À26√ ¤˝◊√√ ¬ÛÀ¬ı«¬ı˛ √±e±º õ∂Ó¬…é¬ ¬ı± ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛±é¬ˆ¬±À¬ı ¤˝◊√√
√±e±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛+¬Û “±¬ı˛± Œ√À‡ÀÂ√Ú, ˆ¬≈ ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú Ú± Ó“¬±¬ı˛± Œ¸˝◊√√ ø¬ıˆ¬œø ∏fl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡Ô± ,
¬Û±¬ı˛¶Ûø¬ı˛fl¡ ¸Àµ˝√√-’ø¬ıï ´±¸, õ∂¬ı=Ú±¬ı˛ Œ¬ı±Ò, ø˝√√—¸±¬ı˛ ά◊¢∂ õ∂fl¡±˙—¸˝√√ÀÊ√
˜≈ÀÂ√ ˚±¬ı±¬ı˛ Ú ˛ Œ¸˝◊√√ ¬ı ¶ú‘øÓ¬º ¸±•x√±ø ˛fl¡ ˜±Úø¸fl¡Ó¬±˚ ’±Ê√› ’±fl¡œÌ« Ó¬±˝◊√√
¤˝◊√√ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ºíí27
The authors, though the short stories, has tried to say that religion has
nothing to do with this fundamentalism, caste-system etc. Religion saves
mankind. It does not stir up people to the face of violence. Caste-distinction is
the creation of human beings. Behind communal feelings, there are black
hands of imperialist. A few opportunist people are the gainers in these
activities of clashes between man to man. The writers have prayed to the
readers of their good clairvoyance. People, yet can make choice between
good and evil. May the people unitedly overcome all the misunderstanding
between them and can recognize their real enemy.
After the fratricidal riots, there came rebuted independence. India has
embraced people from various communities from all over the world, ever
since the beginning. But with disdain over Muslim, their dissatisfaction, such
as with financial crisis, education, lack of job opportunities, loose of security
and religious individualism—by connecting all these, Lord Mountbatten has
devided India into two, taking the advantage of the two political parties,
200
Congress and Muslim league. In the year 1946 on 9th June, Muslim league
council and in 14th June, Congress working committee passed resolution in
favour of partition. We have come to know, age by age many people
belonging to different race have come to India and India has cordially
accepted them. They unitedly created the main concourse of Indian people.
But it was not so in cases of Islamic religion. India is neither only for the
Hindus nor for the Muslims. It is the land for every community- this truth could
not be justified to the people and society with requisite logic and passion. Not
that that work was not tried for earlier. Many have tried their best for that work
from the core of their heart. Before they had united, the British has colonized
India. The rulers instigated the people to bring-forth rift among both the
community and acting upon this. And at last depending on these disbelief and
intolerance India was bisected. That is why, thogh it was the partition of a
territory, but actually it was the pathetic story of separation among the mind of
common people. A new nation emerged whose name was Pakistan. India too,
got independence. In the constitution the name was written as Bharat, India.
But partition did not take place in a plain and smooth sail. A critic has said in
this regards:
ë붧±ÒœÚÓ¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe Œ√ ø¬ıˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ’e±eœ ¸•Ûfl«¡ Ô±fl¡À˘› ¬Û±øfl¡ô¶±ÀÚ¬ı˛
¸‘ø©ÜÀfl¡ Œfl¡±Ú ’±fl¡ø¶úfl¡ ‚Ȭڱ ¬ıÀ˘ ˜ÀÚ fl¡¬ı˛±¬ı˛ Œ˝√√Ó≈¬ ŒÚ˝◊√√º ¤ ¤fl¡ ¬ıUø√ÀÚ¬ı˛
¸ø=Ó¬ ’±fl¡±„ƒ√√鬱 ¤¬ı— √œ‚«õ∂ ˛±À¸¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ÌøÓ¬ºíí28
Naturally after partition, there was exodus. The Border States in east
and south of India became restless to control the expatriates. The socio-
201
economic situation went on under pressure due to partition. In Bengali
vocabulary two words were added—‘Udbastu’ and ‘Bastuhara’. The brief form
of refugee was ‘Rifu’. After partition Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in India
became anxiety-driven. Denying economic security both communities
escaped to save their lives. The Muslim tried to go Pakistan and the Hindus in
India.
Those who had been evicted and coming over here, their future had
been uncertain, and those who had been living here, their future too, had
become endangered. These uncontrolled streams of exodus had played a
major role in the socio-economic condition of the Bengali community. Here the
people’s fate, which had been rootless, due to partition, has been put behind
a barrier. Rural people are coming to the cities leaving behind their age-old
customs and rituals, have been fallen into meaningless existence. People
became self-centred, devoid of any moral value. They have become the entity
without any onus in social life. In total, it is the problem of modern human
civilization. People, here could never welcome them. On the other hand the
unwanted, rootless people could not embrace this land. In this context a critic
has said :
ëëõ∂Ó¬…é¬ ’±Sï ˜À̬ı˛ ’±‚±Ó¬ “±¬ı˛± ¸˝√√… fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√Ú, ø˝√√—¸±, ˝√√Ó¬…± ’±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛Mï √¬Û±Ó¬
“±¬ı˛± Œ‰¬±À‡ Œ√À‡ÀÂ√Ú Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¶ú‘øÓ¬¬ı˛ ·Í¬Ú¬ı˛+¬Û øfl¡c ’Ú…¬ı˛fl¡À˜¬ı˛º ø˝√√—¸±¬ı˛
õ∂¸e Ó“¬±À√¬ı˛ ¶ú‘øÓ¬ÀÓ¬ ¤˜Úˆ¬±À¬ı ’±À¸ Œ˚, ˜ÀÚ ˝√√ ˛, Œ√˙ˆ¬±·Àfl¡ Ó“¬±¬ı˛± ¤fl¡øȬ
¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ‚Ȭڱ ø˝√√¸±À¬ı Œ√‡ÀÂ√Ú Ú± , Œ√ ˆ¬±· ˝√√À˘± Ó“¬±À√¬ı fl¡±ÀÂ√ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛
˝√√±ÀÓ¬ ˜±Ú≈À¯∏¬ı˛ ˝√√Ó¬…±, øÚ «±Ó¬Ú ’±¬ı˛ ’¬Û˜±ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±ø˝√√Úœº Œ√˙ˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ ’±‡…±ÀÚ
202
¤Ó¬ ˚La̱, ¤Ó¬ fl¡±iß± Œ˚ Ê√˜±È¬ Œ¬ı“ÀÒ ’±ÀÂ√, Ó¬±¬ı˛ õ∂Ò±Ú fl¡±¬ı˛Ì ŒÓ¬± ¤˝◊√√ Œ˚,
¤˝◊√√ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸ ¸—ø˘5 ˝√√À ˛ ’±ÀÂ√ ø˝√√—¸±, ˝√√Ó¬…± ’±¬ı˛ Ú±¬ı˛œÒ ∏«À̬ı˛ ¬ı˛ÀMï √ºíí29
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s story ‘Adhikar; included in the short story-
collection ‘Svet Kamal’, published in 1361 B.S., is one of such examples. In
this story, we see that evicted, rootless people became united and possessed
bushy lands. Not only that, they have protested, they also raised barricade
against the greedy Jotdars. One and half thousand evicted people, belonging
to three hundred camps have grown golden harvest in those dead barren
lands. Before that they had to toil hard to drive Chandrabora (Raussell’s
Viper) and pigs, to raise golden harvest over mise after mise there. No private
ownership was given there. It was the act of a co-operative society, the
harvest of combined attributive labour, a kind of socialist venture, on part of
those people in exodus. But the Jotdar, Jatin and Anukul, wanted to drive
those camps out by instigating the hilly folks against the plains. From
Himangshu Som, they have come to know that yesterday-night; the people of
Jotedars came to set fire to the Gaibandha Camp. That is why, Himansu Som
told to jotdar that those lands were never cultivated, it was a waste land
before, they have grown harvest through requisition. Why they are in
jealousey, because those Babla and Shan forests could yield nothing before
their arrival.
Thousands of people came in exodus from Dhaka, Rangpur, Pabna,
Netrakona, towards the North. The light of lamps was dancing every where in
the field. People were flowing rapidely with exultation. They are now
203
determined to take possession of their own land where they have grown crops
by dint of hard labour. In the words of the author :
ë뛬ı˛± Œ¸˝◊√√ ¸±Ó¬˙ ¤fl¡¬ı˛ ¬ÛøÓ¬Ó¬ Ê√ø˜¬ı˛ √‡˘ øÚÀÓ¬ ‰¬À˘ÀÂ√....º ¬∏C±"√√¬ı˛ øÚÀ˚˛
¬ı˛±Ó¬±¬ı˛±øÓ¬ ‰¬± ∏ qï fl¡¬ı˛À¬ı-- øÚÀÊ√À√¬ı˛ ‚À¬ı˛ Œ¬ıάˇ± Œˆ¬À„√√ Œˆ¬±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ’±À·
¬Û=±˙ ‚¬ı˛ ‰¬±˘± Ó≈¬À˘ Œ√À¬ıº........ ›À√¬ı˛ ˝√√±ÀÓ¬ ˘±øͬ ’±ÀÂ√, fl¡±Àô¶ ’±ÀÂ√º
˝√√±¸≈ ˛±› øÚÀ˚˛ÀÂ√ Œfl¡Î¬◊ Œfl¡Î¬◊º....Ú¬ı±Ài߬ı˛ ·Àg ˜±Ó¬±˘ ˝√√À ˛ ›¬ı˛± ŒÚÀ˜
¬ÛÀάˇÀÂ√√√—√ ¬Û‘øÔ¬ıœ¬ı˛ Œfl¡Î¬◊ ›À√¬ı ŒÍ¬fl¡±ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ıÀ¬ı Ú±ºíí30
They are determined to light the lamp by steering, clearing the
darkness like the force of flood water. This had given them a ray of hope. But
due to the rift between Hindus and Muslims, the normal behavior to each
other was lost. On another occasion a critic has said :
ëë¬Û¬ı˛±ÒœÚ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ı ∏«Àfl¡ ≈√ÀȬ± ’qˆ¬ ˙øMï √¬ı˛ ø¬ıï ÀX ¤fl¡˝◊√√¸Àe ˘Î¬ˇ±˝◊√√ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬
˝√√À ˛øÂ√ — √ ¸±•⁄±Ê√…¬ı±√ › ¸±•x√±ø ˛fl¡Ó¬±º fi¬ÛøÚÀ¬ıø˙fl¡ ˙±¸ÀÚ¬ı˛ ’¬ı¸±ÀÚ
¸±•⁄±Ê√…¬ı±À√¬ı˛ ’±é¬ø¬ı˛fl¡ øÚ¬ı˛ Ú ‚ÀȬøÂ√˘ øͬfl¡˝◊√√, øfl¡c ¸±•x√±ø ˛fl¡Ó¬± Ó¬±¬ı˛
ø¬ı ∏¬ı±¶Û ¤˜Úˆ¬±À¬ı Â√øάˇÀ˚ ø·À ˛øÂ√˘ Œ˚ Œ√˙ˆ¬±À·¬ı˛ õ∂±flƒ¡- ≈ √√”ÀÓ«¬
¸±•x√±ø˚˛fl¡ √±e±, Ò˜«œ˚˛ ά◊ijM√√Ó¬±, ¬ı˛Mï √¬Û±Ó¬, ·Ì˝√√Ó¬…± ¤˝◊√√ ά◊¬Û˜˝√√±À√À˙¬ı˛
¬ı˛±Ê√ÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ ’±fl¡±À˙ ≈√À «±À·¬ı˛ fl¡±À˘± Œ˜À‚¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ’±ø¬ıˆ¬«”Ó¬ ˝√√À ˛øÂ√˘ ¤¬ı—
¤‡±Úfl¡±¬ı˛ Ê√ÚÊ√œ¬ıÚÀfl¡ Ó¬Â√ÚÂ√ fl¡À¬ı˛ ø√À ˛øÂ√˘ºíí31
We have got our desired Independence, but with partition and rebuted
Bengal. India became a secular state. Though India has welcomed thousands
of Muslims but the Hindus had to fly away from East Bengal and came to
India to save their lives.
204
Those rootless people, who have come to the streets of Calcutta, on
the platform of Shialdaha, have been nurturing the wound of famine and
communal riots. Two short stries written in this perspective were, ‘Titir’ (1960),
included in the short story collection ‘Shubhakshan’ and the story ‘Simante’,
included in the collection of short stories ‘Ghurni. In the story Titir, we see that
two persons belonging to the same village, Julfikar and Shukhalal. But Julfikar
and Shukhalal are the two citizens of two different countries today .The
growth of communal feelings are there within them, though they have dwelled
together for a long time in a same village. Standing in the midst of two-
countries, they went down memory lane of the bygone days. They could not
wipe out the tainted memory of communal clashes. They are now citizens of
two countries. They can not be united again if desired to meet because there
are fencing of barbed wire on the Border. The stories written by Narayan
Gangopadhyay on partition and expatriate dealt with the pictures of that time.
After that, a new historical movement set out. In 1952, liberation
struggle over the language movement took place to make their mother
tongue, Bengali, the State language in Bangladesh. Many laid their lives at
that time by the bullet of the rulers. This has been narrated in the story,
‘Natungan’, included in the collection of short stories, ‘Gandharaj’, published
in 1955.
The character of this story, Raymashay, is the owner of a boat of
ornaments. There is utterance of Swadeshi-movement, partition in
Raymashay’s self-speech. He, like others, could not leave his motherland,
Bangladesh to take shelter at Hindustan. Once, who was a Sanskrit
205
language’s pandit, used to delight the passengers of the boat by chanting
Sanskrit slokas, but at once time has been altered. So, once a Moulabi
dictated him to sing Urdu-Persi gazals, Pandit-mashay started learning Urdu
and Persi. Though initially he faced problem, but ultimately he could cope with
it.
Language-movement started a new strike followed. The students from
colleges, uttered slogan— ‘Bangla is our language, Banglabhasha Jindabad’,
looking at the students’ agitation, it seemed to be that there had been started
an era of Swadeshi-movement. Now, they felt ashamed that so long they had
been forgetting their own mother tongue. From the chaotic situation
Raymashay tried to fly away by a boat. The passengers of the boat wanted to
enjoy new songs. Moreover, Chota-abu of Mian-bari, too, wanted to hear the
Bengali’s own songs. They themselves came to sing Bengali songs in support
of Bengali language. Raymashay, himself gave voice above everyone. News
from everywhere about procession, bloody riots were coming. At evening the
boat of ornaments set sails towards Sahib-Ghat. Raymashay came to be
informed that there were firings on the students and agitators by the police.
He became astonished with the news :
ëë˜≈ ˘˜±ÚÀ√¬ı˛ ›¬Û¬ı˛ &ø˘ ‰¬±ø˘À˚ÀÂ√ ¬Û≈ø˘˙/√√ ¬ı˛±˚˜˙±˚ ˝√√“± fl¡À¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ ◊√√˘
øfl¡Â≈√é¬Ìº.......¬Û±øfl¡ô¶±Ú ≈ ˘˜±ÚÀ√¬ı˛ ›¬Û¬ı˛ &ø˘ ‰¬±˘±À26√ ¬Û≈ø˘À¸∑ ¤› øfl¡
ø¬ıï ´±¸ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬˝√√À¬ı∑íí32
This story was written under the perspective of the language-
movement of East Bengal. Every one from every strata of society right from
206
college students to the owner of boat of ornaments took part in this
movement. The passion over language-movement has been carried in the
story.
In this way the contemporary time has been caught in these short
stories by Narayan Gangopadhyay. The final end of these stories has been
dealt with the language of protest. He thought that this type of lashing ending
is significant and it has too, a kind of connection to social onus. But it is
natural to him who is a social-conscious, time- conscious writer. He is a
socially conscious artist of his time. In his stories we find that tension,
contradiction and search for one’s own identity. Here, in his stories we get
glimpses of dreaded war, and its changed state. The collapse due to famine,
partition, change of values, the social transformation, are the subjects of
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories. Here too, he tried to uphold his own
feelings and ideology. Narayan gangopadhyay is the new wordy-portrait
maker of deep struggle and problems of life. That is why war, famine,
communal riots, crisis over one’s own identity, faithlessness, came to occupy
his thoughts spontaneously. And the crisis of the society has been witnessed
with an open and conscious mind. Actually, litterateurs want to focus their
period through their creation. A renowned critic has said about this :
¬ëëfl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…—ά◊¬ÛÚ…±¸ ¬ı± ŒÂ√±È¬·ä ˚±-˝◊√√ Œ˝√√±fl¡—Ê√œ¬ıÚÀfl¡ ¬ı±ô¶¬ıÓ¬± ˛,
¸±˜±øÊ√fl¡ ¸•ÛÀfl«¡ õ∂fl¡±˙ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ‰¬± ˛º Ù¬À˘, fl¡Ô±¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬… ¸˜±Ê√¸ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛
Ú±Ú±ø√Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¸¬ı˛±¸ø¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬Ù¬˘Ú ŒÓ¬± ‚ÀȬ˝◊√√, fl¡‡ÀÚ± ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛±é¬ Ú±Ú± ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬˚›
¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ˘≈øfl¡À ˛ Ô±Àfl¡º ø˙䶧±À√¬ı˛ ø¬ı‰¬±À¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬·ä ’±¬ı˛ ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ ˚Ó¬
207
¬Û±Ô«fl¡… Ô±fl¡ Ú±, ¸˜±Ê√Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ˆ¬± ∏… ¤fl¡˝◊√√ Ò“±À‰¬ ¤À√¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… Ò¬ı˛± Ô±Àfl¡,
¸¬ıȬ± Ú± ˝√√À˘› ’ÀÚfl¡È¬± ŒÓ¬± ¬ıÀȬºíí33
The time then was a difficult one. So, he too, had deviated with that
situation reasonably. Actually he also has a mind of and artisan, like an
honest litterateur who is socially entangled and time-conscious. And the time
has driven him to write about the peoples’ struggle for the acquisition of their
rights and privileges. His first and formost aim was about a complete man with
socio-economically and spiritually prosperous. With this austere endeavour,
he pointed about the omissions and errors of his society. He has showed
irony and insinuation about these with whipping, on the other hand he
overwhelmed with emotion, absolute faith on human being. Another critic has
rightly said about him :
ëëÓ¬±“¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ¸˜±Ê√-¸À‰¬Ó¬Ú, ¸˜˚-¸À‰¬Ó¬Ú ø˙䜬ı˛ ¬ÛÀé¬, ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏Ó¬ ‰¬ø~À˙¬ı˛
ø¬ıé≈¬t ¸˜À ˛ Œ˘‡± ·ä¸ ”À˝√√ ¤˜Ú ˝√√›˚˛±È¬±˝◊√√ ŒÓ¬± ¶§±ˆ¬±ø¬ıfl¡ºíí34
In this way his short stories described a crisis over the age and its
decay, which have become an intent notation of contemporary society.
208
NOTES & REFERENCES :
1. Salim Sabrin : Kathasahityer Samajtattva, p.-15.
2. Arunkumar Mukhopadhyay : Kaler Puttalika, p.-384.
3. Sabitri Nanda Chakraborty : Adhunik Bangla Chotogalpa :
Mulyabodher Sankat, p.-103.
4. Mira Ghosh : Duiti Biswayuddha Samakalin Bangla Kathasahitya,
p.-4.
5. Susnata Das : “Pragati Sahitya Andolan O Narayan Gangopadhyay”, in
Tapas Bhowmik, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan
Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Janu.-April Issue,1992, Boimela, p.-60.
6. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-440.
7. Jagadish Bhattacharya : Amar Kaler Kayekjan Kathashilpi, p.-162.
8. Bhaswati Chakraborty (Lahiri) : Samajik O Arthanaitik Prekshapate
Bangla Chotogalpa, p.-33.
9. Shrabani Paul: Kathasahitye Panchasher Manvantar : Ashani Sanket,
pp.-12-13.
10. Kashinath Chattopadhyay (ed.) : Uposi Bangla: Samajik Patre
Panchasher Manvantar, p.-13 ( Sankalaker Pradibedan).
11. Alok Roy : Chotogalpe Svadesh Svajan, p.-186.
12. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-881.
13. Ibid, p.-880.
14. Ibid, p.-882.
15. Bhaswati Chakraborty (Lahiri) : Samajik O Arthanaitik Prekshapate
Bangla Chotogalpa, p.-36.
209
16. Kashinath Chattopadhyay, (ed.) : Uposi Bangla : Samajik Patre
Panchasher Manvantar, p.-246.
17. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-897.
18. Bibhuti Guha : “Tebhagar Ladai”, in Dhananjay Roy (ed.), Tebhaga
Andolan, 2010, p.-19.
19. Ibid, p.-26.
20. Sohrab Hussain : Bangla Chotogalpa: Tattva O Gati Prakriti,
p.-284.
21. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-919.
22. Swapan Sengupta : Panchasher Manvantar O Bangla Kabita, p.-13.
23. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-735.
24. Rabindranath Tagore : “Hindu-Musalman”, in Alok Roy, et al. (ed.),
Dusho Bachharer Bangla Prabandhasahitya (Vol.-II), 2007,
pp.-1-2.
25. Bhabaniprasad Chattopadhyay : Deshbibhag : Paschat O Nepathya
Kahini, p.-28.
26. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-695.
27. Sandip Bandyopadhyay : Itihaser Dike Phera: Chechallisher Danga,
p.-24.
28. Bhabaniprasad Chattopadhyay : Deshbibhag: Paschat O Nepathya
Kahini, p.-12.
29. Sandip Bandyopadhyay : Deshbhag : Smriti Ar Satta, p.-19.
30. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-1009.
210
31. Rajdeep Chanda : “Itihaser Aloke Deshbhag O Surama-Barak
Upatyaka”, in Prasun Barman (ed.), Deshbhag-Deshtyag : Prasanga
Uttar-Purba Bharat, Nineth Column, 2012, Vol.-12, p.-67.
32. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-821.
33. Kshetra Gupta : Rabindranath : Chotogalper Samajtattva, p.-10.
34. Bijit Ghosh : Bangla Chotogalpe Pratibadi Chetana, p.-79.
211
CHAPTER – V
THE STYLISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE SHORT STORIES
OF NARAYAN GANGOPADHYAY
That change in stages, that well-arranged form and structure into the
formation of Bengali short story writing in the post world war II period, was
based upon the evolution of realities in Arts. As the people had to face the
altered feelings of life with cruelties-thrashed upon them, so in the Arts; which
has to accept the crude realities in life. A kind of crisis in spirit is seen on part
of the litterateurs who have to face this crisis as they go from one fathomable
space to another. Just as they make the alienation of humans their subject-
matter with their spiritual crisis, thus create a new kind of realities breaking the
age old concept of socialize realism. It is seen that soul, body and eye-sight,
the combination of these three existential forms at a time, can build the artistic
inception. The spirit of fiction-literature is formed out of modern structure of
integrated society, life and homo- sapiens. This single spirit takes shape into
two segments— novels and short-stories. These are two extension of it. Life
gives these spirit and body a third eye to the story-tellers. The aim of the story
writer is to catch the deep spirit of human life, and then to imbibe this into the
consciousness of the readers. This experimentation is there with the genres—
novel and short story. Not only the subject-matter and its extension, its aim is
also to form the content towards its variety. Form is one shape in short story
and in fiction, it is in another shape. The form can be defined as :
212
“Form is one of the most frequent terms in literary
criticism............. It is often used merely to designate a genre or
literary type (" the lyric form",” the short story form")......... In this
application, the form of a work is ordered and organized."1
The perception of appreciation in fiction-literature sheds lights in every
field of its Artwork. Several experimentations on the form of novel and short
story can be seen from post-independent era to the fifties and first half of
sixties. As the subject matters have been reality-centred, the structure of
these became closer to the society, so is the variety of the form created. As if,
this new form has come out of the old one as a new existential. It came out as
the demand of new and in-depth time.
Narayan Gangopadhayay not only wrote short stories, he has created
valuable theological discussion on short stories also, with its form and
structure. Though he had excelled in other genres of literature, such as
poetry, drama, novel, etc. yet he had a weakness upon writing short stories—
the youngest child of Bengali literature. That is why he had written many short
stories in his whole life. The number of his short stories is about one hundred
and fifty included in twelve volumes of his published stories. Beside this he
has penned many other short stories also. With this he had experimented in
many occasions in the branch of short stories. In this regard a critic’s
comment is remarkable :
ëëÚ±¬ı˛±˚˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä ¬Û¬ı˛œé¬±-øÚ¬ı˛œé¬±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛+¬ÛøȬ ’±˜±À√¬ı˛
’À·±‰¬¬ı˛ Ô±Àfl¡ Ú±º øÓ¬øÚ Œ˚ ≈‡…Ó¬ fl¡ø¬ı, Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…› ¬Û±›˚˛±
213
˚±˚˛º ڱȬ…Ò « Œ˚ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ ’±¢∂À˝√√¬ı˛ ¸±˜¢∂œ, Ó¬±¬ı˛ øÚ√˙«Ú› ø˜˘À¬ı ·Àä¬ı˛
˜ÀÒ…º ø¬ıÀ√˙œ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ ¸Àe Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ‚øÚᬠÛø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛, ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏Ó¬ ’±Ò≈øÚfl¡
ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ ’±øeÀfl¡¬ı˛ ∆¬ıõ-ø¬ıfl¡ ¬Ûø¬ı˛¬ıÓ«¬Ú,Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ·Àä› õ∂ˆ¬±¬ı ø¬ıô¶±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√ºíí2
Narayan Gangopadhyay has felt that the style of speech in short-story
is not static. Though his short stories are signified in a narrative voice his point
of view is full of variety. These narrative styles can be identified like this—
Mode of narration in third person, Mode of narration in first person, Self-
conscious narrative, Fictional or erroneous narrative and Allegorical.
Mode of narration in third person : Here, the author being in a distance,
signifies the name of the characters as ‘He’, ‘They’ or in any other name. Here
he is not a character in the story. This narrative form is much more applied by
Narayan Gangopadhyay in his short stories. This style of speech is an age-old
technique applied by the writers. It is not true that no exceptional story can be
written in this narrative style. Yet, where he has avoided the current practice
of form in his writing and adopted the new forms of narration, there lays the
readers’ interest.
Mode of narration in first person: Here, the writer is present as a character
of the story. He uses the word ‘I’ everywhere in the narrative style. Here, he
knows everything. He infuses his experience into the mind of the reader. He
uses his foresight and tries to bring out the truth with other characters. The
stories, ‘Had’, ‘Nishachar’, ‘Kabar’, ‘Luchir Upakhyan’, ‘Pipe’, ‘Bhanga
Chashma’, ‘Ribbon Bandha Bhaluk’, ‘Record’ etc. belong to the stories
written in the mode of narration in first person. Beside this, many stories
214
progress with the dialogue between the narrator of the story and the listener.
But instantly the thread of the story goes into the hand of the narrator. Here
the narrator is not one dimensional character. Sometimes he is friend,
sometimes a woman, sometimes solicits for favour, sometimes witness of the
facts, sometimes a lover and sometimes a writer. In such style of writing there
are two sides, such as (1) into the mind of the readers these stories give
impression as if it is the personal experience of the narrator of the story (2) an
effort is on to bring the reader towards his own experience and belief on
conceptual issues, because a kind of embarrassment takes place if the author
comes out of the shackles of his own limits. The story ‘Record’ is a successful
story belongs to the mode of narration in first person. This can be
conceptualized on part of the readers if discussed in details.
The short story titled ‘Record’ by Narayan Gangopadhyay is an
epitome of power within the human mind in a deep belief suppressed anger
and protest. The facts in ‘Record’ with mere incident, characterization and
suggestivity all these are based upon such idea which freezes the reader
and gives a thrill upon their own mind. Narayan Gangopadhyay has discussed
the characteristics of such short stories in the following language :
ëëøfl¡¬Ûø˘„√√ ¬Û≈À¬ı˛±ÀÚ± ¶®È¬˘…±G ˝◊√√ ˛±ÀΫ¬¬ı˛ ¬Û≈ø˘À˙¬ı˛ "Dull's eye Lantern"-¬¤¬ı˛
¸Àe ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ ø¬ı‡…±Ó¬ ά◊¬Û˜±øȬ ø√À ˛ÀÂ√Úº ¤¬ı˛ ’±À˘±fl¡ ¬ı˛øï ¨ Œ˚˜Ú ø¬ıÀ˙¯∏
¤fl¡øȬ ˘é¬…¬ıd¬ı˛ ά◊¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ø·À ˛ Œ¸øȬÀfl¡ ά◊æ√±ø¸Ó¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ ŒÓ¬±À˘, ’Ô‰¬ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ‰¬±¬ı˛
¬Û±À˙ Ô±Àfl¡ ’gfl¡±¬ı˛ ¤fl¡ ˘é¬…— ŒÂ√±È¬·Àä¬ı˛ Œfl¡Ã˙˘øȬ› øͬfl¡ Ó¬±˝◊√√ºíí3
215
In the story ‘Record’, we see that the first person narrator and the
unrevealed thoughts and idea of his wife give it fullness. The first person
narrator is the story teller and the protagonist of the story who purchases an
obsolete record from the second hand market of Shialdaha area which is an
old establishment of this kind. This record is played in a gramophone with a
barrel of a gun. The main specialty of this record is that though it is not much
old, yet there is an unknown label on it, and there are some songs with
unknown language. When the shop-owner plays it, he cannot understand
anything of it. In the incomprehensible song, there are four to five male and
female voices. There is peculiar play of musical instruments and its tune too,
is peculiar. Yet it moved the protagonist. He feels attracted by the mysterious
depth and its delimitations. In the voice of the first person narrative character :
ë댉¬±„√√±›˘± ¢∂±À˜±ÀÙ¬±Ú ŒÔÀfl¡ õ∂ÔÀ˜ ¤fl¡¬ı˛±˙ ’æ”√Ó¬ ¬ı±Ê√Ú± Â√øάˇÀ˚ ¬Ûάˇ˘º
¤Ò¬ı˛ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¬ı±Ê√Ú± ¤¬ı˛ ’±À· fl¡‡Ú› qøÚøÚº ¤fl¡ E±˜ ¬ı±Ê√ÀÂ√— ·œÈ¬±¬ı˛›
’±ÀÂ√ Œ¬ı±Ò ˝√√ ˛, øfl¡c ’±À¬ı˛± fl¡œ fl¡œ Œ˚ ’±ÀÂ√ ’±˜±¬ı˛ Œ¬ı±Ò·˜… ˝√√˘ Ú±º......
Ó¬±¬ı˛¬Û¬ı˛ ·±Úº Ú±¬ı˛œ ¬Û≈ï À ∏¬ı˛ ‰¬±¬ı˛-¬Û“±‰¬øȬ fl¡F ’±ÀÂ√ ˜ÀÚ ˝√√ º Œ˚˜Ú ’æ”√Ó¬
¬ı±Ê√Ú±—ŒÓ¬˜øÚ ’æ”√Ó¬ ¸≈¬ı˛º Œfl¡Ú Ê√±øÚÚ±—Œfl¡±Ô± ˛ ¬ı˛ÀMï √¬ı ˜ÀÒ… Œ√±˘±
Œ˘À· Œ·˘º Ê√±øÚ ¤ ¸≈¬ı˛ ¤Àfl¡¬ı±À¬ı˛ ’À‰¬Ú±, Ó¬¬ı≈ ˜ÀÚ ˝√√ÀÓ¬ ˘±·˘ ¤ Œ˚Ú
fl¡À¬ı Œfl¡±Ô± ˛ qÀÚøÂ√˘≈ ºíí4
After that a traveller came and makes him understand the song, its
language, tune and musical instruments, clearly. Actually it was propagated
by the rebel freedom-fighters, secretly in the period of world war-II in Hitler’s
regime. Here the record belongs to the music of the freedom fighters that
216
were to be killed by Hitler’s detectives in vigilance, followed by forefitment of
those songs. Just an old record was the mouth piece of the first person story
teller of this story.
The mystery of his thought, its surprising atmosphere gradually
occupies the mind of the protagonist. This story by Narayan Gangopadhyay,
is written under the perspective of Nazi regiment’s gory cruel misdeeds.
Though this story was written in the end of 50’s (Shraban-Ashwin, 1368 B.S.)
in the magazine, ‘Fasal’, yet this story has got life and its experience of that
time.
This method of story-telling by Narayan Gangopadhyay is purely
unique. The narrator of the story is in first person. Here the protagonist has
narrated the story in the style as if he is sharing from his wonderful
experience. It was lucid clear and distinct, which entails the in-depth ethos of
importance. Here, in this story, there is a stream of facts that flows in its own
way. There is an introspective consciousness in this story. It has been
expressed in a surprising end. That is why even in such narrative technique,
curiosity and a tension can be created. This method can be said a ‘stream of
consciousness’ method. It is different from any general style and form of short
story writing. This short story, that is why, has become successive.
‘Bhanga Chashma’, is another successful short story written in this
form. The cardinal perspectives of this story are world war-II, which has been
lasing for six years and famine, which surpasses the limits of fiction. The story
did not end as a simple narrative; the first person has narrated its
autobiographical experiences. The facts of the story here is insignificant. The
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first person protagonist is a married talented student an M.A. with first class.
With such a good result he could secure only a job in suburb, with a salary of
Rs. sixty per month, job of a school teacher, along with two tuitions each
fetches twenty rupees, all total Rs. 100/- as remuneration. Once, the govt.
administration wants to recruit a few officer of sub-deputy grade to distribute
relief materials in villages. The job is temporary. But a scope is there to be
upgraded as ‘Hakim’. The first person protagonist left the job of a school
teacher as he got selected as the sub deputy officer through a successful
interview.
The narration of the story did not follow the stereotype style of
narration. As the first person is present here so, the protagonist remained with
the experiences as describing his autobiography. The voice of the protagonist
has had no original name here. Like a first person narrator, he has narrated
the perspective of the world war-II. Here the plot has revolved around the
conflict between narrator-protagonist, the contradiction into his mind for up
gradation of sub -deputy officer from a school teacher and his inferiority
complex. The story is therefore told as, the auto-biographical structure on its
own. The nameless bio-graphical sketches of the protagonist present here are
with the element of upgrade designation and its pride, financial securities and
respect from the common people and their hopefulness all these are jostled
as a whole. On the other hand, we find his pangs of transformation from a
school teacher into present status, his inferiority complex, inner strife and a
harsh contempt on himself. His tragedy is a tragedy of space and time, the
war torn society and its decay.
218
His tragedy is true in the story, in the character, and as a whole, true in
the Art of literature. In ‘Bhanga Chasma’, the nameless first person, nameless
protagonist is a victim of pure tragedy. Here, he himself is his cause of own
fall. Behind his tragedy, it is his excessive high ambition.
Actually, the form and structure of short story have been changed
through the last one hundred years. The changes holds the perspective of the
author’s individual concept of life, their experimentation, the clashes with other
genres and the impact of different political and philosophical thoughts and
demands. In a number of occasions the writers have expressed their thoughts
for different reasons in literature. According to the critic :
‘‘The great impulses behind literature may, I think be grouped
with accuracy enough for practical purposes under four heads:
(1) our desire for self-expression; (2) our interest in people and
their doings; (3) our interest in the world of reality in which we
live, and in the world of imagination which we conjure into
existence; and (4) our love of form as form."5
Self-conscious narrative: One of the styles of form which has been used by
Narayan Gangopadhyay is, self-conscious narrative. It is person is not exactly
as same as the first person narrative style. Here the author is fully conscious
of his artifact. He makes his readers conscious about the problems he wants
to present in the story. This narration is not the soul object from the author’s
part. In fact he delves deep with the objectives in the starting, end and middle
part of the story in a planned manner. Perhaps the story begins with a
dramatic surprise. Gradually the surprise unfolds and the story enters into the
219
past. Up to the end the author lashes the opportunist middle-class and the
fake value consciousness. ‘Top’, is another short-story by Narayan
Gangopadhyay, written in this form. The second protagonist of this story is its
narrator. It is one of the most famous short-stories, written by him. The
second character of this story is its narrator. It is a tightly knit short-story. The
surrounding is characterized by the hunter, affluent Rajabahadur and his
followers and the dense thick forest. Actually the story is not spread out. But
the author has tried to build the surroundings of deep environment to give it
an axis. The mono-dimension is there at the end of the story. Here, the reader
is stricken by the amazement. Narayan Gangopadhyay has said about this
type of story as :
¬ëë·Àä¬ı˛ Œ˙À¯∏ ¤fl¡È¬± ’õ∂Ó¬…±ø˙Ó¬ ‰¬˜fl¡ ø√À ˛ ¬Û±Í¬fl¡Àfl¡ ô¶øyÓ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ√› ˛±
¤fl¡øȬ øõ∂ ˛ › õ∂±‰¬œÚ ¬ÛXøÓ¬º ‰¬˘ƒøÓ¬ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ ¬± ∏± ˛ ¤¬ı˛ Ú±˜ " Whipcrack
ending"— ‰¬±¬ı≈fl¡ ˝√√“±fl¡Î¬ˇ±ÀÚ± ¸˜±ø5º.....Œ¬Û±, Œ˜±¬Û±¸“± ¤¬ı— ›. Œ˝√√Úƒø¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√
Ê√±Ó¬œ ˛ ¸˜±ø5¬ı˛ ¬Û鬬۱Ӭœºíí6
The narrator in this story is the only witness of a peculiar hunting. He is
a middle-class youth. He is self-conscious, a lover of nature. He is conscious
of his duties and humbled with civility. At every step, there is curiosity that
makes him wonder about the things happening around him. The inhuman
brutalities of Rajabahadur shocked him deeply. Of that moment that he
perceived, has said :
ëë’±˜±¬ı˛ ¬ı≈Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¬ı˛Mï √ ø˝√√˜ ˝√√À ˛ Œ·˘, ’±˜±¬ı˛ ‰≈¬˘ ‡±Î¬ˇ± ˝√√À ˛ ά◊ͬÀ˘±º ’±ø˜
¬Û±·À˘¬ı ˜ÀÓ¬± ø‰¬»fl¡±¬ı˛ fl¡À¬ı˛ ά◊ͬ˘±˜,.....ºíí7
220
All over, a specialty has spread out around him. He faced the world
that does not care for the humanity. Like this a kind of desperate mentality
has been evolved out of his narration. The whole story is the epitome of the
representative of whimsical, perverted, inhuman jamindars from feudal system
of medieval period.
Though, this story was written in a flashback method yet the excellence
of it, can’t be gainsaid in respect of its novelty. Thus, the perspective aranyak,
has made its entry into history by the delineation of hunting ground. Here the
cruel perspective of the forest has become equivalent to the cruel heart of the
hunter in Terai. But this could be said briefly according to the correct structure
of the short story. Because, about the structure of a short story, a critic has
said :
ëëŒÂ√±È¬·ä øÚÀÊ√¬ı˛ ¤fl¡±ôL ¬ıMï √¬ı…øȬ Â√±Î¬ˇ± ’±¬ı˛ øfl¡Â≈√ ◊√√ ¬ı˘À¬ı Ú±º ’Ú±¬ı˙…fl¡
¬ı…±ø5¬ı˛ ¸≈À˚±· Ó¬±¬ı˛ ŒÚ˝◊√√, ’À˝√√Ó≈¬fl¡ ‰¬ø¬ı˛ÀS¬ı˛ øˆ¬Àάˇ Ó¬±Àfl¡ ˆ¬±¬ı˛±Sï ±ôL ˝√√À˘
‰¬˘À¬ı Ú±, ’õ∂À ˛±Ê√Úœ˚˛ ¬ıÌ«Ú±-ø¬ı˘±À¸¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ˆ¬”ø˜fl¡±˝◊√√ Œ¸‡±ÀÚ ŒÚ˝◊√√º Ó¬±¬ı˛
õ∂øÓ¬øȬ ¸—˘±¬Û ¬˝√√À¬ı Ò±¬ı˛±À˘± ˆ¬±¬ı·ˆ¬«ó Ó¬±¬ı˛ õ∂øÓ¬øȬ ¬ı±Àfl¡… Ô±fl¡À¬ı ˝◊√√øeÓ¬Ò «œ
ά◊X‘øÓ¬À˚±·…Ó¬±º Ó¬±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ… ¬ı¬ı˛— ¶§äˆ¬±ø¯∏Ó¬± Ô±fl¡ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛, øfl¡c ¬ıUˆ¬±ø ∏Ó¬±ó
gift of the gab ¬Ó¬±¬ı˛ Œé¬ÀS ’‰¬˘ºíí8
That is why the details description of nature gives us a kind of
embarrassment and impatience, like a novel. The tendency to change in
another topic repeatedly, to digress, gives the suspense of the story backseat.
Yet, ultimately the rasa of the story has remained intact. As a whole the story,
‘Top’ is a story which will sustain the test of time.
221
Fictional or erroneous narration: Here, the explanation or evaluation does
not co-inside the personal values or hearty faith of the writer. Here the author
does not remain unanimous with the narrator of the story. He tries to influence
the reader with his own opinion, in the middle part of the story or in the
conclusion of the story. This method of writing is really full of variety. The
writer builds up a story. But by the end of the story he tries to influence the
readers through his own belief. Apparently, the story progresses in its own
flow; it does not obey the dictum of the author. Here, the author goes against
his own will. But that, it is not his aim, is known from himself. The story
‘Pushkara’, by Narayan Gangopadhyay is one example of such style of form.
This form can be water-clear if we discuss the story at length. In the story
‘Pushkara’, the famine stricken people surrendered themselves into the hands
of god. This gory picture has been sketched out by the delineation of
crematorium goddess Kali, to save the country and its people from the fatal
trickeries played by the priest, Tarkaratna, in shukla chaturdashi, to the
crematorium Kali, to remove Puskara. But till the midnight, no jackal came to
accept the sacred food offered to the goddess. At such time, entire area was
submerged into darkness. With utter fear, Tarkaratna, noticed that it is not the
jackal, which came to accept of the food, but the deity Kali herself, is taking
the food. But he could not know that she was none other than an insane
woman from the Dompara. But she could not consume it, due to long interval
of hunger and appetite. Here the author has nakedly portrayed the fate at the
hands of Mahajans and the priests, who were blown to richness in the world
war-II. The author thought that Tarkaratna could not understand that both the
222
goddess Kali and the insane woman of Dompara, both were same. This
picture of Bengal at the time was not fictitious.
On several occasion, the history of that time were picked up by those
contemporary authors. This can’t be said as their Arts for Arts sake. In Bengali
short story writing, a stream of humanism is always there. The adjustment to
the crude realities, the daily hopes and aspirations have been actualized by
the hands of Arts. A critic has rightly said :
ëë’±( « ¤˝◊√√, ≈ÀX ¤¬ı— ≈√øˆ¬«Àé¬ ø¬ıÒ√ıô¶ ˘±ø>Ó¬ ’¬Û˜±øÚÓ¬ ¬ı±—˘±¬ı˛
˜˝√√±ï ¨˙±ÀÚ˝◊√√ Œ¸ø√Ú Ù≈¬ÀȬ ›Àͬ ¸—¶‘®øÓ¬¬ı˛ ˙Ó¬ ¬Û≈¶Ûº ¬Û“±Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¬Û≈fl≈¡À¬ı˛
¬Û≈øÓ¬·g˜˚˛ Œflv¡√±Mï √ Ê√À˘ ¬ÛÀΩ¬ı˛ ¸˜±À¬ı˛±˝√√º Ò±Ú ‰¬±À˘¬ı˛ Œ·±˘± ˙”Ú… ˝√√À˘›
ά◊¬ÛƒÀ‰¬ ¬ÛάˇÀÂ√ Œ˚Ú ¸±—¶‘®øÓ¬fl¡ Ù¬¸˘º Œ¸ Ù¬¸˘ ¸Àµ˝√√ ŒÚ˝◊√√ ’|n∏ ’±¬ı˛ ¬ı˛ÀMï √¬ı˛
ø¬ıøÚ˜À˚˛ ¬Û±›˚˛±º Ó¬¬ı≈ ø¬ÛÂ√ÀÚ øÙ¬À¬ı˛ ¬Ó¬±fl¡±À˘ ¬ı±—˘± ˆ¬± ∏±¬ı˛ Œ¸Ãˆ¬±·… Œ√À‡
Œ¬ı˛±˜±= ˝√√˚˛ºíí9
The story ‘Banatulsi’, too, is based upon the concept of sub-
consciousness of mind. We see many moral lessons from the mouth of the
narrator and Bimalendu’s discussion. According to the narrator’s point of view,
romance is stupidity. The transcendental union, to him is the wicked’s
consolation. He has made Bimalendu, conscious that the result of love is
nothing but total eclipse, Purnagras.
He has tried to portray his childhood experience making a perspective
with wild basil leaf, a kind of infatuation and the chaos. The method in his
matured life could be seen not only in abroad, but it is present everywhere in
the beauty of Bangladesh. The story is built episode-wise with the collection of
223
broken moments. But the appeal of every fact is built in a single thread. Here,
the author has built up story within the story, taking inputs from his own
childhood. The memory of the first love of the narrator, to his heroine, was
sustained in his heart for a long time. He was fallen in love with Banatulsi. But
he could understand, ultimately that the tree of Bangladesh too, wants to
devour him out of love with ‘Purnagras’. At the end of the story, the author has
uttered the words of caution, not only to Bimalendu but also to his readers. He
came to believe that love in family life, is more acceptable than the love of
ravenous nature.
Beside these four forms, another one of his forms could be seen. This
form is of a ‘Rupak’, ‘Allegorical’. The main story of this type is ‘Pradip O
Prajapati’. Just as a butterfly wants to emulate in fire to die surely, so as in
human life; it is described in this story in an allegorical form. Another
important form by Narayan Gangopadhyay could be seen in a number of
stories, namely, ‘Patra-angik’,—that is in ‘Letter-form’. Chiefly the two short
stories ‘Subhakshan’ and ‘Ekti Chithi’, included in the short story collection
‘Shubhakshan’ (1960), written in the letter-form.
The female narrator of this story ‘Ekti Chithi’, went down memory lane
to her adolescent love, with daily life and its romantic details. In between this
time, both the boy and his fiancée are estranged from each other. When the
girl met the boy on other occasion, she saw that the boy has become a circle
officer. By this time, his mind too has been changed. He never asked her
about the tree of Tagar to which he himself has sown. His marriage has
settled elsewhere. The girl who has dreamt from her childhood about the
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dream moments of ‘Putul khelar Basar’, could not be fulfilled. She could
understand that the dream has brought her pangs with these memories. Of
this story, a critic has said :
ëë ë¤fl¡øȬ ø‰¬øÍ¬í ·Àä¬ı˛ ’¬ıÀ˝√√ø˘Ó¬ Œõ∂ø˜fl¡± Ó¬±¬ı øfl¡À˙±¬ı˛ ¬ı˚˛À¸¬ı˛ Œõ∂ø˜Àfl¡¬ı˛
¸Àe ¬Û≈Ó≈¬À˘¬ı˛ ø¬ıÀ˚ÀÓ¬ Ù≈¬˘ Ó≈¬˘¬ı±¬ı˛ Ê√ÀÚ… Œ˚ Ȭ·¬ı˛ Ù≈¬À˘¬ı˛ ·±Â√ ˘±ø·À ˛øÂ√˘
Œ¸ ·±ÀÂ√¬ı˛ Ù≈¬˘ Œ˚ qÒ≈ ’Ú…Àfl¡ ø¬ıø˘À ˛ ◊√√ Œ¸ Ó‘¬ø5 Œ¬ÛÀ˚øÂ√˘ Ó¬±˝◊√√ Ú ˛, Ó¬±¬ı˛
’±¬ı˛› ¤fl¡øȬ ˜ÀÚ¬ı fl¡Ô± ¬ı˘¬ı±¬ı˛ Ê√ÀÚ… Œ¸ ŒÂ√À˘øȬÀfl¡ ø‰¬øͬ ø˘À‡øÂ√˘ –
ë¬Û≈Ó≈¬˘ Œ‡˘±¬ı˛ Ê√ÀÚ… Œ˚ Ù≈¬À˘¬ı˛ ·±Â√ ˘±ø·À ˛øÂ√˘±˜— ¬Û≈Ó≈¬˘ Œ‡˘± Â√±Î¬ˇ± Ó¬±¬ı˛
Ù≈¬˘ ’±¬ı˛ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± fl¡±ÀÊ√˝◊√√ ˘±À· Ú±— Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ øÚ ˛ ˝◊√√ Ó¬±˝◊√√ºí íí10
Perhaps, except this story there is no other story about the adolescent
love, written by the author. The moments of the short story has been caught in
a befitting manner by the letter-form.
Here, in the story ‘Subhakshan’ the letter-writer is having a belief that
good moments will come in unison, having seen that his former lover is
passing an abominable life. Like ‘Ekti Chithi’ the letter-form is used here too.
Here the old talks found places in chronological order. The narrator on
hearing the verdict of the court went to the court. Suddenly we see the
surprise meeting by the loved and dearer one, in the context of a letter went in
its own way. On returning to his home the narrator wrote to her that the good
moments which has been lost once, again can be relived. He wants to make
his own family with the girl. This story is a story of protest. The author has
waged battle against social norms. If the bride is not handed over to the
bridegroom in suitable time, then the bride could be derailed in her conjugal
225
life. In that case, she can be handed over to another bridegroom. The author
has waged protest against such abominable rituals of our society.
A popular short story with the letter-form by Narayan Gangopadhyay is,
‘Mananiya Parikshak Mahashay Samipeshu’. The letter-writer of this story is a
talented student, Svadhinkumar. He secured scholarship in minor-class. He
could sustain his academic talents, by securing the position either as 1st or
2nd. But the poor farmer’s family could not provide him to purchase books of
higher classes. The hoarder, feudal lords of rice used to feed him. In lieu of
that they took the toil, and sweat from Svadhinkumar. He could not get the
scope to read and write even under the lamp at night. As he came to Kolkata,
it became impossible to manage the cost of his studies.
He could not even get an environment to study. So, without preparation
Svadhinkumar could not write answers to the questions that have been asked
in the examination. Instead of writing answers, he wrote to the examiner about
his pangs and sorrows, which have been suffered by the poor students, in a
letter. Over and above, he lets the examiner know, that he is going to commit
suicide under the train in evening that day. He wanted to live. But his fate is
one of whom, he has to commit suicide. That is why he tells the examiner :
ëë’±ø˜ ¬ı“±‰¬ÀÓ¬ Œ‰¬À ˛øÂ√˘±˜ ¸…±¬ı˛— ’±ø˜ ¶§±ÒœÚfl≈¡˜±¬ı˛, ¶§±ÒœÚ ˆ¬±¬ı˛Ó¬¬ıÀ ∏«¬ı˛
Ê√ÀÚ… ’±ø˜ ¬ı“±‰¬ÀÓ¬ Œ‰¬À˚øÂ√˘±˜º Œfl¡Ú ’±ø˜ ¬ı“±‰¬ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±¬ı˛ ±˜ Ú±, ’±˜±¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬±
˝√√±Ê√±¬ı˛ ˝√√±Ê√±¬ı˛ Â√±ÀS¬ı˛ ¬Ûé¬ ŒÔÀfl¡ Œ¸˝◊√√ õ∂ï ü ’±¬ÛÚ±¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ Œ¬ı˛À‡ Œ·˘±˜º
Ê√¬ı±¬ıȬ± ’±¬ÛøÚ Œˆ¬À¬ı Œ√‡À¬ıÚº
226
fl¡±¬Û≈ï À¯∏¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ’±R˝√√Ó¬…± fl¡¬ı˛øÂ√∑ Ú± ¸…±¬ı˛— Ú±, ¤ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¬Û¬ı˛±Ê√ ˛
Ú ˛ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¬õ∂øÓ¬¬ı±√ºíí11
Through the story, in a letter-method, a student has informed about his
piteous student-life. Though it was written in the form of letter-method yet he
could touch the plight through the address and dialogue. Here, that the heart
of one could be a correspondence between the addressor and addressee of a
letter is well caught in a befitting manner.
Another style that the author has embarked upon is based upon the
present time. After that flashback follows. Then the story is spread-out in the
past. This method of narration is not new. Here, the perception of two times
work together, one is apparent and the other is real time.
‘Time’ occupies a cardinal space in fiction-literature. ‘Time’ can’t be
ignored by any novelist or short story-writer. Because, fidelity on ‘time’ is
certain in a novel or short story, without ‘time’, no story or novel can be
written. That is why the thread of fiction, occupies as that space which is
cardinal. Of this a critic has said :
ëë˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ·øÓ¬√ø¬ıøÒ ¸˝√√Ê√ ¸¬ı˛˘ Ú ˛ Œ˜±ÀȬ, Ó¬±¬ı˛ ·øÓ¬ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± Sï ˜ Œ˜ÀÚ ‰¬À˘ Ú±
fl¡‡ÀÚ±, é¬ÀÌ é¬ÀÌ ˜Ú ’Ó¬œÓ¬ ŒÔÀfl¡ ¬ıÓ«¬˜±ÀÚ, ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú ŒÔÀfl¡ ’Ó¬œÀÓ¬ øfl¡—¬ı±
ˆ¬ø¬ı ∏…ÀÓ¬ ¬ı± ’Ó¬œÓ¬ ¬ıÓ«¬˜±Ú ˝◊√√Ó¬…±ø√ ø˜À˘ø˜À˙ ‰¬˘±ÀÙ¬¬ı˛± fl¡À¬ı˛, Ó¬±¬ı˛ ·øÓ¬›
øé¬õ∂ ‡≈¬ıº fi¬ÛÚ…±ø¸fl¡ ¤˝◊√√ ˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˜±Úø‰¬S ’±“fl¡ÀÓ¬ Œ‰¬©Ü± fl¡À¬ı˛Ú, Ù¬À˘ ¬ı±Ò…
˝√√À ˛ Ó“¬±Àfl¡ fl¡±˘Sï ˜±Ú≈ ±¬ı˛œ ¸˜˚˛ ˘„∏ƒ‚Ú fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ˝√√ ˛º........ ¸˜˚ ’Ú…ˆ¬±À¬ı
ά◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸¬ı ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛œøÓ¬ õ∂fl‘¡øÓ¬Àfl¡ õ∂ˆ¬±ø¬ıÓ¬ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛º ¸˜ ˛¸œ˜±¬ı˛
227
¸—Àfl¡±‰¬ÀÚ Î¬◊¬ÛÚ…±À¸ ڱȬfl¡œ˚ ˘é¬Ì Ù≈¬ÀȬ ›Àͬ, ’±¬ı˛ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¸Àe ‚Ȭڱ¬ı±U˘…
≈Mï √ ˝√√À˚˛ ’øӬڱȬfl¡œ ˛Ó¬± ¸‘ø©Ü ˝√√ÀÓ¬¬Û±À¬ı˛,............ºíí12
This can be applicable in respect of short story writing, too. ‘Time’
occupies a cardinal place in such form of narration in the short stories of
Narayan Gangopadhyay. The author enters into the ‘Real time’, in searching a
character and its development, with reason behind all these. There the facts
that takes place on the seeds of changes, brings naturalness in the
conclusion of the story. The root of ‘Present time’ belongs to the ‘Past’.
Nothing could happen in life without any cause and effect. The past casts a
shadow into the present and the present in turn ensures the future. In many
occasions the other person behind the apparent one of the past is being
understood in the present.
For example, in the story ‘Top’ we see a parcel containing a kind of
slippers, made of tiger-skin, comes to an innocent man. But eight months
before, he witnessed the cruelties by Rajabahadur. This story is written in a
flashback manner like the Cinema Art. Finer theatricalness is the epitome
method of it’s another forte. We get stunned at the act of this middle-class
gentleman in that border-state. In the story, ‘Shubhakshan’ too, we see the
repentance due to the deeds, is laid at the past time. Again, the past has
come to unveil the mystery of present. The story ‘Record’ has embarked upon
the tortured mass-singer, fallen into the hands of Hitlerian torture, which
brings up the dark history from the pages of the past. Just as the protest
against injustice cannot be abolished, so is an old ‘Record’, which is the
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witness of the past deed, found in a black-market in the present, which could
not be destroyed.
Through the discussion about the form and style of short stories by
Narayan Gangopadhyay, we can surmise that formal allegory and passionate
imagination is closely related; though it is a universal truth that the author’s
point of view is the ultimate one which signifies the form of a story. It is not
possible to reflect the full representation of life in the micro canvass of a short
story. He was conscious about that. That is why we can feel the whole ocean
in a drop of sea-water within the slice of life through his creation. But though
the space in a short story is limited as a drop of water, yet its implied meaning
is not limited. There lies deep flutter of life. One has to understand it through
intelligence and has to feel it by heart. About the style and form of Narayan
Gangopadhyay, a critic has said :
ëëø¬ı√* Œ˘‡fl¡ Ú±¬ı˛± ˛Ì ·Àe±¬Û±Ò…± ˛ øÂ√À˘Ú ’±øefl¡ ¸À‰¬Ó¬Úº ’±fl¡ø¶úfl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛
Ò±!¡± ˛ Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ·Àä¬ı˛ õ∂±¬ı˛y ¤¬ı— ˝√√ͬ±» ’±À˘±¬ı˛ Á¡˘fl¡±øÚ¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬ ’fl¡¶ú±» ¬ı˛ √√ …
ά◊Àij±‰¬ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˜Ò… ø√À ˛ Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ÌøÓ¬º ¸±•xøÓ¬fl¡ fl¡±À˘ ¤˝◊√√ ’±øefl¡ Œ‰¬Ó¬Ú±˚˛
ÚÓ≈¬ÚQ Œ√‡± ø√À˚ÀÂ√º Œ¸‡±ÀÚ fl¡±ø˝√√Úœ ŒÔÀfl¡ ˜ÚÚ õ∂±Ò±Ú… ˘±ˆ¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ÀÂ√,
‚Ȭڱ ŒÔÀfl¡ ø¬ıÀï - ∏̺íí13
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a deft artisan in the form of short-stories.
His opinion is clear, and strong, reading which one is to be surprised and
startled. No one can gainsay his power of writing. Human life is not a plain
and smooth sailing, which is related to crude realities. His purpose is to
actualize this truth in writing short-stories. That is why his form is very clear
229
and objective. Human emotion and thought has entailed formal shape from
this point of view. He is a writer of deep perception of human life and feelings.
He is a deft writer with the subject-matter and its formal application. But
studies speak that Narayan Gangopadhyay did not shun the conventional
form. Side by side, he has portrayed the hollowness and hopelessness of the
modern people in new forms of short story. Sometimes the form becomes
loose in a few short stories. For example, in the story ‘Top’ we see that the
form could be briefer, with the demand of the content of a perfect short story.
Because with the entitlement of the story, a reader could easily understand
that an ultimate consequence is waiting with the climax and stunt that is found
in peculiar hunting tale. That is why like a novel, the detailed description of
nature gives the readers impatience. Here is an example of digression. It
harms the suspense of the story as the author often goes from one topic to
another. But when the reader smells anxiety, then and then the beauty of
nature comes as an oasis to give him or her relief.
From the very beginning, we find psychological inertia in Narayan
Gangopadhyay’s short stories. Here, the form of the story takes place
according to the suitable tendency of psychology. In this way, we observe the
conventional routes and the newer one in his artifice of narration. Narayan
Gangopadhyay, in his short stories, has adopted both native and foreign
story-writing method. As a reader of European and French literature, he has
inscribed the dramatic surprise and psychological use in the middle and its
end. On the one hand the conventional mood and on the other hand western
230
style of narration both these have adorned his stories. That is why a critic
has said :
ëëŒ˚ Œfl¡±Ú ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…¬ı˛‰¬Ú± ˛ ’±øefl¡ ’Ó¬…ôL &ï Q¬Û”Ì«º ’±øefl¡ › ø¬ı ∏À ˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÒ…
¸•§g Œ√˝√√ › ˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ø˜˘Úº Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ ¤fl¡Ó¬±˝◊√√ ¸•Û”Ì«Ó¬±º Ú±¬ı˛±˚Ì
·Àe±¬Û±Ò…±À ˛¬ı˛ ¸±ø˝√√ÀÓ¬…¬ı˛ Œé¬ÀS ¤ fl¡Ô± ’±¬ı˛› ø¬ı˙√ˆ¬±À¬ı ¸Ó¬…º Ó“¬±¬ı˛ ’ÀÚfl¡
Œ˘‡±ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ Ù≈¬ÀȬ ά◊ÀͬÀÂ√ fl¡ø¬ı ˜ÀÚ¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬ ˛, ˆ¬± ∏±¬ı˛ ¸≈Ñ fl¡±ï fl¡±˚«ºíí14
To compose the adequate diction of a short story, just as an
appropriate form is required, so is the language; which should be reasonable
and perfect. From the large extension of life and its intrusion is the main aim
of short story writing in brief. Due to the quality of briefness and moderation,
the literary diction can be observed in short stories. No such broad canvass of
the novel can be seen here. That is why it is said about the short story as :
‘‘Brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and
that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is
usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a
few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages
economy of setting and concise narrative; character is disclosed
in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully
developed."15
Elsewhere Jagadish Bhattacharya has said about the language of
Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories :
ëë ‡±¬ÛÀ‡±˘± Ó¬À˘±˚˛±À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜Ó¬ Á¡fl¡ƒÁ¡Àfl¡ ·ä¬ı˘±¬ı˛ ˆ¬± ∏±ºíí16
231
Short story gets immortality due to its magnetic power and there is
such an attractive power that mesmerizes the readers for one or any other
reason. One of its attractive powers is language. About language in the short
story, it is said that every word is perfectly selected. In both the cases of
dialogue and narration, it is applicable.
So, in regard of language it can be said that the language, with its flow
takes a reader from the initial fact to the ultimate one, like summer wind, and
then it seems to a reader that whatever else may be there, the language has
the performance of great feat that is a successful language in a short story.
Narayan Gangopadhyay too, does not embark upon any complex language to
communicate his thought to the reader. In any and every literature, language
takes the role of code or symbol. Who is accepting this is a reader and the
symbol is unfolding to him or her. A writer is a sender of symbol and the
reader is the acceptor of the symbol. The language of short story should be
sharp. Narayan Gangopadhyay did not want to make his language difficult by
the linguistic workmanship. Here he is spontaneous. On reading his short
stories, we get an emotional passion and sense of reality and this rasa has
been reflected in his application of language. This can be understood by
discussing his short stories.
‘Tirthayatra’ is another story of his written under the perspective of
famine. With the filled up river, in the month of Bhadra, Narottam went on by a
loaded boat full of women. People were dying in hunger, by famine in the war
-torn society. That is why the household-goddesses came to the city for
survival. Those maiden who did not die yet, has to light the lamp till today. But
232
it was not at the altar of basil plant, due to the black-out, but in the brothels of
mega-city. Here the language is not sharp with mockery and irony; rather it is
full of poetic motif with a saddened touch to some extent :
ëë¸g…±˙À∫¬ı˛ Œ˙ ∏ ¬Ûø¬ı˛ÌøÓ¬ ˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ ‚≈„≈√√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˙Às, ˝√√±¬ı˛À˜±øÚ ˛±À˜¬ı˛ Œ¬ıÓ¬±˘±
˜M√√Ó¬± ˛, ˜±Ó¬±À˘¬ı˛ Ê√øάˇÓ¬ ø‰¬»fl¡±À¬ı˛º ≈ÀX¬ı˛ fl¡KC±"√√ ˚±À√¬ı˛ ¬ı˛±Ó¬±¬ı˛±øÓ¬ Œ·Ã¬ı˛œ
Œ¸ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˆ¬±G±¬ı˛ ‡≈À˘ ø√À ˛ÀÂ√, ’±Ê√ Œ¸±Ú±¬ı˛ ¬ı±—˘± Ó¬±À√¬ı˛ fl¡±ÀÂ√ õ∂øÓ¬Ù¬ø˘Ó¬
˝√√À ˛ÀÂ√ Œ¸±Ú±ø˘ ˜À√¬ı˛ ŒÙ¬øÚ˘ ¬Û±ÀS¬ı Œˆ¬Ó¬À¬ı˛ºíí17
The style of composition and the diction of dialect in this story are
wonderful. Here the author lashes to unveil the mocking element of this story.
In a duality meaning with full of pun, the language smoothly runs like a speed-
boat, to its desired destination. Here, the author has described the divested
period of forties, in the language full of insinuation. The characters of this
story have been well-delineated with powerful language, controlled and brief
diction, and a little linearity.
In the story ‘Bhanga Chashma’, too, Narayan Gangopadhyay’s prose
style with ornate language catches the reader’s attention. That did not make
the language rich only, but also made it lively. The title of this story is
suggestive too. Here the author catches our attention with these two
combined words as the decay of values. That ambition was the result of the
fall of the protagonist can be seen in consequences. That is why guilty
feelings arise in his heart. Looking to the headmaster it seems to him :
233
ëëŒ˚Ú ˜±Í¬ Ù“¬≈Àάˇ ˜±˝◊√√Ú¬ı˛ ¶≈®À˘¬ı˛ Œ¸˝◊√√ Œ˝√√ά˜±©Ü±¬ı˛ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¸±˜ÀÚ ¤À¸
“√±øάˇÀ ˛ÀÂ√Úº ’¶Û©Ü ŒÊ√±»¶ß± ˛ ˆ¬±À˘± fl¡À¬ı˛ Œ‰¬Ú± ˚±˚˛ Ú±— qÒ≈ ˆ¬±„√√±
‰¬˙˜±¬ı˛ fl“¡±‰¬È¬± ;˘;˘ fl¡¬ı˛ÀÂ√ºíí18
The word ‘Sparkle’ (Jwaljwal) is denoting with an expression of his
ideal personality.
A few prose-styles have made the story lively. For example :
1. ëëŒõ∂˚¸œ¬ı˛ ’õ∂¸iß ≈‡ Œ√À‡ ¬ı±Ìõ∂ô¶ øÚÀÓ¬ ˝◊√√26√± fl¡À¬ı˛ºíí19
2. ëë ≈√øˆ¬«é¬ ’±¬ı˛ ˜…±À˘ø¬ı˛ ˛±ÊœÌ« ¢∂±˜ ’±˜±¬ı˛ ¬Û…±ÀKI◊¬ı˛ Sï œÊ√ ’±¬ı˛ ˝√√…±ÀȬ¬ı˛ fiXÓ¬…
Œ√À‡ ‰¬˜Àfl¡ ›Àͬºíí20
3. ëëŒ√‡˘±˜ ˝√√+√À ˛¬ı˛ Œ‰¬±À‡ ’±&Úº..... ‘√ø©ÜȬ± ˜¬ı˛±-·ï À˘±ˆ¬œ ˙fl≈¡ÀÚ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± Ó¬œéƬ
’±¬ı˛ øÚ˘«7¡¡¡ºíí21
4. ë똅±À˘ø¬ı˛ ˛± ’±¬ı˛ ≈√øˆ¬«Àé¬ ˝√√Ó¬À˙ ∏ ˜±Ú≈ ∏ ˝◊“√√≈√À¬ı˛¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± ø‰¬“ø‰“¬ fl¡À¬ı˛ ›Àͬºíí22
The inner amusement with full of pun of these quotations make us
understand clearly about the attitude of observation of the protagonist. Many
examples can be cited like these. Even sometimes the touch of poetic
language is included in the prose style. For example :
ë똱øȬ¬ı˛ Œ‡ ˛±À˘ ˜±Ô± Ó≈¬À˘ÀÂ√ ¤À˘±À˜À˘± fl¡Ó¬fl¡&À˘± øϬø¬ı–˝◊√√√√Ó¬ô¶Ó¬ ø¬ıfl¡œÌ«
¤fl¡¬ı˛±˙ øÂ√iß ≈ÀG¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬±º Ó¬±¬ı˛ ◊√√ ¤fl¡È¬±¬ı˛ ›¬ÛÀ¬ı˛ ï ˜±˘ Œ¬ÛÀÓ¬ ¬ıÀ¸ ¬Ûάˇ ±˜º
›¬Û±À¬ı˛ ¬ı±˘≈‰¬¬ı˛–Ù≈¬˘ Á¡À¬ı˛-˚±› ˛± ˜≈ ” ≈∏« fl¡±À˙¬ı˛ ¬ıÚº ¸±˜ÀÚ ‰“¬±√ ;˘ÀÂ√ºíí 23
All these have adorned the language of the story and have made this
subject-matter embellished with the implied meaning. It has become the key
to understand the characters under the perspective of contextual time.
234
Actually the diction is the original creation of the author. The author applies a
special form of language to deliver his thought. That is why a critic has said :
"A good author is a craftsman in words. He knows and exploits
the potentialities of language according to his purposes in a
story."24
Sometimes, in short stories, local dialects are also applied. Narayan
Gangopadhyay has made his characters alive with the local dialects in some
of his short stories. For example, the language of the boatman in the story,
‘Kalabadar’ was coloured with their local dialect, which has made the story
lively :
ëë › ˜±øÁ¡ ˆ¬±˝◊√√, Œfl¡¬ı˛± ˛± ˚±¬ı±∑
- ˚±˝◊√√À¬ıÚ fl¡˝◊√√∑
- Ê√±Î¬◊ ±/
-Ê√±Î¬◊˘±∑ Ê√±Î¬◊˘±¬ı˛ ˝√√±È¬∑
- ˝√√º
- fl¡Ú fl¡œ∑ ˝√√±¬ı˛± [¸±¬ı˛±] ¬ı˛±øM√√¬ı˛ ¬Û±øάˇ Œ√›ÀÚ¬ı˛ fl¡±˜º
- fl¡ï ˜ øfl¡ fl¡›∑ ø¬ı ˛± ’±ÀÂ√, ˚±˝◊√√ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ’˝◊√√À¬ıº
- ˝√√ – ¬ı≈Á¡øÂ√ºíí25
A writer has to be careful that the ‘Rasa’ of the story should not be
hazy, by the excessive use of regional language, because, the writer who
uses a particular local dialect may not reach to the reader who may be
ignorant about that regional language. Here in case of Narayan
235
Gangopadhyay, we see, local dialect has made the concept of his story more
suitable.
Narayan Gangopadhyay is also deft in creating the woman-character
through ingenious language. No woman character is same among each other
created by him. In this context, we can see his skill of diction in the story,
‘Banatulsi’, included in the short story-collection, ‘Bhogabati’ :
ë댉¬±À‡ ¬Ûάˇ fl¡±À˘± ¬Û±ÔÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ ∆Ó¬¬ı˛œ Œˆ¬Ú±¸, ¬Û”Ì«À˚ìıÚ± ¸“±›Ó¬±À˘¬ı˛ Œ˜À˚˛º
ø¬ıiß±¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ’±Î¬ˇ±À˘ øÚÊ«√Ú ‡±À˘¬ı˛ Ò±À¬ı˛ “√±øάˇÀ ˛ ¸˚ÀP ·±S˜±Ê«√Ú± fl¡¬ı˛ÀÂ√º
‰¬±¬ı˛ø√Àfl¡¬ı˛ ¬Û‘øÔ¬ıœ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬±˝◊√√ øÚ–¸ÀDZ‰¬ ¤¬ı— ¤fl¡±ôL øÚ¬ı˛±¬ı¬ı˛Ìº fl¡Úfl¡‰“¬±¬Û±
¬ı˛À„√√¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˛ÃÀ^ ά◊ƒ√√‚±øȬӬ ’¬Û”¬ı« Œ√˝√√¿ºíí26
In another occasion he has narrated the gracefulness of a woman in
the story, ‘Apaghat’, included in the short story-collection ‘Kalabadar’ as:
ëë¬ı˛±ÀÊ√f±Úœ¬ı˛ ˜ÀÓ¬± Œ√ √√¿º ¸¬ı≈Ê√ ¬ı˛À„√√¬ı˛ Œ¬ı˛ ˜œ øÙ¬ÀÓ¬ Ê√άˇ±ÀÚ± fl¡±À˘±
Œ¬ıÚœøȬ ø¬ÛÀͬ¬ı˛ ¸œ˜±Ú± Â√±øάˇÀ˚˛ ’ÀÚfl¡‡±øÚ øÚÀ‰¬ ŒÚÀ˜ ¤À¸ÀÂ√º fl¡¬Û±À˘
˜˚”¬ı˛fl¡Fœ ¬ı˛À„√√¬ı˛ øȬ¬Ûº ≈√ÀÒ ’±˘Ó¬± ˛ Œ˜˙±ÀÚ± ·±À ˛¬ı˛ ¬ı˛„√√— Œ˚ ˙±øάˇ Œ˚
¬ıv±Î¬◊Ê√øȬ ¬ÛÀ¬ı˛, Œ¸˝◊√√ÀȬ˝◊√√ Œ˚Ú ’æ”√Ó¬ˆ¬±À¬ı ˙¬ı˛œÀ¬ı˛¬ı˛ Â√Àµ¬ı˛ ¸Àe ø˜À˙ ˚± ˛ºíí27
Women from different section of life have occupied places in his short
stories. Santhal, Adibasi, lower middle-class, solvent middle-class almost
every woman in his writing are having grace and beauty.
Beside these, other elements are also important to create an ideal
short story. For instance, style of speech, emotion, truth of life, entitlement,
anxiety, co-existence between emotion and plot, concord in tune, impression
of truth, the attractive beginning and surprising end, dramatic suspense all
236
these elements make the binding of the short story an attractive one. A critic
has said about the style of speech in a story :
ëë¬ı…øMï √-ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ Œ˚‡±ÀÚ ¸fl¡À˘¬ı˛ ¸Àe ¤fl¡, Œ¸‡±ÀÚ Œ¸ ¬ı…øMï √Q˝√√œÚ , Œ˚‡±ÀÚ
Œ¸ ¸fl¡À˘¬ı˛ ’À¬Û鬱 ’Ú…Ó¬¬ı˛, Œ¸‡±ÀÚ˝◊√√ Ó¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ¶§fl¡œ˚˛Ó¬±º ¬ı…¬ı˝√√±ø¬ı˛fl¡
Ê√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ¤fl¡±ôL ¶§fl¡œ ˛Ó¬± Œ˚˜Ú ¬ı…øMï √-¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬± ˛fl¡, ¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…-Ê√·ÀÓ¬›
ŒÓ¬˜Ú˝◊√√ Œ˘‡Àfl¡¬ı˛ ø¬ıø˙©Ü ¬ı˛‰¬Ú±ˆ¬øe Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ˜±Ú¸-¬ı…øMï √ÀQ¬ı˛ ¬Ûø¬ı˛‰¬± ˛fl¡º ’Ô«±»
≈√˝◊√√Ȭœ Ê√·ÀÓ¬˝◊√√ ˜±Ú≈À ∏¬ı˛ ¤fl¡øȬ ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏ ©Ü±˝◊√√˘ ’±ÀÂ√º …….¸±ø˝√√Ó¬…Ê√·ÀÓ¬¬
¬ı˛‰¬Ú±¬ı˛ ¤˝◊√√ ø¬ıø˙©ÜÓ¬±Àfl¡ ’±˜¬ı˛± ©Ü±˝◊√√˘ ¬ı± ¬ı±Ìœˆ¬øe ¬ıø˘º ˚±˝√√±¬ı˛ ©Ü±˝◊√√˘ Ú±˝◊√√
øÓ¬øÚ qX ø˘ø‡ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú, ¸˝√√Ê√ ø˘ø‡ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú, øfl¡c Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ¬ı…øMï √Q ¡Z±¬ı±
’±˜±ø√·Àfl¡ ’øˆ¬ˆ¬”Ó¬ fl¡ø¬ı˛ÀÓ¬ ¬Û±À¬ı˛Ú Ú±ºíí 28
The scintillating excellent creation of short story is built- up causing
properly reconciliation of its every element and ingredients. The subtotal
feelings out of it, is the consequence of the ‘Rasa’ of that creation. Here lies a
deep feeling of happiness and a kind of appreciativeness.
The adjustment between form and subject matter, the artistic works by
language, a realism and unrevealed romanticism have made his short stories
ever new and the appeal of such stories has become permanent and
perpetual. In this context a critic’s comment about Narayan Gangopadhyay,
can be remembered :
¬ëëÊ√œ¬ıÀÚ¬ı˛ ¬ıø˝√√¬ı˛e˜” fl¡ ¬ÛȬˆ¬”ø˜fl¡± ¬ı˛‰¬Ú± ˛ › ˝◊√√˝√√±¬ı˛ ¸±˜ø˚fl¡ ø¬ıÀ鬱Àˆ¬
’±À˘±øάˇÓ¬ ·øÓ¬À¬ı·À√…±Ó¬Ú±˚ øÓ¬øÚ Œ˚ fl‘¡øÓ¬Q Œ√‡±˝◊√√˚±ÀÂ√Ú Ó¬±˝√√± ¸Ó¬…˝◊√√
õ∂˙—¸Úœ ˛º Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ¬ıÌ«Ú±˚˛ ø¬ı≈√…» Á¡˘ø¸˚± ά◊Àͬ, Ó¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ˝◊√√øÓ¬˝√√±¸À¬ı±Ò Ê√œ¬ıôL
› ;˘ôL, Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛ ¬’±À¬ı· õ∂fl¡±À˙¬ı˛ ¬ˆ¬± ∏± ¸±ÀÇøÓ¬fl¡Ó¬±¬ı˛ ¬¬ı˛ √√À¸… ˆ¬±¶§¬ı˛, Ó“¬±˝√√±¬ı˛
237
¬ı˛±ÊÕÚøÓ¬fl¡ Œ‰¬Ó¬Ú± ¸” «fl¡¬ı˛√œ5 ø√˝√√˜±‰¬˘-˙‘Àe¬ı˛ Ú…±˚ ά◊8˘ ›
ά◊X«À˘±fl¡‰¬±¬ı˛œºíí 29
Bengali short stories that make us proud, owes much to Narayan
Gangopadhyay, it is inevitably to be acknowledged.
238
NOTES & REFERENCES :
1. M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham : A glossary of Literary
Terms, p.-140.
2. Alok Roy : “Galper Sandhane Galpakar”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al.
(ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika, Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya,
Janu.-April Issue,1992, Baimela, p.-8.
3. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Sahitye Chotogalpa, pp.-202-203.
4. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-134.
5. William Henry Hudson : An Introduction to the Study of Literature,
p.-11.
6. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Sahitye Chotogalpa, p.-221.
7. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-682.
8. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Sahitye Chotogalpa, p.-203.
9. Sripantha : Day, p.-13.
10. Ujjalkumar Mazumdar : Introduction, Galpasamagra by Narayan
Gangopadhyay, p.-12.
11. Ibid, p.-211.
12. Alok Roy (ed.) : Sahityakosh : Kathasahitya, p.-37.
13. Sarojmohan Mitra : Banglay Galpa O Chotogalpa, p.-285.
14. Sudeshna Chakraborty : “Samayer Britta: Narayan Gangopadhyayer
‘Uponibesh’ ”, in Tapas Bhowmik, et al. (ed.), Korak Sahitya Patrika,
Narayan Gangopadhyay Sankhya, Janu.-April Issue,1992, Baimela,
p.-98.
239
15. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol.-10, Micropaedia, Ready
Reference, p.-761.
16. Jagadish Bhattacharya : Amar Kaler Kayekjan Kathashilpi, p.-153.
17. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-843.
18. Ibid, p.-918.
19. Ibid, p.913.
20. Ibid, p.-914.
21. Ibid, p.-916.
22. Ibid, p.-915.
23. Ibid, p.-918.
24. Dietrich, R.F. & Sundell, H. Roger : The Art of Fiction, p.-185.
25. Narayan Gangopadhyay : Galpasamagra, p.-740.
26. Ibid, p.-359.
27. Ibid, p.-700.
28. Shrishchandra Das : Sahityasandarshan, p.-208.
29. Srikumar Bandyopadhyay: Bangasahitye Upanyaser Dhara,
p.-634.
240
CONCLUSION
If we arrive towards a conclusion, with Narayan Gangopadhyay and his
short stories, we can resolve that Narayan Gangopadhyay is a writer with
human concern, a successful creator, and a short story writer with linguistic
efficiency. The theories of short stories are at his finger-tips. The other
branches of Bengali literature may not belong to the same genus of world
literature, yet the short stories have got that glory, this branch of Bengali
literature has been welcomed by the readers all over the world, and this has
happened by the renowned short story writers like Narayan Gangopadhyay. If
we study his short stories, we see that he has created a perspective, with a
fine touch about the man and their lives. Variety of human life and their
psyche has found spaces in his writings. In fact he is a time-conscious writer.
He has been a compassionate writer, who has given a sympathetic touch to
the deteriorating human and humanity; that found spaces in his
consciousness with the spirit of that age. As if that age becomes vivid in front
of the reader. His literature is a protest against injustice, and irreligion, which
is expected from a noble human-writer like him. We have discussed over
these issues at length.
Narayan Gangopadhyay is a successful short story writer. He has
captured the multi-dimensional issues with contemporaneous cotext. We have
seen that the life and vision of his life has been reiterated in his literature,
especially in his short stories. It is true about every mature litterateur that
whatever he or she has experienced in past life that nourishes their flow of
241
creation in future. Their experience is unlocked in his matured life, which has
been grown out of his own past life.
His childhood has been spent in North and East Bengal. There he has
been initiated with the knolls and dells, the country side, rivers, forests and
other geological perspectives, that have been depicted in his own writings. As
his childhood has been spent under the freedom movement, so was his
patriotic fervour. Many short-stories were written with the issues of
philanthropy and love to humanity. He was in favour of humanity.
We have tried to discuss over Narayan Gangopadhyay’s affinity with
his contemporary writers and his exclusiveness. Narayan Gangopadhyay has
both similarities and his originality from those writers. All of them were original
on their own. All of them emerged in the 40’s. Their development as writers
took place at that same time. That is why we have tried to find out their point
of views upon their respective time, and how they have expressed their
feelings through their creations.
The main theme of discussion about the short stories of Narayan
Gangopadhyay is a scrutiny to the respective subject-matter. He has written
upon several myriad subjects, we have selected a few of them keeping in
view of the prime subjects. Same content and form has been reiterated in
different short stories, again more than one subject has entered in a single
short story as a leit-motif. We have discussed over the issues, retaining in his
works that have reflected.
242
Proficient short story writer, Narayan Gangopadhyay, has
experimented on the form and style of short stories in his own writings. In the
context of form many of his short stories have touched a new horizon in
Bengali literature. The form and style of his short stories is variegated. We
know that he has written a book on the form and theories of short stories. It is
no wonder that a professor of Bengali literature will be aware of the inns and
outs of literature, but it is surprising when we see him both, as a good short
story writer and as a theoretician. Two fusions are being worked in creating a
short story— one is the author’s own life, world and a feeling for humanity, it is
his philosophy of life. Secondly, the elements, which he collects from his life
according to his own tendency and that helps to shape as an Art of literature
by his philosophy of life. In almost every short story by Narayan
Gangopadhyay, we see this fusion.
In Narayan Gangopadhyay’s short stories, we see that facts,
characters, realities have been tinged with romantic imagination. In a few
short stories written by him, we also observe exaggerated pictures of
ruthlessness. His poetic mind too, has been expressed in course of his
writings. Though he has experienced wretched decay of human values, yet
his mind was a stable one to experience positive values in course of his
writings.
Finally, we find that Narayan Gangopadhyay has observed the realities
of his time with a conscious eye. His short stories have been expressed as a
tone of time and social consciousness. Twin aspects of cleverness and talent
243
have come to meet the point, which speaks of truth that he has culled from
realities in a more modern ethos of life at stake, in his own writings.
He is a rare talent amongst his contemporaneous writers. He has
travelled on a different route, especially, in the field of his short stories. He
has never limited his scope and ways while most of his contemporaneities
have been busy in delineating the ill-fated middle-class society; he has
enlarged his vision and mind to far off. It seems that Narayan Gangopadhyay
is the only one craftsman, who has tried to understand his country and his
compatriots not in a fragmented way, but in totality. He has tried to divulge the
problems of human being not from any particular region, but about the whole
mankind. Narayan Gangopadhyay will do remain immortal in his creativities.
His stories are universal, with elements from his contextual times in golden
letters. Through the analysis of his short stories, such words of truth manifest
itself repeatedly.
244
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