Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
Discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay is arguably one of the greatest novelists and storywriters that Bengal has produced. His most well known book is the autobiographical novel, “Pather Panchali” (The Song of the Road), incorporated (along with “Aparajito”, the sequel) into the memorable Apu Trilogy films by Satyajit Ray.
Yesterday marked the 60th death anniversary of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.
Bandopadhyay was born on September 12, 1894 at Muratipur village in the Nadia district of West Bengal, British India. His father, Mahananda Bandopadhyay, was a Sanskrit scholar and a Kathak (one who tells stories for a living).
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay studied at Bongaon High School, one of the oldest institutions in British India. His “Pather Panchali”, “Adrasha Hindu Hotel” etc were based on his Bongaon experiences.
His early days were spent in abject poverty. He fought his way to complete his undergraduate degree in History, at the Surendranath College, Kolkata (Calcutta). However, he could not afford to enrol for the postgraduate course at the University of Calcutta. The economic burden of his family rested squarely on his shoulders.
Bandopadhyay married Gouri Devi, but she died during childbirth, after only a year of their marriage. Understandably, death and solitude are recurring themes in his early writings.
Bandopadhyay, before becoming a writer, took up various jobs to make ends meet. He taught at school, became a secretary, managed an estate. Finally, in 1921 he published his first short story, “Upekshita”, in ‘Probashi’, one of the leading literary magazines of Bengal at that time. However, it was not until 1928, when his first novel, “Pather Panchali” was published, that the writer received critical attention. With “Pather Panchali” Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay became a prominent name in Bengali literature overnight.
“Pather Panchali” is considered to be Bandopadhyay’s masterpiece. It has been included in the CBSE syllabus for students choosing to study Bengali. He has 16 novels and over two hundred short stories to his credit.
Martin Seymour-Smith, in his Guide to Modern World Literature (1973), calls Bandopadhyay (he uses the form Banerji) “perhaps the best of all modern Indian novelists” and says “probably nothing in twentieth-century Indian literature, in prose or poetry, comes to the level of ‘Pather Panchali’.”
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s works are mostly concerned with the lives of people from rural Bengal. His writings come alive with vibrant and thoroughly ordinary characters from the countryside.
Apparently, Bandopadhyay walked miles in the woods every day. He usually took his notebook with him and loved to write surrounded by the wilderness.
At 46, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay married Rama Chattopadhyay. Their only son, Taradas, was born in 1947.
Bandopadhyay died on November 1, 1950, of a heart attack while staying at Ghatshila.
