Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay: The Immortal Chronicler of Village Life Dr Ratan Bhattacharjee

Tarasankar, who was born on July 23, 1898 lived 73 years till his death on September 14, 1971, was a prolific writer. In his life he wrote 65 novels, 53 story books, 12 plays, four essay books, four autobiographies and two travel stories. He also composed several songs. 

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay the chronicler of Bengal village life received his Jnanpith Award in 1966 for his masterpiece Ganadevata (People as God) which was written in 1942, This novel which was filmed by Tarun Majumdar in 1978 depicted the poverty, ignorance and primitive instinct of the village people of Bengal. None with the exception of Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay who wrote Pather Panchali and Munshi Premchand who wrote Godan can claim this fidelity to facts of real life in the portrayal of Indian rural life.Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay will forever be loved for his ability to work with a vast panorama of life. He wrote what he believed and observed without being biased. He made a mark by breaking away from poetic tradition in novels and instead adding an element of romance to human relationships. His novels belong to the Laal matirdesh, primarily Labhpur ofBirbhum. Be it Hansuli BankerUpakatha or Dhatridebata, his love for Bengal’s red soil is palpable.

Tarasankar, who was born on July 23 lived 73 years till his death on September 14, 1971, was a prolific writer . In his life he wrote 65 novels, 53 story books, 12 plays, four essay books, four autobiographies and two travel stories. He also composed several songs. He was the second writer to receive Jnanpith Award, the highest civilian honour in literature, given by Government of India. He received it in the year 1966 for his Bengali work, Ganadevta. He has also received Rabindra Puraskar (1955), Sahitya Akademi award (1956), Padma Shri in 1962 and Padma Bhushan (1969). He also received the Sharat Smriti Puraskar and the Jagattarini Gold Medal from the Calcutta University. He passed the Matriculation examination (1916) from Labhpur and took admission in IA at St Xavier's College, Calcutta. However, he soon left college to join the Non-cooperation movement in 1920. . He was imprisoned for one year in 1930 for his political activities. He took active part in anti-fascist movements. He was a member of the West Bengal Bidhan Sabha for eight years and the Rajya Sabha for six years. He worked for some time in Kanpur.

Tarasankar wrote in a variety of genres but was primarily a novelist. His poetry collection was published with the name ‘Tripatra’ (1926). But later on, he concentrated most on novels, drama and short stories. His best novels include – Panchagram, Hansuli Banker Upakatha, Aranyabahni, Yogobhrashta, Raikamal, Chhotoder Sandipan Pathshala, Shakkar Bai, KishkindhyaKando, Shuksari Katha before writing his masterpiece Ganadevata. His short story collection includes – Chhalanamoyee, Tarasankarer Shrestha Galpa, TarasankarBandyopadhyayerPriyoGalpo, Swa-NirbachitoGalpaand GobinSingherGhora.

His political ideas are reflected in his novels. His themes include communal riots, war, famine, the political implications of economic inequality, the independence movement, social conditions, the conflict of modernism with traditionalism, etc. Out of 131 books the prominent novels are Chaitali Ghurni(1931), JalsaGhar (1938), Dhatri Devata (1939), Kalindi(1940), Kavi (1944), Gana Devata (1943), Panchagram(1944), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1947), Arogya Niketan (1953), Radha (1956), to name only a few. Some popular movies were based on his novels, among them, Dui Purus, Kalindi, Arogya Niketan, JalsaGhar and of course Ganadevata.. He published three volumes of short stories. His famous short stories include 'Rasakali', 'Bedeni', 'Dak Harkara', He was also an artist and produced some fine paintings in his later years.

Tarasankar was associated with a number of literary organisations and became vice president (1956) and president (1970) of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. He led the Indian delegation of writers at the Asian Writers' Conference in Tashkent in 1957. He was president of the Prabasi Banga Sahitya Sammelan Kanpur, in 1944 and in Kolkata in 1947 and the All-India Writers' Conference in Chennai in 1957.The ancestral home of Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay in Labhpur, Birbhum is called ‘Dhatridebata,’ after one of his novels. The building is about 250 years old and was in a ramshackle condition. With each passing day, the condition of the dilapidated house which had kept memories of Tarasankar alive, was slowly worsening. Many parts of the historic building were collapsing. The West Bengal government finally came up with an initiative of restoring ‘Dhatridebata’ on the occasion of his 121st birth anniversary.

TarashankarBandopadhyay was born at Labpur, Birbhum district, West Bengal to Haridas Bandyopadhyay and Prabhabati Debi. His novels are rich in material and potentials. Tarasankar belongs to that group of writers of the third decades of 20th century who broke the poetic tradition in novels. He added romance to human relationship and his works were accepted in a new way allowing the reader to breathe the truth of human relationship. His books are yet to be translated into English si that they reach out to the global readership. Enakshi Chatterjee translated Tarasankar’sArogyaniketan but we are waiting for more such translations.Grassroots Publisher from Bhubaneswar translated the stories of Tarasankar. Soumya Ghosh translated Tarasankar’sTasherGhar as House of Cards. Prof Krishna Sen of Calcutta University encouraged research on Tarasankar’s Selected stories.There is no sense of doom in Tarasankar’s writings. They are a source of motivation and a celebration of human strength in the face of all onslaughts of inscrutable destiny. Birbhum his birthplace which is rich in folklore and music is fully explored by the son of the land as since his childhood days his thoughts and imagination were nourished by these myths and lores.

Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee,Associate Professor and Head of Post Graduate Dept of English and a trilingual poet can be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com