Bengali Literature Research Articles

Silent Strength and Subversive Acts: Feminist Interpretation of Pather Dabi (The Right of Way)

This research item delivers a feminist interpretation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Pather Dabi (The Right of Way), examining the subtle but powerful forms of resistance embodied by its female characters within the context of colonial Bengal. This article aims to analyze characters like Bharati and Sumitra’s journey in colonial India through their silent strength and subversive acts. The research shows that these women move forward to complex social and political landscapes, contributing significantly to revolutionary movements. Bharati’s intellectual prowess and strategic silences, juxtaposed with Sumitra’s behind-the-scenes activism, exemplify diverse modes of female empowerment and defiance. This paper explores the evolution of feminist ideas in Colonial India, illustrating traditional Indian society and Western ideologies converging to redefine women’s roles. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on gender dynamics in early 20th-century Indian fiction, arguing that Chattopadhyay’s sophisticated portrayal of women rises above conventional narratives of victimhood. By putting forward these often-overlooked aspects of Pather Dabi (The Right of Way), we propose a new framework for understanding female influence in colonial-era Bengali literature, one that recognizes the power of quiet rebellion and the lasting impact of women’s contributions to social change.

The Impact of English Literature and the British Empire on Bengali Literature and Cultural Development.

This research paper delves into the profound impact of English literature and the British Empire on the evolution of Bengali literature and cultural development. It traces the historical intersections between British colonialism and Bengali society, exploring how the introduction of English literature influenced Bengali intellectuals, writers, and cultural paradigms. By analyzing key literary works, socio-cultural changes, and the adaptation of English literary forms within Bengali literature, this study aims to illuminate the multifaceted nature of this impact and its lasting imprint on the cultural identity and literary landscape of Bengal. Through this examination, it seeks to unveil the complex dynamics, transformations, and interplay between colonial influences and indigenous cultural expressions in the context of Bengali literature and cultural development.

THE FUSION OF TURKISH RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS IN CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHISM AND ITS REPERCUSSION TO BENGAL

This academic research is primarily concerned with two fundamental issues. The first objective is to depict Buddhist impacts on Turkic religious thoughts during Islamisation. The second issue is how this syncretic process aided Turks in capturing the Bengal region with the assistance of local Buddhists. The historical tie between Bengal and Central Asia dates to the first century BCE. In it, the northern Indian Maurya empire and the Turkish Huns played an important role. Through their efforts, Buddhism spread throughout Central Asia. Besides, Islam encountered significant opposition from Buddhism in Bengal and Central Asia. Over time, the Turks erected a Sultanate in Delhi and then hailed Bengal for the same purpose. As a result of an exhaustive search of the academic research on the database, applicable works have yet to be found related to running scholarly works. This study will employ a qualitative approach with a thematic focus. In addition, secondary categorical data from Turkish, English, and Bengali literature will be utilized in the current scholarly study.

SULTANATE PERIOD: A BRIEF ESTIMATION OF BENGALI LITERATURE

The materialization of Sultanate rule over Bengal territory by the onset of thirteen century marked a new sketch on socio-cultural life of native people. For the first time, dominated Hindu society encountered a new wind of Muslim rule, which gradually made a socio-cultural cocktail for both communities. Obviously due to this shift, the Bengali literature received a new sway under new political set up. Under the Influence of contemporary socio-political thoughts, the theme, pattern, volume and expression of Bengali literature progressively got new line. Consequently, there certain streamline became as new trends for the Bengali literature that clearly distinct from the earlier times. Simply, this paper has made an endeavor to investigate the trend and the line of changes that had been taken place in Bengali literature during sultanate rule in India.

NATURE CONSCIOUSNESS AND REPRESENTATION OF FOREST IN BENGALI LITERATURE

Industrial development along with growing anthropogenic activities have been posing a grave challenge against the very existence of mother earth and human civilization in the current decade. The greed of man for better and better living are costing dearly in terms of vanishing natural wealth. It is not a matter of concern only for the scientists and environmental activists for envisaging proper action plan to protect our nature, but sensible minds in the field of art and culture have also expressed great care for nature and prudence that would be the source of abiding inspiration for the future generations. The Bengali literature is a treasure trove of wonderful portrayal of the natural world and the richness of forest in our country. Strating from Rabindranath, Bibhutibhushan, Manik Bandyopadhyay to Buddhadeb Guha, Sunil Gangopadhyay, we find profound consciousness for natural world and the theme of forest depicted as the principal elements in their creative arc. The present article delves deep into the history of Bengali Literature to explore the unfettered bondage of those masterminds with nature and its impact on human relation.

Shakespeare Comes to Bengal

India has the longest engagement with Shakespeare of any non-Western country. In the eastern Indian region of Bengal, contact with Shakespeare began in the eighteenth century. His plays were read and acted in newly established English schools, and performed professionally in new English theatres. A paradigm shift came with the foundation of the Hindu College in Calcutta in 1817. Shakespeare featured largely in this new ‘English education’, taught first by Englishmen and, from the start of the twentieth century, by a distinguished line of Indian scholars. Simultaneously, the Shakespearean model melded with traditional Bengali popular drama to create a new professional urban Bengali theatre. The close interaction between page and stage also evinced a certain tension. The highly indigenized theatre assimilated Shakespeare in a varied synthesis, while academic interest focused increasingly on Shakespeare’s own text.
 Beyond the theatre and the classroom, Shakespeare reached out to a wider public, largely as a read rather than performed text. He was widely read in translation, most often in prose versions and loose adaptations. His readership extended to women, and to people outside the city who could not visit the theatre. Thus Shakespeare became part of the shared heritage of the entire educated middle class. Bengali literature since the late nineteenth century testifies strongly to this trend, often inducing a comparison with the Sanskrit dramatist Kalidasa. Most importantly, Shakespeare became part of the common currency of cultural and intellectual exchange.

An equal death: Satyendranath Dutta’s poem on sati and widow remarriage

ABSTRACT The Bengali poet Satyendranath Dutta (1882–1922) is admired for his mastery of prosody and metre. “Sahamaran” – first published in 1906 and translated here into English – is one of his memorable poems centring on the themes of child marriage, sati (widow-burning), and widow remarriage, social issues that engaged the attention of the colonizers and Bengali intelligentsia alike in the heyday of British rule in India. Retaining much of 19th- and early-20th-century Bengali literature’s social reformist zeal, the poem spotlights the complicity of patriarchy and religion in the victimization of women and conveys the message that transgressing socio-religious codes is the only means of overcoming patriarchal oppression and violence. It further suggests that a woman’s financial independence is vital to supporting herself and her family and having equality in her relationship with her husband. The poem, however, falls short of envisaging a female subjectivity that is not male-defined.

Ecofeminism in the Early Twentieth Century Bengali Literature: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream

Ecofeminism is a field of feminist inquiry and activism that has been used in literary criticism to illustrate the connection between ecology and feminism. To end women’s oppression, ecofeminism believes that it is necessary to end all forms of oppression, particularly environmental oppression. In the last few decades, a wide range of literary works delve into the “link between the domination of women and the domination of nature.”[1] Ecofeminism in literature explores the intersection between gender, nature, and patriarchal domination. This essay seeks to argue for the presence of ecofeminist thinking in early twentieth-century Bengali literature by analyzing Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s short story, Sultana’s Dream. [1] Plumwood, “Ecofeminism: An overview,” 120.

Exploring Narrative Adaptation and Comparative Analysis of Characters in Hawa (2022): Gulti - Chan Majhi versus Monosa -Chad Sawdagor

What will make Mezbaur Rahman Suman's Hawa (2022) memorable are its links to medieval Bengali literature's Mangal Kavya, its cinematic storytelling approach, its commercial success, and allegations of violating the Wildlife (Preservation and Safety) Act, 2012. However, this study primarily focuses on two key issues: a comparative exploration of the two central characters in Hawa (2022) and Mansa Mangal, and the extent to which the narrative is adapted to create a new artistic event based on a previous one. In other words, this study delves into an analysis of how the narrative of the film Hawa (2022) relates to the medieval Mangal Kavya of Bengali literature through the lens of adaptation. To illuminate this difference, a comparative analysis is employed, and the qualitative research method incorporates Dudley Andre's three pillars of adaptation theory, which include Borrowing, Intersecting and Fidelity, and Transformation theory.

Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Vande Mātaram and the Patriotic Song Tradition in India

ABSTRACT Bankimchandra Chatterjee wrote Vande Mātaram when the genre of the patriotic song started to flourish in Bengal in the decades following the Revolt of 1857, a time which also saw Bengali literature take a decisively nationalist turn. Despite similarities in verbal content, there were crucial musical differences between Bengali and European patriotic songs, differences that were progressively bridged in the compositions of Rabindranath Tagore and Qazi Nazrul Islam. This essay traces a history of musical and verbal differences and argues that because Vande Mātaram belonged to an earlier phase in the history of the Bengali patriotic song, its function in Indian national culture came to be quite different from that of ‘La Marseillaise,’ the French national anthem, with which Bankimchandra’s song was initially compared. Furthermore, because of the lack of a stable and iconic melody that can be traced back to the moment of the song’s creation, Vande Mātaram has fared less well as a patriotic song than it has as a poem or (above all) as a slogan. For the same reason, however, it has been adapted more frequently than any other European or Indian patriotic song, and it is primarily through adaptations that Vande Mātaram has retained its relevance for Indians across a spectrum of different identities and political positions.

Detection of Depression Severity Using Bengali Social Media Posts on Mental Health: Study Using Natural Language Processing Techniques.

BackgroundThere are a myriad of language cues that indicate depression in written texts, and natural language processing (NLP) researchers have proven the ability of machine learning and deep learning approaches to detect these cues. However, to date, these approaches bridging NLP and the domain of mental health for Bengali literature are not comprehensive. The Bengali-speaking population can express emotions in their native language in greater detail.ObjectiveOur goal is to detect the severity of depression using Bengali texts by generating a novel Bengali corpus of depressive posts. We collaborated with mental health experts to generate a clinically sound labeling scheme and an annotated corpus to train machine learning and deep learning models.MethodsWe conducted a study using Bengali text-based data from blogs and open source platforms. We constructed a procedure for annotated corpus generation and extraction of textual information from Bengali literature for predictive analysis. We developed our own structured data set and designed a clinically sound labeling scheme with the help of mental health professionals, adhering to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) during the process. We used 5 machine learning models for detecting the severity of depression: kernel support vector machine (SVM), random forest, logistic regression K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and complement naive Bayes (NB). For the deep learning approach, we used long short-term memory (LSTM) units and gated recurrent units (GRUs) coupled with convolutional blocks or self-attention layers. Finally, we aimed for enhanced outcomes by using state-of-the-art pretrained language models.ResultsThe independent recurrent neural network (RNN) models yielded the highest accuracies and weighted F1 scores. GRUs, in particular, produced 81% accuracy. The hybrid architectures could not surpass the RNNs in terms of performance. Kernel SVM with term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) embeddings generated 78% accuracy on test data. We used validation and training loss curves to observe and report the performance of our architectures. Overall, the number of available data remained the limitation of our experiment.ConclusionsThe findings from our experimental setup indicate that machine learning and deep learning models are fairly capable of assessing the severity of mental health issues from texts. For the future, we suggest more research endeavors to increase the volume of Bengali text data, in particular, so that modern architectures reach improved generalization capability.

The Identity Crisis of Bengali Muslims in Indian Subcontinent (1000 CE -2000 CE): A Critical Approach to Bengali Ethnicity

This article explores the various discourses on forming Muslim Bengali identity from the Eleven century to the twenty century. It becomes hardened and used in multiple politically mobilizable forms in Bengal politics. This study engages numerous articulations of the Muslim Bengali identity to show the changing representations of what qualifies as Muslim Bengali and who played role as major key figures of Muslim Bengali Nations from 1200 CE to 1999 CE. It also critically engages with new knowledge production. For instance, the different forms of non-fictional Bengali literature, and the views of the English-educated Urdu speaking and Sanskrit elites of Bengal. These writers wrote about the collaborative of forces acting upon the formation of a Muslim Bengali identity. While literature played an essential role in developing an initial awareness among Muslims, Bengali identity preparations' developments and processes diverse in different sites, thereby producing new shades on Muslim Bengali identity. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods to see the identity crisis among Bengal Muslims. This article shows the historical traces that play vital role for identity crisis among Bengali Muslims.

Mysticism and nature-illustration in Pant's poetry

The era that came after the Dwivedi era in the history of Hindi literature is known as Chhayavad. The main pillar poets of this era in which Nirala, Mahadevi Verma, Prasad, Pant have been. Who has presented language, expressions, verses, style of ornamentation, all these elements with a new expression. Which was given the name of 'Chayavaad' or 'Chhayavadi Poetry'. The poet of the Dwivedi era had a sense of absurdity due to the abundance of preaching and morality. Modern poetry is such a composition in the history of Hindi literature, which is related to the heart and the world. The heart is an object of experience. The world of emotion is the object of the experience of the people. In the first essay 'Kavi Swatantra' of Lekhmala, Mukutdhar ji said "Those who have any knowledge of the present condition of English or any western literature or Bengali literature will understand that this word has come for 'Mysticism

“A good translator can be androgynous”: an interview with Niaz Zaman

ABSTRACT Niaz Zaman, a renowned academic, translator, editor, essayist, and writer, has been translating Bengali literature into English for a long time. Her translation works, which are widely read, are critically acclaimed as well. She has translated numerous books and anthologies, and edited a great number of short story collections. Well known as a translator of Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, she has also carried across classical, modern, and contemporary voices of Bengali literature. An inspiring figure of literary translation, she promotes emerging translators from Bangladesh, showcasing their work in various anthologies. In this interview, Zaman addresses various issues of translation in general and literary translation in particular, giving an account of her wide range of translation works. The interview, conducted online during May, June, and July 2021, also focuses on her individual strategies and techniques of translation, her inspirations and a long journey in the realm of literary translation, and her general observations and comments on translation.

Dahankal: A Subaltern Speaks Aesthetically

This essay explores the theme of the Bengali novel Dahankal and places it in the Dalit literary corpus of Bengal. To do this a historical survey in the field of Dalit literature of Bengal is presented along with an explanation of the phrase ‘Dalit Literature’ which first occurred in the context of Maratha literature. In this essay, the theme of Dahankal is analyzed first from the historical and then from the linguistic perspective. The historical time the novel depicts is the 1960s and early 1970s when erstwhile East Pakistan faced the military onslaught of the Pakistani army. The character of the protagonist is developed through his gradual consciousness of being a Dalit thrust upon him by the cruel society around him. The language invented by the novelist, as any successful Dalit writer, is analyzed from the angle of Dalit psychology. Finally, as for Bengali literature is concerned, Dahankal, or any Dalit writing, is absorbed in the mainstream literary corpus despite Dalit Literature being a class in itself.

Educational Thoughts of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Its Relevance in Contemporary Era

Twentieth century is revered as the most auspicious epoch of modern Indian civilization. Many dazzling stars came into the various fields in the aftermath of Indian Renaissance who further removed ancient mist from society. In the period of full flowering of nationalism, Kazi Nazrul Islam appeared to be a pole star to guide the common folk. He is one of the versatile figures in Bengali literature authoring many poems, songs, plays and novels. He is well known as ‘Rebel’ poet. His writings are equipped with equal amount of empathy, humanistic principles and universalism. In the era of Swadeshi he was also of the opinion of Indianization of education framework in vogue. He had deep respect on the glory, values and age-old tradition of India. He advocated for incorporation of these ideals in curriculum but in a scientific line. He uttered relentlessly in his poems for a secular school education system combined with scientific temperament. Though he was a supporter of individualistic learning, he identified himself with universal outlook. Moreover he rendered different sets of moralistic tenets for learner and teacher for a meaningful teaching learning process. Above all he was vocal for moral development of young students in a Gandhian line. His radical thought pertaining to women education is best exemplified by one of his poem Nari which seems to be a promulgation of crusade at that time. To sum up, his writings are against struggle, injustice, inequalities of people’s life. By analysing his works at length here the paper will try to interpret his attitude towards education. In this background, the present paper has tried to focus on the educational thoughts of Kazi Nazrul Islam- Concepts of Education, Aims of Education, Curriculum, Methods of Teaching, Role of Teacher and Relevance of his educational thoughts in contemporary era.

Goethe’s “Welt” poet in Bengal: The Influence of World Literature on Jibanananda Das and other Bengali Poets of the 1930s-40s

This study aims to establish a link between the concept of “Weltliteratur” or World Literature, in terms of the free movement of literary themes and ideas between nations in original form or translation, and the Bengali poets of the thirties and forties who actively translated French and German poets. It identifies Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's (1749-1832) concept of World Literature as a vehicle for the Kallol Jug poets. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe introduced the concept of “Weltliteratur” in a few of his essays in the first half of the nineteenth century to describe the international circulation and reception of literary works in Europe, including works of non-Western origin. My emphasis will be on Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) arguably the most celebrated poet in Bengali literature who was well versed in the contemporary Western Canons of Poetry. Jibanananda’s defamiliarization of the rural Bengal Landscape, his use of exotic foreign images owe a debt to contemporary European poets. Interestingly, Jibanananda had reviewed an English translation of German author Thomas Mann’s novel “Dr Faustus’ for a Bengali magazine “Chaturanga”. In the Bengali review he states that despite prevalent misconceptions (some critics considering the novel to be superior to the original Faust epic by Goethe) Goethe’s Faust was the first text to capture the hope, despair and crisis in the modern world and articulate it in such a manner that “true” literature of the age was created in its new light. In Jibanananda’s estimation, Thomas Mann deserves credit for treating the Faust legend in a unique and creative way.

Experiences of Old Age in Indian Fiction: A Study of Two Indian Short Stories.

In India, where around 19,500 dialects are spoken, there is a great abundance of fiction quite rich in varied descriptions of old age and aging. While scholars like Pramod K. Nayar and Ira Raja have recently begun studying Indian literary texts written in English from the perspective of literary gerontology, those literary experiences of aging (which are originally in languages like Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, Oriya, etc.) are yet to be analyzed from a gerontological point of view. The present paper aims at studying the experiences of old age in 2 Indian short stories (one from Bengali Literature and another from Tamil Literature)-Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay's "Drabomoyee Goes to Kashi" ("Drabomoyeer Kashibash" in Bengali) and T. Janakiraman's "The Puppet" ("Vilayattu Bommai" in Tamil). Regarding "Drabomoyee Goes to Kashi," the paper interrogates the problems in the emplacement of Hindu older widows to Kashi and explores the possibilities in Drabomoyee from ecofeminist and creatural perspectives. The discussions on "The Puppet" chiefly reflect on the social exclusion of the aging bodies of people living with dementia. Through the story of Venu, the paper shows that what the society or family generally expects from the older persons suffering from dementia may not do any good to them, and may instead lead to their institutionalization and other forms of exclusion.

‘Sons of Bengal’ and the Absent Daughters: Gender, Performativity and Nationalism in Bengali Juvenile Literature

This article looks at the asymmetrical bifurcation of gender roles and performativity that is reflected palpably within Bengali juvenile literature of the twentieth century. These writings strove to venerate a cult of hypermasculinity through the portrayal of brave, assertive Bengali heroes who engaged in various escapades in distant lands or in the solving of mysteries and crimes, either alone or accompanied by male confidantes who remain completely devoted to them. This dominant cultural trope was consciously employed as a challenge to the imperial, racist stereotypes of the effeminate Bengali man who was imagined to be inferior to the virile, robust and intellectually superior Englishman. However, the role of women within such diegetic portrayals is liminal or conspicuously absent; female readers are conditioned to “wallow in the reflected glory of their heroes” (Mukherjee para. 13). This paper also looks into the politics of sexuality and nationalism involved within the celebration of male homosocial bonding over heteronormative relationships, thereby leading to the almost complete effacement of female agency.

The concept of humanity in Bengali literature as Predicted by Rabindranath Tagore

The concept of humanity in Bengali literature as Predicted by Rabindranath Tagore