![]() | |
Author | Sarat Chandra |
---|---|
Language | Bengali |
Genre | Novel |
Publication date |
|
Publication place | India |
Text | Srikanta at Wikisource |
Srikanta, also spelled Srikanto, is a Bengali novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Published in four parts between 1917 and 1933, [1] It has been described as Sarat Chandra's 'masterpiece'. [2] [3] [4] The novel takes its title after the name of its protagonist, Srikanta, who lives the life of a wanderer.
In a conversation, Sarat Chandra revealed that the book is partly autobiographical, and his own life experiences provided the basis for the experiences of the protagonist Srikanta; however, he added a caveat:
But they do not follow a common course. Fragments of experience, at different times of my life, have been presented as complete experiences...with the aid of the imagination. [1]
Although not a travelogue, the book is described as involving journeys—both physical and spiritual. On being asked whether he considered Srikanta to be a travelogue, an autobiography, or a novel, Sarat Chandra's reply was: "A collection of scattered memories−nothing else." [1]
Spanned in four parts, Srikanta was written over a period of more than sixteen years. The first three parts, except the last three chapters of third part, were serialized in a monthly magazine Bharatbarsha, under the title Srikantar Bhraman Kahini (lit. The Tale of Srikanta's Wanderings). While the fourth part was serialized in another monthly magazine Bichitra, with a slightly changed name Srikanta Chaturtha Parba. The first three parts of the novel were published as a book, with the modified title, in 1917, 1918 and 1927 respectively. The fourth was published as a book in 1933 with the short title Srikanta, and was acclaimed as the great work of Sarat Chandra. [5]
Set in sometime between late 19th-century to early 20th century, [6] the story occurs in different regions of British India — Bhagalpur, Patna, Rangoon, Sainthia (Birbhum) and Debanandapur (Hooghly). [7]
While living in his uncle's house, Srikanta, a boy, one day, meets Indranath, a boy of his age, during a football match and from that time, they become close friends. Srikanta accompanies Indranath in his daring adventures. Indranath loves and helps with money an outcast woman named Annadadidi, wife of a Romani snake-charmer. Srikanta also comes to close to Annadadidi. Meanwhile, Annadadidi's husband dies of snake-bite leaving her alone, one day she disappears from the scene Indranath also goes away one day and is never seen again. In course of time, Srikanta by chance meets a princely friend of his and goes out on a hunting expedition. There in the prince's tent, he meets Piyari, a nautch (dance) girl, who is none other than his old and dear schoolmate. Her real name is Rajlakshmi. She has not forgotten her old love which grows more intense while meeting Srikanta. After leaving the hunting party, Srikanta, the vagabond that he is, joins a group of roving mendicants. During the travelling Srikanta falls ill, and with some difficulty he sends news of his illness to Piyari at Patna, who hurriedly comes with her stepson to him and takes him to Patna. Srikanta spends some days there in the loving care of Piyari, and one day Srikanta takes leave of Piyari and goes to his native village. [3] [7]
In the second part, Srikanta's voyage to Rangoon (Burma) and his stay there have been narrated in details. [7]
Srikanta gets acquainted with many strange people on board the ship bound for Rangoon, among whom are Abhaya, a young married woman, and her male companion named Rohini. Abhaya was going to Rangoon to live with her husband, but she is treated very inhumanly by her beastly husband and is refused entry into his house. Abhaya and Rohini, who love each other, live together like husband and wife. Srikanta returns to his native village, but is taken ill there. Rajalakshmi comes to him and takes charge of his treatment and nursing. [3]
Srikanta and Rajalakshmi come to a village in the district of Birbhum. There Rajalakshmi is always busy with her religious practices and discourses. Srikanta is left alone, the rift between them becomes wider. [3]
Srikanta thinks of going to Burma again, but by chance he meets his old friend Gahar in his village. Gahar takes him to a Vaishnava Ashram where he meets Kamallata who becomes very intimate with him. At the end, Kamallata leaves the Ashram bidding goodbye to Srikanta. [3]
The principle characters of the novel are: [7]
The book features a large number of female characters− most of them based on women Sarat Chandra had known personally. There is Annada Didi, brought up in a conservative middle-class family, who elopes with a snake charmer. [8] Although her husband is a scoundrel, Annada remains loyal to him, for which she is idolized by the young Srikanta. [1] [2] This character is based on a Muslim woman who lived with her snake charmer husband in a village near Sarat's native village. As a child, Sarat would often visit her with his friend Indranath. Indranath is courageous and daredevil who always inspires Sarat. When Annada's husband died, this woman had sold her earrings to the local grocer with instruction that the money obtained be given to Sarat, and soon after that she had left her village permanently. [1]
Another character in the book is Abhaya, who begins a live in relationship with a man in defiance of the existing social norms, after being deserted by her husband. This character is based on a woman Sarat Chandra had known in Rangoon, who lived in a locality inhabited by mechanics and artisans. Her husband would periodically beat this woman, and yet out of a slavish chastity she would not leave him despite there being a man who loved her and who offered to rescue her from her plight. In the book, Sarat Chandra depicts women demanding rights for themselves in their own voice. The protagonist Srikanta has an argument with Abhaya about the propriety of what Abhaya has done; Srikanta argues from the orthodox and traditional point of view, but all his arguments are intelligently demolished by Abhaya. [1]
Srikanta was translated into English by Sachchidananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya' in 1944. [9] [10] It was translated into French by J G Delamain (1930), and into Italian by Ferdinando Belloni-Filippi (1925). [11] In 2006, it was translated into Spanish by Gloria Khisha. [12]
A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar such as "I", "me", "my", and "myself". It must be narrated by a first-person character, such as a protagonist, re-teller, witness, or peripheral character. Alternatively, in a visual storytelling medium, the first-person perspective is a graphical perspective rendered through a character's visual field, so the camera is "seeing" out of a character's eyes.
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.
Devdas is a 1935 Bengali film directed by Pramathesh Barua and based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel, Devdas. It stars Barua himself as Devdas and Jamuna Barua as Parvati (Paro) and Chandrabati Devi as Chandramukhi. This was Barua's first of three language versions of the story, the second being in Hindi and the third in Assamese. The Bengali film was dubbed into Tamil and released in 1936. K. L. Saigal sang two songs in Tamil for this film.(See Ext. links for a link.)
Mannu Bhandari was an Indian author, screenplay writer, teacher, and playwright. Primarily known for her two Hindi novels, Aap Ka Bunty and Mahabhoj (Feast), Bhandari also wrote over 150 short stories, several other novels, screenplays for television and film, and adaptations for theater. She was a pioneer of the Nayi Kahani movement in Hindi literature, which focused on the aspirations of the emerging Indian middle class, and her own work is notable for its depiction of the inner lives of middle class working and educated women. Her work tackles themes of family, relationships, gender equality, and caste discrimination in India.
Kanan Devi was an Indian actress and singer. She was among the early singing stars of Indian cinema, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema. Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was used instrumentally in some of the biggest hits of New Theatres, Kolkata.
Ambale Ramakrishna Krishnashastry (1890–1968) was an Indian writer, researcher and translator in the Kannada language. Krishnashastry has remained popular four decades after his death through his work Vachana Bharata, and his narration of the Hindu epic Mahabharata in the Kannada.
Dinabandhu Mitra, also known as Denobhandhoo Mithra, was a Bengali-language writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play Nil Darpan (1860).
Sumati Kshetramade was an India Marathi writer from Maharashtra.
S. Krishnamoorthy or S. Krishnamurthy has been writing short stories and articles in English and Tamil for over four decades. He was also the winner of prestigious Sahitya Akademi prize for translation.
Kapalkundala is a Bengali romance novel by Indian writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Published in 1866, it is a story of a forest-dwelling girl named Kapalkundala, who fell in love with and married Nabakumar, a young gentleman from Saptagram, but eventually found that she is unable to adjust herself with the city life. Following the success of Chattopadhyay's first novel Durgeshnandini, he decided to write about a girl who is brought up in a remote forest by a Kapalika and never saw anyone but her foster-father. The story is set in Dariapur, Contai in modern-day Purba Medinipur district, Paschimbanga where Chattopadhyay served as a Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector.
Durgeshnandini is a Bengali historical romance novel written by Indian writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1865. Durgeshnandini is a story of the love triangle between Jagat Singh, a Mughal General, Tilottama, the daughter of a Bengali feudal lord and Ayesha, the daughter of a rebel Pathan leader against whom Jagat Singh was fighting. The story is set against the backdrop of Pathan-Mughal conflicts that took place in south-western region of modern-day Indian state of Paschimbanga during the reign of Akbar.
Iti Srikanta is a 2004 Bengali period drama film directed by Anjan Das. This film is based on novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, Srikanta (1917) In an interview in 2005, Das, director of the film, told about his depiction of the character Srikanta– "Several films have been made on Srikanta but all these had mainly dealt with specific chapters from Srikanta, the novel. I wanted to present the complete man — his inner conflict and turmoil over the two women in his life, torn between a baiji and a vaishnavi". He also felt, the crisis felt by Srikanta as shown in Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel are still relevant.
Anila Amrutlal Dalal is Gujarati critic and translator.
Maalaiyitta Mangai is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language film directed by G. R. Nathan and produced by Kannadasan under his own production company Kannadasan Films. The film's soundtrack was composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. The film stars T. R. Mahalingam, Pandari Bai and Mynavathi, with Manorama, Kaka Radhakrishnan and C. Lakshmi Rajyam in supporting roles. It is based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Chandra Nath. The film was released on 27 June 1958 and became a success.
Shrikant is a TV show based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya's 1917-1933 four volume novel Srikanta. The show aired on Doordarshan in 1987.
Subodh Chandra Sengupta was an Indian scholar, academic and critic of English literature, known for his scholarship on Shakespearean works. His books on William Shakespeare, which included Aspects of Shakespearian Tragedy, Shakespearian Comedy and Shakespeare's Historical Plays are critically acclaimed for scholarship and academic rigor. He was a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Presidency College, Calcutta, and after retirement from Presidency College, became Professor of English Language and Literature at Jadavpur University, Calcutta, as well as a professor of English literature at Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, an autonomous college in Greater Calcutta under the University of Calcutta. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1983, for his contributions to literature and education.
Pather Dabi 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.
Kundanika Kapadia was an Indian novelist, story writer and essayist from Gujarat.
Rajlakshmi O Srikanta is a 1958 Bengali drama film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya and produced by Kanan Devi based on the iconic and famous novel Srikanta of the legendary Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. This film was released in 1958 under the banner of Srimati Pictures. The film starring Uttam Kumar Suchitra Sen, Anil Chatterjee, Tulsi Chakraborty. Music direction of the film was done by Jnan Prakash Ghosh.
Indranath Srikanta O Annadadidi is a Bengali drama film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya and produced by Kanan Devi. It was based on a part of the famous novel Srikanta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The film was released on 3 October 1959 under the banner of Sreemati Pictures.