- Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (Bengali তারাশংকর বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়;
23 July 1898 -14 September 1971 ) was one of the leading Bengali novelists. He wrote 65novels , 53 story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies and 2 travel stories. A notable man of wisdom, he was awardedRabindra Puraskar ,Sahitya Akademi award,Jnanpith Award , andPadma Bhushan .Early life
Son of Haridas Bandopadhyay, he was born at
Labhpur ,Birbhum in the state ofWest Bengal .While studying in the intermediate class at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, he joined the non-cooperation movement and was interned in 1921. He was again jailed for a year in 1930. After release from prison he decided to deote himself to lierature. [ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), "Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan" (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, Bn icon, p 195, ISBN 8185626650 ]Literary achievements
The realism in Literature is well substituted when the writers indulge in introducing romance in it. Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay is grouped with those writers of the third decades of the twentieth centuries who broke the poetic tradition in novels but took to writing prose with the world around them adding romance to human relationship breaking the indifference of the so called conservative people of the society who dare to call a spade a spade. Tarasankar’s novels, so to say, do not look back to the realism in rejection, but accepted it in a new way allowing the reader to breath the truth of human relationship restricted so far by the conservative and hypocrisy of the then society.
Tarasankar learned to see the world from various angles. He seldom rose above the matter soil and his Birbhum exists only in time and place. He had never been a worshipper of eternity. Tarasankar’s chief contribution to Bengal literature is that he dared writing unbiased. He wrote what he believed. He wrote what he observed.
His novels are rich in material and potentials. He preferred sensation to thought. He was ceaselessly productive and his novels are long, seemed unending and characters belonged to the various classes of people from zaminder down to pauper. Tarasankar experimented in his novels with the relationships, even so called illegal, of either sexes. He proved that sexual relation between man and women sometimes dominate to such an extent that it can take an upperhand over the prevailing laws and instructions of society. His novel ‘Radha’ can be set for an example in this context.
His historical novel ‘Ganna Begum’ is an attempt worth mentioning for it’s traditional values. Tarasankar ventured into all walks of
Bengal i life and it’s experience with the happenings of socio-political milieu. Tarasankar will be remembered for his potential to work with the vast panorama of life where life is observed with care and the judgment is offered to the reader. and long ones, then any other author. He is a "region" novelist, his country being the same Birbhum.Works
Tarasankar mainly flourished during the war years, having produced in that period a large number of novels. His celebrated novels are Dhatridebta, Kalindi, Panchagrm, Ganadebata, Kabi, Arogyaniketan,
Jalsaghar , Raskali, Hansulibaker Upakatha and so on.Awards and rewards
* Padmabhusan
* Winner of Gyanpith Award
* Winner of Sahitya Akeademi AwardNotable work
Novels
*
Chaitali Ghurni ("1930")
*Raikamal ("1933")
*Aagun ("1937")
*Dhatridevata ("1939")
*Ganadevata ("1942")
*Panchagram ("1944")
*Hansuli Banker Upakatha ("1947")
*Naginikanyar Kahini ("1955")
*Kalindi
*Janapada
*Padachinha
*Kalantar
*Kirtihater Karcha
*Kabi
*Abhijan
*Chanpadangar Bou ("1945")
*Manjuri Opera ("1964")
*Fariyad
*Radha
*Gannabegum
*Saptapadi
*Bipasha
*Dakharkara
*Shatabdir Mrityu ("1972")References
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