Kosala (English: Cocoon), sometimes spelled Kosla, is a Marathi novel by Indian writer Bhalchandra Nemade, published in 1963. Regarded as Nemade's magnum opus, and accepted as a modern classic of Marathi literature, the novel uses the autobiographical form to narrate the journey of a young man, Pandurang Sangvikar, and his friends through his college years.
Kosala is considered to be the first existentialist novel in Marathi literature. Since its publication, its open-ended nature and potential for varied interpretations have been viewed as ground-breaking. The novel has become a modern classic of post-1960 Marathi fiction, and has been translated into eight South Asian languages and into English.
Publication
Kosala, Bhalchandra Nemade's debut novel,[1] was conceived and written during his Bombay phase.[2]
At 21, Nemade had failed in his journalistic aspirations, and returned to his native village. He was rebuffed there by his father, who was disappointed that his son risked squandering an expensive education to end up being a cowherd.[2]
In 1963, Nemade was 25 and living in his village. Likening himself to the Hindu king Trishanku, accepted neither by the city nor his village family, a despairing Nemade shut himself away and wrote his novel over a three-week period.[2]Kosala was published in September that same year by J. J. Deshmukh, who had learned of Nemade's talent and encouraged him to write during his sojourn in Bombay.[1][2]
The novel proved innovative, and quickly became a success. As a Bildungsroman, tracing the author's own story from childhood until his return to his village, it broke with Marathi narrative traditions. Several editions appeared in the years following the novel's initial publication. The twenty-second edition of Kosala was published in 2013.[1][3]
Contents
Kosala uses the first-person narrative technique to recount the first twenty-five years in the life of Pandurang Sangavikar,[1] a young man of rural upbringing who moves to Pune for his higher education. He feels isolated in his new social setting, and this persistent feeling of estrangement leads him to return home. There, he encounters further disillusionment, with the death of his sister, his father's domination, and his own financial dependence.[4] The novel aims to portray the spectrum of society from the viewpoint of Pandurang as a young boy.[5]
Pandurang Sangavikar–The protagonist, and only son of a rich village farmer. His fellow hostel students call him by his nickname, Pandu.
Pandurang's father–The head of a joint family, and a rich and respected man in his village.
Mani–Pandurang's younger sister.
Giridhar–Pandurang's village friend.
Suresh Bapat–Pandurang's college friend in Pune.
Plot
The story unfolds during the 1950s in Khandesh (a region in Central India), and in Pune. Using the autobiographical form, Kosala narrates the life-story of Pandurang Sangvikar, a young man of 25, in six sections.[6]
Pandurang is the son of a well-to-do farmer from Sangvi, a village in Khandesh. His family includes his parents, his grandmother, and his four sisters. Pandurang's relationship with his father is a difficult one, and they have been estranged since Pandurang was a boy. His father, who typifies the patriarchal family head, beats his son in childhood for wandering around in the company of his friends. He does not allow the young boy to learn to play the flute, or to perform in his school's plays. Pandurang considers his father excessively money-minded, materialistic, selfish, unscrupulous, and dictatorial. In sharp contrast to his relationship with his father, Pandurang loves his mother and his sisters dearly.[6]
After passing his local school's matriculation examination, Pandurang moves to Pune to attend college.[6] While studying, Pandurang lives in a hostel. He decides to make the most of college life, and becomes the secretary of the college debating society, prefect of the hostel, and directs a play at the college Annual Day function. Out of kindness, he gives responsibility for the management of the hostel mess to one of his poor friends. But, although Pandurang tries to help everyone around him, he ultimately discovers that his friends are using him. Finally, when he fails his exams badly and his financial position deteriorates, his father becomes angered by Pandurang's lifestyle. Pandurang learns a lesson: that good deeds do not count for much in life.[7]
In his second year of college, Pandurang is an entirely new man, carefree and adventurous. Even his father now hesitates to ask him to mend his ways. He is shaken by the untimely death of his younger sister, Mani, but otherwise has no care for anything. In consequence, he fails his exam. After unsuccessful attempts to find work in the city, ultimately Pandurang returns to his village, his mind "existentially vacant". He is now one of many unemployed youngsters of the village. As Pandurang tries to understand their views on life, their sorrows and their joys, the true meaning of life begins to dawn.[7]
Theme and techniques
The main theme of Kosala is alienation.[1] The novel is influenced by existential philosophy,[4] exploring existentialist ideas such as an obsession with birth and death, dread, alienation, and absurdity.[8] Like other existential novels, Kosala uses the first person point of view to recount an individual's experiences, and in this exploration raises many questions regarding the meaning of life and the value of existence. It is considered the first existential novel in Marathi literature.[8]
Pandurang is estranged from his father, and has been from childhood.[6] Later in the novel, this estrangement develops into a major theme of the younger generation's mute revolt against the patriarchal value system characteristic of traditional Indian life.[6] Pandurang has not found anything meaningful in his experience of village life.[6] Over a six-year period, this experience of meaninglessness repeats itself in his college life in Pune.[6]
Despite the novel's pessimistic undertones, an element of humour runs through Kosala. Oblique, irrelevant humour is used as a serious moral strategy, to unmask the falseness of society and culture.[6]
Kosala is widely regarded as both a modern classic[12] and a ground-breaking novel[13] which left its mark on sathottari, or post-1960, Marathi fiction.[14] Nemade rapidly came to be considered a representative writer of his generation with its publication.[1]
According to Nemade himself, Kosala was given a hostile reception by the Marathi establishment, both for its portrayal of the professorial class, and for its description of the profane world.[2] But it gained an enthusiastic following among readers of the younger generation, who identified with the thinking exemplified by its protagonist.[2] The novel heralded a new trend in Marathi literature, and other commentators hold that it received immediate critical acclaim.[4]
Since its publication, Kosala has been considered a trendsetter in Marathi literature, because of its open-ended quality and its potential for varied interpretation.[15] It is the novel most widely appreciated and interpreted by a number of literary critics, including: Dilip Chitre, Narhar Kurundkar, Chandrashekhar Jahagirdar, Vilas Sarang, Sukanya Aagase, Rekha Inamdar-Sane, and Vasudev Sawant.[15] Chandrashekhar Jahagirdar wrote: "It was only Kosla[sic], which responding as it did to a crisis in the cultural consciousness of Maharashtra, that opened up new, native possibilities of form and meaning and thus sought to change the direction of both literary taste and fictional tradition".[15]
Kosala has been adapted into a play, Me, Pandurang Sangavikar (lit. I am Pandurang Sangavikar), directed by Mandar Deshpande.[16]
Translations
Kosala has been translated into eight Indian languages, and into English. The available translations of the novel are as follows:
Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari and Modi script.
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India. He was the first Marathi author to win the prestigious Jnanpith Award.
Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade is an Indian Marathi language writer, poet, critic and linguistic scholar. Beginning with his debut novel Kosala, Nemade brought new dimensions to the world of Marathi literature. This was followed by a tetralogy consisting of novels Bidhar, Hool, Jareela and Jhool. In 2013, Nemade published his magnum opus titled Hindu: Jagnyachi Samruddha Adgal which is regarded as his masterpiece. Nemade is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award as well as the Jnanapith Award, the highest literary honour in India. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri.
Chandrashekhara Kambara is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi also president of the Sahitya Akademi, country's premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1983) and U.R. Ananthamurthy (1993). He is known for effective adaptation of the North Karnataka dialect of the Kannada language in his plays, and poems, in a similar style as in the works of D.R. Bendre.
"Tarkateertha" Lakshman Shastri Joshi was an Indian scholar, of Sanskrit, Hindu Dharma, and a Marathi literary critic, and supporter of Indian independence. Mahatma Gandhi chose him to be his principal advisor in his campaign against untouchability. Joshi was equally a pragmatist, endorsing Nehru's investments in higher education and heavy industry.
Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.
Nagnath Lalujirao Kottapalle was an Indian educationist and Marathi writer from Maharashtra. He was the vice chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, whose seat is in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He was elected as a president of 86th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan scheduled to be held at Chiplun.
A. Sethumadhavan, popularly known as Sethu, is a Malayalam fiction writer. He has published more than 35 books. He won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2007 for the work Adayalangal. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Awards in 1982 and 1978 for his works Pandavapuram and Pediswapnangal; and Vayalar Award for Adyalangal in 2005. He also won Odakkuzhal award for his novel Marupiravi. Sethu's other literary works include Velutha Koodarangal, Thaliyola, Kiratham, Niyogam, Sethuvinte Kathakal and Kaimudrakal. He also served as the chairman and CEO of the South Indian Bank. In 2022, he won the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, highest literary honour of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Ashok Damodar Ranade was a scholar musician and ethnomusicologist. Ranade was a vocalist trained in traditional Hindustani Art music. He was a composer constantly experimenting with new uncharted vistas. A pioneer of Cultural Musicology in India, Dr Ranade was a missionary who contributed in enriching India’s cultural life in the 21st century.
Konkani literature is literature in the Konkani language, mostly produced in three scripts: Roman, Devanagari and Kannada. Konkani literature is eligible for the Sahitya Akademi Award
Kavita Mahajan was an Indian author and translator who wrote in Marathi. She is noted for her critically acclaimed novels Brr (2005), Bhinna (2007) and Kuhoo (2011), as well as a non-fiction work Graffiti Wall (2009). She was the winner of the 2011 translation award conferred by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
Jayant Himmatlal Pathak was a Gujarati poet and literary critic from Gujarat, India. He was the president of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad from 1990 – 1991. He received several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kumar Suvarna Chandrak, the Narmad Suvarna Chandrak, the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak and the Uma-Snehrashmi Prize. The Jayant Pathak Poetry Award is named after him.
Rasiklal Chhotalal Parikh (1897–1982) was a 20th-century Gujarati poet, playwright, literary critic, Indologist, historian, and editor from Gujarat, India. He was the president of Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and was appointed the president of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in 1964. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960 for his play Sharvilak. He is also a recipient of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak and the Narmad Suvarna Chandrak.
Pachola (पाचोळा), Fall, is a short, Marathi-language novel written R. R. Borade. Published in 1971, Pachola is a story of Parvati, wife of a tailor, through emotional stresses created in the lives of village craftsmen because of modernization. The story is narrated from the viewpoint of Parvati and describes the pathetic fall of her family life. It is written in Osmanabadi dialect of Marathi, which gives it a rural flavour and lends it authenticity and charm.
Rajaram Bhalchandra Patankar, generally known as R. B. Patankar, was a Marathi critic and scholar of modern aesthetics, who wrote both in Marathi and English. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 for his scholarly work Saundarya Mimansa (1974).
Shekhar: Ek Jivani is an unfinished Hindi-language novel by Indian writer Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, also known by his pen-name, Agyeya. Published in two parts, with a third part that has yet to see the light of day, Ek Jivani is semi-biographical in nature and is considered to be Agyeya's magnum opus.
Pan Lakshat Kon Gheto is an 1890 Marathi-language novel by Hari Narayan Apte. Written in autobiographical style, the novel tells the story of Yamuna, a young Hindu middle-class woman, who dies after suffering the injustices of a society where child marriage is customary. It is considered to be a classic novel in Marathi literature.
Shesh Namaskar is a 1971, Indian, Bengali-language novel that was written by Santosh Kumar Ghosh. The novel, which is considered to be its author's magnum opus, is written in the form of a series of letters from a son to his deceased mother. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972.
Yayati is a 1959 Marathi-language mythological novel by Indian writer V. S. Khandekar. One of Khandekar's best-known works, it retells the story of the mythical Hindu king, Yayati, from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. The novel has multiple narrators, and poses several questions on the nature of morality. Scholars have analysed its hero, Yayati, as a representation of modern man. Accepted as classic of Marathi literature, Yayati has won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960 and the Jnanapith Award in 1974.
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 Chitre, Dilip (1969). "Alienation in Four Marathi Novels". Humanist Review. Bombay: Modern Education Foundation. 1 (2): 161–175. OCLC1752400.
1 2 George, K. M., ed. (1993). Modern Indian Literature: an Anthology: Fiction. Vol.2. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. p.745. ISBN81-7201-506-2.
1 2 Khaladkar, Dattatraya Dnyandev (2010). "Existentialism in Marathi Novels"(PDF). Existentialism in the Selected American and Marathi Novels: a Comparative Study (PhD). Kolhapur: Department of English, Shivaji University. pp.144–145. hdl:10603/9899.
↑ Padgaonkar, Latika (1997). "Cocoon by Bhalchandra Nemade (Book Review)". The Book Review. New Delhi: C. Chari for Perspective Publications. 21: 42. OCLC564170386.
↑ Sarang, Vilas (September–October 1992). "Tradition and Conflict in the Context of Marathi Literature". Indian Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. 35 (5): 159–168. JSTOR23337173.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
