By the Tungabhadra

by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

Bidyunmala, the princess of Kalinga, is on her way for a marriage of political convenience with Devaraya, the king of Vijaynagar, when a mysterious young man called Arjunvarma makes his appearance in her life and becomes part of her entourage. While preparing to wed the beautiful Bidyunmala, Devaraya is threatened by a treacherous brother within and enemies preparing for war without; worse still, Bidyunmala seems to be in love with Arjunvarma, a man Devaraya has come to trust.And so begins Saradindu Bandyopadhyay's classic tale of intrigue, love and war, set on the banks of the river Tungabhadra in fourteenth-century India. A gripping narrative that blends romance, politics and intrigue played out against an authentically etched backdrop, By the River Tungabhadra, superbly translated from the Bengali original, Tungabhadrar Teere, represents the pinnacle of the writer's oeuvre

Genres: Historical Fiction, India, Fiction, Cultural, Audiobook, Romance

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1966

About the author

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (Bengali: শরদিন্দু বন্দোপাধ্যায়; 30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was a well-known literary figure of Bengal. He was also actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. His most famous creation is the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi.
He wrote different forms of prose: novels, short stories, plays and screenplays. However, his forte was short stories and novels. He wrote historical fiction like Kaler Mandira, GourMollar (initially named as Mouri Nodir Teere), Tumi Sandhyar Megh, Tungabhadrar Teere (all novels), Chuya-Chandan, Maru O Sangha (later made into a Hindi film named Trishangni) and stories of the unnatural with the recurring character Baroda. Besides, he wrote many songs and poems.

Awards: 'Rabindra Puraskar' in 1967 for the novel 'Tungabhadrar Tirey'. 'Sarat Smriti Purashkar' in 1967 by Calcutta University.

Reviews

[Smitha Murthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading really does expand your minds and the narrow confines it surrounds itself with. I never thought I would like historical fiction or YA. Now, I realized that I have a sudden fondness for Indian historical fiction. I love being immersed in times gone by - maybe it's the allure of the past with its inherent sense of nostalgia. I don’t know but while many of us know of Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay as being the creator of the Byomkesh Bakshi detective series, not many know that the writer wrote five historical novels. ‘By The Tungabhadra’ is the last, set in the Vijayanagar period.

Poetically, his canvas is vast. Yet, I never felt the pace lagged. The descriptions of the majesty of the Vijayanagar empire were accurate and despite my aversion for romantic tales, the story of a princess engaged to a king while being in love with a commoner kept me turning the pages. I am a bit miffed to dock a star because of the author’s proclivity to take jabs at women. Women are troublesome; women pursue men in single-minded determination; many are the hapless men who fall to the black magic of women. Well, the feminist in me boils. The rest flows placidly as the Tungabhadra.

[Neha Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a kid we all have read Chanda Mama, Amar Chitra Katha, Nandan, Panchtantra and other stories which contained incidents and characters from ancient India. The stories of Raja Rani (Kings & queens), courage and cleverness, wars and valour, love and friendship. They just did not satisfy your appetite for stories, historical characters and fictional accounts but also came with morals and teachings. As we grow up we move to more modern, more real and popular fiction. Somewhere we leave behind our childhood stories.. and then one day when you are just surfing through the shelves at a book shop, you find this one book with images of ancient India, kings and their beautiful queens, adventures and plots and you can’t help but pick it. On reading the brief the world of your childhood opens up.. the colourful world and its images and characters.. how we used to enact these scenes when playing with your cousins or street friends, how with a fake sword you became a king and your mom’s dupatta made you a princess... how u got on your imaginary horse and went to war and how adorning make up and jewellery was all that princess did...

This book is such a story based on kingdom of Vijaynagar whose ruins still stand at Hampi... it of course is a fictional account on a historical king but the writer’s imagination is ripe and vivid.. all the characters Arjun Varma, Devarya, Balram, Manikankana, are endearing and you can’t help but get transported to that world.. Its not a piece of literature or epic but a children’s classic which can be equally enjoyed by adults...

Not to forget that Saradindu Bandhopadya, the creator of ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ has written it. It is not suspense or detective story like his most popular fiction but it does have an interesting plot and smart twists in the tale. Its modern as well as traditional in its treatment, its detailed as well as precise in its flow and wordings.. The translation by Arunava Sinha is very smooth and simple. The book is a quick read and can be finished in 6 hrs flat... So I would suggest any one who likes a light read and wants to revisit the days of ‘Chanda Mama’, surely pick this book and you won’t be disappointed...

[SHOMPA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story!

[Shom Biswas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author - Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

Genre - Historical Fiction, Thriller

Source - Print

Rating - 4

May 2014

First: About Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. He is a fantastic writer of bestsellers that are NOT devoid of literary merit. If one has to make the parallel to an English writer, it has to be with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and our Byomkesh is almost the equal of Sherlock).
Second: About the time and place. You'd say the novel has not dated very well. You'd say that some of the sentiments some characters display are rather out of our times. But hey, this is historical fiction, how do you expect it to be in with the times?
Third: Sharadindu creates such amazing plots. And has such a strong, clean writing style. Two hundred odd pages finished off in one go. This is good stuff!
Fourth: I am lucky that I can read Sharadindu in original Bengali.
Fifth: Nice to read about the history of Karnataka. This is about the Vijayanagar Empire.

[Lsharathkumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I visited Humpi a month ago. I could neither explore the ruins properly nor learn the greatness of Vijayanagar. While my heart wept at the brutality of the barbarians who destroyed the greatest city in the world in 15th century, Shorodindu takes us back in time when Vijayanagar was all that stood between barbarian foreign invaders and the ancient vedantic culture. I also thank Arunav Sinha for not changing the narrative to suit political correctness. While the work itself is fiction , Saradindu expertly weaves a fascinating tale around the dreary existence of people living under foreign rule and how Vijayanagar was the last bastion of resistance until the great Shivaji Maharaj arrived on the scene...

[Sudeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read. It glorifies the vijayanagara kingdom and describes Hampi quite accurately, and Devaraya as a beloved king. This is more of a story of Bidyunmala, the princess of Kalinga, (who comes to get married to Devaraya) and Arjunaverma, the conspiricies and adventures during that time. The main quote that seduced me into reading this book is (I am from a place where Tunga flows) "In Ganges you take a dip and in Tunga you take a sip." It means, you get purified by taking a sip of Tunga, as much as you get purified by taking a dip in Ganga. Make one feel like visiting Hampi.

[Jash Sen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful translation of a lyrically written original, this used to be one of my favourite historical novels. I read it after years, and realised with some discomfort that although the story still reads beautifully, the author's tone on the state of hindu- muslim relations made me uncomfortable. Were our two major religions really this uneasy sitting side by side to each other? Saradindu wrote this in the forties; had I been a muslim reader, I would have felt acutely uncomfortable with the book's tone in the political climate of the time.

The story is a romantic adventure set in the Vijaynagar kingdom against a backdrop of Vijaynagar-Bahmani hostilities. That, and a healthy dose of intrigue to keep the reader engaged. Saradindu was a master at creating suspense and romance, and this book is no different.
The thing that makes this book work for me is the lyricism of the romance between the different characters,which lifts a simple love story to unexpected heights. And the author's descriptions, although sometimes it is virtually impossible to recreate the music of Saradindu's original words.
I suppose it is because classical Bengali and contemporary English are two such different sounding languages.
Still, an excellent translation of a book that remains a favourite.

[Shankar Sengupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

উপরে অনেকগুলি রিভিউ পড়ে মনে হল বেশিরভাগ পাঠক-ই এই উপন্যাস এবং লেখক-কে সাম্প্রদায়িক এবং মুসলমান বিদ্বেষী মনে করেছেন। আমি কিন্তু ভিন্ন মত পোষণ করি। প্রথমতঃ শরদিন্দু বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় একেবারেই সাম্প্রদায়িক ছিলেন না ব্যক্তিগতভাবে। দ্বিতীয়তঃ এই উপন্যাসে "ম্লেচ্ছ", "যবন", ইত্যাদি যে শব্দগুলো ব্যবহার করা হয়েছে তা ঘৃণা বা বিদ্বেষ প্রকাশ করবার জন্যে নয়। উপন্যাসটি যে সময়ের উপর ভিত্তি করে লেখা, সেই সময় ভারতের মানুষের মুসলমানদের সম্পর্কে ধারণা প্রায় ছিলো না বললেই চলে। আর অজানা থেকেই উৎপত্তি হয় ভয়, অকারণ বিদ্বেষ। এই শব্দগুলো সেই ভয়, বিদ্বেষের প্রতিফলন। এইগুলো একটি বিশেষ সময়ের শব্দগুচ্ছ, যা সেই সময়কে তুলে ধরে। এর সাথে লেককের নিজের মনোভাব অথবা উপন্যাসের মূল বক্তব্য গুলিয়ে ফেললে, লেখকের সম্পর্কে এবং তার লেখা সম্পর্কে ভূল মূল্যায়ন করা হবে। আর তাছাড়া সেই সময়ে মুসলমান শাষক-রা ভারতের বিভিন্ন প্রদেশে আক্রমণ করেছিলো নিজেদের রাজত্ব বিস্তার করার উদ্দেশ্যে। তাদের উদ্দেশ্য খুব মহৎ ছিলো না। সুতরাং তাদের প্রতি সেইসময়ে ভারতীয়দের বিদ্বেষ থাকাটা একেবারেই অস্বাভাবিক নয়, বরং খুবই প্রাসঙ্গিক এবং ন্যায্য। আজকের সময়ে দাঁড়িয়ে তা মূল্যায়ন করা সম্ভব নয়।

[Darcey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read; I'd prefer to get my tongue around Bengali and read it in the original, since there were some turns of phrase I think may have been awkward, and certain things stick out ("he raised his left arm") as overly specific. Still - it was an enjoyable read, if fairly predictable.

[Debanuj Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated historical fictionists in Bengali literature. His vivid depiction of ancient monarchic societies is accurately detailed, colorfully adorned and enigmatically lively. The storyline and the characters many a time remind us of ethical values within the complicated emotional atmosphere. The storytelling offers us a ride through the psyche of the different characters as the turn of events slowly intertwines them. The two main characters, princess Bidyunmala and soldier Arjunbarma, incarnate classic lovers. Their marriage with a happy ending of the novel is indicative of the true strength of true love.

[Satya Balakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the english version of this book many years and felt it was really good. The trick that the Vijayanagara king uses so that no one loses the person he/she loves is something that struck me as pretty smart! I guess it was possible during that age ... I do not remember much after all these years, but can clearly recall that I felt the book was pretty good

[Avradeep Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the Bengali version and it deservingly won the Rabindra Puraskar award. Not only Byomkesh, Saradindu was great in writing historical fiction as well like Jhinder Bandi and now this- Tungabhadrar Teere.

[Author Shakti Ghosal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rollicking historical fiction, which also happens to be my favorite genre. The characterization coupled with the wonderfully gripping plot of love and intrigue makes this a book that cannot be put down.

[Deb Asish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharadindu Bandhopadhyay's best work after BB.

[Sumaia Adrita · Rating 4 out of 5]

"রাজদত্ত পানটি মুখে মিলাইয়া গিয়াছে,কেবল একটি অপূর্ব স্বাদ মুখে রাখিয়া গিয়াছে!"

[Devika Priyadersini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid narration. Vivid description of the past. Except for the bad light cast upon female characters.

[DEYA CHAKRABORTY · Rating 5 out of 5]

অসাধারণ! প্রতি মুহূর্তে উত্তেজনা, নাটকীয়তা - শরদিন্দুর অন্যতম সেরা উপন্যাস।

[yani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read! A well written historical fiction amidst the fictional history that gets propagated in this genre in India.

[Avik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay is perhaps most widely known for creating the quintessential Bengali and likeable sharp-witted sleuth, Byomkesh Bakshi. However, there is a fine set of historical fiction he has authored which is a wonderful contribution to Bengali, if not Indian, literature in its own right.This novel is one of the brightest jewels in that crown.

Tungabhadra’r Teere is set in the Vijayanagara empire in the 14th century. The tale begins with a fleet travelling to the kingdom of Vijayanagara. The fleet bears on it two princesses, one of whom is about to be married to the king of Vijayanagara to strengthen a bond of strategic convenience, along with the wedding party.

The chance rescue of a young man and a tempest just before the fleet can arrive at the destination changes the course of the destiny of not just the ships, but also of some of the passengers. What follows is a tale of politics, love and morals. Like any enjoyable historical fiction, Sharadindu’s novel is enjoyable through its characters. Along the way, the age and place become backdrops to a tale which one feels could well have actually taken place in the exact manner as it is told.

Not just this one but even Sharadindu’s other works of this genre are highly evocative of Bankim Chandra’s novels. Especially when Sharadindu dictates the thoughts of a character and glides from a first-person to a third-person narrative filled the Bankim admirer in me with exquisite joy. I am still biased in favour of the master though and will rate Bankim higher. Nevertheless, Sharadindu has his own undeniable charm and though I could find some themes recurring in different avatars in his historical novels and short stories, these are still pleasurable and at times, delightful reads.

[Anusha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It might have been an ordinary romance novel had it not been for the novel's historical setting. The author takes you on a journey through Devaraya's reign which uplifts the novel and transports you to a different era. enjoyed reading it.

[Shymashree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful

[Aravind · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smoothly flowing story, somewhat predictable, but highly captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sayan Raha · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing story .

[Shoaib Mahmud · Rating 4 out of 5]

সুন্দর একটি গল্প ... মন ছুঁয়ে গেল