Pather Dabi (The Right of Way; or Demands of the Road) is a Bengali novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. It was first published as a novel in 1926, after having been initially serialized in the journal Bangabani. The book is set in British-occupied India. [1] [2] [3]
The book is about a secret society named Pather Dabi whose goal is to free India from British rule.And Sarat Chandra chattopadhyay played a great role for making a Revolutionary mind in young Indians, which gives an effort to the Indians to free from this Torture by British.Sharat Chandra chattopadhyay helped to create an independent consciousness among the Indians.And he also mentioned that independence is the only way to save Indians and also mentioned that proper relationship is not only family relations but also a relation with anyone who is struggling to save India from the British rule, through the words of his novel.The leader of the organization is Sabyasachi Mallick, who is described as being highly educated, having studied medicine, engineering, and law in Europe and America. [3] [4] Sabyasachi is also endowed with physical strength and courage which enable him to elude British intelligence. His physical feats include swimming across a torrential river, and traversing the Eastern Himalayas on foot. [4]
Another major character, Apurba, a member of Pather Dabi, described as a contemptible figure. Emotional and impressionable, Apurba grieves at the colonial rule. He is, however, also weak, timid, and venal. A scene in the book depicts him being humiliated at a railway station by white youth. His obsession with caste purity even during illness and danger is depicted with contempt. Eventually, Apurba becomes a police informer. The main narrative in the book follows Apurba with Sabyasachi appearing unexpectedly, and disappearing as mysteriously. [5]
Sabyasachi does not believe in the caste system, and towards the end of the book pleads for the destruction of "all that is eternal (sanatan), ancient, and decaying--[in] religion, society, tradition" on the ground that these are "enemies of the nation." [6]
Other important characters in the novel are Sumitra and Bharati, who work alongside men in defiance of the traditional social conventions of the day. Sumitra is described as being beautiful and intelligent, besides being a nationalist. In the book, Sumitra makes an impassioned argument for why it is appropriate for a woman to leave a loveless marriage. [5]
According to a review of the book in the Indian Express :
The story touches upon contemporary issues ranging from untouchability, orthodoxy and faith to rich-poor divide and the status of women in the society, criticising the British policies and also India's inherent customs of religion and social structure with the same intensity. [3]
A correspondence between Sarat Chandra and Rabindranath Tagore took place after the ban imposed on the book. [7] Tagore justified the ban on the book, on the ground that it was a seditious book, while Sarat justified his book on the ground that "throughout India, large numbers of people are being imprisoned or externed by the government on flimsy grounds without trial or in flagrant miscarriage of justice." [10] [11] Sarat agreed with Tagore's assessment that the book caused the reader to become disenchanted with the British government, stating that this indeed was his intention in writing it. [12]
Vande Mātaram is a poem written in Pure Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the 1870s. The first two verses of the poem were adopted as the National Song of India in October 1937 by the Congress.
Syama Prasad Mookerjee was an Indian politician and academician. Noted for his opposition to Quit India movement within the independence movement in India, he later served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet after breaking up with the Hindu Mahasabha. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was an Indian novelist, poet, essayist and journalist. He was the author of the 1882 Bengali language novel Anandamath, which is one of the landmarks of modern Bengali and Indian literature. He was the composer of Vande Mataram, written in highly Sanskritised Bengali, personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring activists during the Indian Independence Movement. Chattopadhayay wrote fourteen novels and many serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treatises in Bengali. He is known as Sahitya Samrat in Bengali.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani Bengali barrister and politician. In Bangladesh, Suhrawardy is remembered as a pioneer of Bengali civil rights movements, later turned into Bangladesh independence movement, and the mentor of Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He is also remembered for his performance as the Minister for Civil Supply during the Bengal famine of 1943. In India, he is seen as a controversial figure; indirectly responsible for the 1946 Calcutta Killings.
Rabindra Sangeet, also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the first non-European to receive such recognition. Tagore was a prolific composer with approximately 2,232 songs to his credit. The songs have distinctive characteristics in the music of Bengal, popular in India and Bangladesh.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century. He generally wrote about the lives of Bengali family and society in cities and villages. However, his keen powers of observation, great sympathy for fellow human beings, a deep understanding of human psychology, an easy and natural writing style, and freedom from political biases and social prejudices enable his writing to transcend barriers and appeal to all Indians. He remains the most popular, translated, and adapted Indian author of all time.
Sugata Bose is an Indian historian and politician who has taught and worked in the United States since the mid-1980s. His fields of study are South Asian and Indian Ocean history. Bose taught at Tufts University until 2001, when he accepted the Gardiner Chair of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University. Bose is also the director of the Netaji Research Bureau in Kolkata, India, a research center and archives devoted to the life and work of Bose's great uncle, the Indian nationalist, Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose is the author most recently of His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire (2011) and A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (2006).
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The Partition of Bengal in 1947, also known as the Second Partition of Bengal, part of the Partition of India, divided the British Indian Bengal Province along the Radcliffe Line between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The Bengali Hindu-majority West Bengal became a state of India, and the Bengali Muslim-majority East Bengal became a province of Pakistan.
Chatterjee, also known as Chattopadhyay is a Bengali Hindu surname, used by the Kulin group of the Bengali Brahmin caste. Together with Banerjees, Mukherjees, Bhattacharjees, and Gangulys, Chatterjees form the Kulin Brahmins, the highest tier of the Bengali caste system. They belong to Rarhi clan of Bengali Brahmins and the Kashyapa gotra.
Bengali nationalism is a form of nationalism that focuses on Bengalis as a single ethnicity by rejecting imposition of other languages and cultures while promoting its own in Bengal. Bengalis speak the Bengali language and mostly live across Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Bengali nationalism is one of the four fundamental principles according to the Constitution of Bangladesh and was the main driving force behind the creation of the independent nation state of Bangladesh through the 1971 liberation war. Bengali Muslims make up the majority (90%) of Bangladesh's citizens (Bangladeshis), and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam (29%) and West Bengal (27%), whereas Bengali Hindus make up the majority (60%) of India's citizens (Indians) in Indian state of West Bengal, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of Assam (28%) and Jharkhand (8%) and the independent state of Bangladesh (8%).
Vālmīki-Pratibhā is an opera by Rabindranath Tagore. The Bengali libretto was written by Tagore himself based on the legend of Ratnakara the Thug who later became Sage Valmiki and composed Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay was a Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the elder brother of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Baṅgamātā, Bangla Maa, Mother Bengal or simply বাংলা/ Bangla, is a personification of Bengal created during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists. In Bangladeshi Bengali and Indian Bengali poetry, literature, cultural and patriotic song, she has become a symbol of Bangladesh and India's West Bengal & Tripura and considered as a personification of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well – protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life.
Sumitra Devi was an Indian actress who is recognised for her work in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema during the 1940s and 1950s. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her time, she is best remembered for her role in the 1952 Hindi film Mamta directed by Dada Gunjal. She was the recipient of BFJA Award for Best Actress for two times. She was one of the exquisite beauties of her time and has been regarded as the most beautiful woman of her time by veterans such as Pradeep Kumar and Uttam Kumar.
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Sabyasachi is a 1977 Bengali language period political action film directed by Pijush Bose. Based on the novel Pather Dabi written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, produced by Asim Sarkar under the banner of Usha Films. It stars Uttam Kumar in the titular role, alongside Supriya Devi, Bikash Roy, Kiran Lahiri and Tarun Kumar in lead roles. It marks the second film of Uttam Kumar, in which he also composed the soundtrack after Kal Tumi Aleya (1966).
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