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Basanti: Writing the New Woman
Serialised in Utkala Sahitya between May 1925 and November 1927 and published as a book in 1931, Basanti is a landmark attempt at writing a new kind of novel in Odisha.
It is new at least in three senses. It is a product of a well thought out plan for collaborative writing. It is a novel with a focus on women. It is a novel of ideas.
Nine young authors, six men and three women, belonging to the 'Sabuja Age' in Odia literature, a short-lived but immensely creative and restless period of roughly ten to fifteen years, came together to write this novel.
Written against the backdrop of the political and social ferment of the time, marked by Gandhi's nationalist movement and the rising regional aspiration for state formation, Basanti is the first fictional declaration of the independence of the Odia woman. It is also the first and the last exemplar of the collective novel in Odisha.
It is new at least in three senses. It is a product of a well thought out plan for collaborative writing. It is a novel with a focus on women. It is a novel of ideas.
Nine young authors, six men and three women, belonging to the 'Sabuja Age' in Odia literature, a short-lived but immensely creative and restless period of roughly ten to fifteen years, came together to write this novel.
Written against the backdrop of the political and social ferment of the time, marked by Gandhi's nationalist movement and the rising regional aspiration for state formation, Basanti is the first fictional declaration of the independence of the Odia woman. It is also the first and the last exemplar of the collective novel in Odisha.
276 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2019
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About the author
Annada Shankar Ray
45 books23 followersAnnada Shankar Ray was a Bengali poet and essayist.
He was born in 1904 at Dhenkanal, Orissa. He graduated in English from Ravenshaw College. His father had shifted base from their ancestral village of Rameswarpur near Dhamnagar in Bhadrak of Orissa, following a family feud. His family roots go back to the 'Ghosh Mahashayas' who migrated to Rameswarpur from Kotarang near Howrah as a part of Todarmal's contingent during Akbar's reign.
He topped the list of Indian Civil Service examinees in 1927. He had failed to make the mark in the previous year being cut-off by one rank. It is said that he promised to his family and friends that if only one person was to be selected for ICS the next year, it would be himself, and he proved it. Incidentally he was the first ICS officer from the territory later forming the state of Orissa.
After serving in various administrative posts, he sought voluntary retirement in 1951 to devote himself to literary pursuits. Ray was a Gandhian in politics and Rabindranath Tagore inspired his literature.
A Bengali rendering of a short story by Tolstoy and an appraisal of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s essay Narir Mulya marked his debut on the literary scene at the age of 16.
His first published book was Tarunya (1928), which gave him a footing as an essayist. His first two novels were Asamapika and Agun Niye Khela. As an essayist, he was urbane and sophisticated and combined in his craft two different styles of prose, represented by Tagore and Pramatha Choudhury.
A significant breakthrough in his literary career came with the publication of Pathe Prabase, a brilliant diary of his Europe trip, in 1931.
Ray also established himself as a short-story writer. His collections include Prakritir Parihas (1934), Man Pavan (1946), Kamini Kanchan (1954) and Katha.
He received the Vidyasagar Smriti Award from the state government and the Padma Bhushan. He was made a fellow of the Sahitya Akademi in 1989. The Visva Bharati conferred on him the Desikottama and an honorary D.Litt. He also received the Rabindra Puraskar, the Ananda Puraskar twice and the prestigious Zaibunnisa Award of Bangladesh
He was a bitter opponent of the partition of 1947 and wrote several Bengali poems criticising it. Most notable is "Teler shishi bhaanglo bole khukur pare raag karo". Among his many essays, the book "Banglar Reneissance" has an analytical history of the cultural and social revolution in Bengal. His married Leela Ray, an Indianized American lady with literary talent. Annada Shankar's most famous work is "Pathe Prabaase" - a diary of his Europe trip in 1931.
From amongst his other great works in Oriya, the poetry "Sabita" finds place in higher studies of the language at College level, making him one of the rare poets to have the distinction of getting such acclaim from two different language speaking states of India.
He died in Kolkata on 28 October 2002. He married an American pianist called Alice Virginia Orndorf. After marriage Alice Virginia took the name Leela Roy.
He was born in 1904 at Dhenkanal, Orissa. He graduated in English from Ravenshaw College. His father had shifted base from their ancestral village of Rameswarpur near Dhamnagar in Bhadrak of Orissa, following a family feud. His family roots go back to the 'Ghosh Mahashayas' who migrated to Rameswarpur from Kotarang near Howrah as a part of Todarmal's contingent during Akbar's reign.
He topped the list of Indian Civil Service examinees in 1927. He had failed to make the mark in the previous year being cut-off by one rank. It is said that he promised to his family and friends that if only one person was to be selected for ICS the next year, it would be himself, and he proved it. Incidentally he was the first ICS officer from the territory later forming the state of Orissa.
After serving in various administrative posts, he sought voluntary retirement in 1951 to devote himself to literary pursuits. Ray was a Gandhian in politics and Rabindranath Tagore inspired his literature.
A Bengali rendering of a short story by Tolstoy and an appraisal of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s essay Narir Mulya marked his debut on the literary scene at the age of 16.
His first published book was Tarunya (1928), which gave him a footing as an essayist. His first two novels were Asamapika and Agun Niye Khela. As an essayist, he was urbane and sophisticated and combined in his craft two different styles of prose, represented by Tagore and Pramatha Choudhury.
A significant breakthrough in his literary career came with the publication of Pathe Prabase, a brilliant diary of his Europe trip, in 1931.
Ray also established himself as a short-story writer. His collections include Prakritir Parihas (1934), Man Pavan (1946), Kamini Kanchan (1954) and Katha.
He received the Vidyasagar Smriti Award from the state government and the Padma Bhushan. He was made a fellow of the Sahitya Akademi in 1989. The Visva Bharati conferred on him the Desikottama and an honorary D.Litt. He also received the Rabindra Puraskar, the Ananda Puraskar twice and the prestigious Zaibunnisa Award of Bangladesh
He was a bitter opponent of the partition of 1947 and wrote several Bengali poems criticising it. Most notable is "Teler shishi bhaanglo bole khukur pare raag karo". Among his many essays, the book "Banglar Reneissance" has an analytical history of the cultural and social revolution in Bengal. His married Leela Ray, an Indianized American lady with literary talent. Annada Shankar's most famous work is "Pathe Prabaase" - a diary of his Europe trip in 1931.
From amongst his other great works in Oriya, the poetry "Sabita" finds place in higher studies of the language at College level, making him one of the rare poets to have the distinction of getting such acclaim from two different language speaking states of India.
He died in Kolkata on 28 October 2002. He married an American pianist called Alice Virginia Orndorf. After marriage Alice Virginia took the name Leela Roy.
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January 6, 2021
Basanti was originally written in Odia and published as a serialised novel in the journal, Utkala Sahitya between 1924 and 1926.
As a collaborative writing effort between nine authors (six men and three women), it's a stupendous achievement to pull off. While it reads today like it was one of those necessary novels (which don't have much literary merit, but capture a time and place in a capsule of words), Basanti stands apart as a cohesive story, in the consistency of character interaction, and its portrayal of the new woman, especially when one considers this as a creative product of an era when it was regarded as taboo for a woman to say, have a Christian friend, leave alone nurture ideas on feminism. Basanti's devotion to her mother-in-law may rankle for a woman of today, but the way she pushes the boundaries of her role as a woman is true to the kind of conflicts that South Asian literature excels in depicting, where the conflict alters life for the protagonists, but doesn't necessarily change society itself.
The story and the history of this writing experiment are detailed in the blurb and the foreword, so I'll restrict myself to the work itself.
Basanti is a young woman who marries Debabrata, who is supportive of women's independence, and has liberal views on issues of caste and class. However, Basanti's own views and her actions as a woman with a mind of her own cause much conflict not only in the household, but also between the couple itself. The Ramayana parallel, especially in the way Debabrata abandons her, is deliberate, but brief, and differs from the epic in portraying Debabrata as a man who wouldn't delegate this difficult task to anybody else. There is great emphasis on Debabrata's and Basanti's inner conflicts and their emotions that Debabrata and Basanti experience, evokes the deeply rooted Indian literary tradition of depicting 'viraha', of pining for the beloved.
This edition, translated to English by Himansu S. Mohapatra and Paul St-Pierre, stays true to the serialised novel as a singular entity. Although it retains much of the idiosyncracies of a serialisation ('readers will remember'/ dwelling on specific emotions and tracing every vacillation on the part of the protagonists/a lot of 'show' as well as 'tell') the translation is of one complete story. The novel reads effortlessly, and the retaining of Odia words for say, seasons or terms of endearment, all feel natural and integral to the narrative.
Read it if you like translated Indian writing, collaborative writing, or can appreciate the novel for its role as an influence on Odia writing as well as on Indian feminist literature.
As a collaborative writing effort between nine authors (six men and three women), it's a stupendous achievement to pull off. While it reads today like it was one of those necessary novels (which don't have much literary merit, but capture a time and place in a capsule of words), Basanti stands apart as a cohesive story, in the consistency of character interaction, and its portrayal of the new woman, especially when one considers this as a creative product of an era when it was regarded as taboo for a woman to say, have a Christian friend, leave alone nurture ideas on feminism. Basanti's devotion to her mother-in-law may rankle for a woman of today, but the way she pushes the boundaries of her role as a woman is true to the kind of conflicts that South Asian literature excels in depicting, where the conflict alters life for the protagonists, but doesn't necessarily change society itself.
The story and the history of this writing experiment are detailed in the blurb and the foreword, so I'll restrict myself to the work itself.
Basanti is a young woman who marries Debabrata, who is supportive of women's independence, and has liberal views on issues of caste and class. However, Basanti's own views and her actions as a woman with a mind of her own cause much conflict not only in the household, but also between the couple itself. The Ramayana parallel, especially in the way Debabrata abandons her, is deliberate, but brief, and differs from the epic in portraying Debabrata as a man who wouldn't delegate this difficult task to anybody else. There is great emphasis on Debabrata's and Basanti's inner conflicts and their emotions that Debabrata and Basanti experience, evokes the deeply rooted Indian literary tradition of depicting 'viraha', of pining for the beloved.
This edition, translated to English by Himansu S. Mohapatra and Paul St-Pierre, stays true to the serialised novel as a singular entity. Although it retains much of the idiosyncracies of a serialisation ('readers will remember'/ dwelling on specific emotions and tracing every vacillation on the part of the protagonists/a lot of 'show' as well as 'tell') the translation is of one complete story. The novel reads effortlessly, and the retaining of Odia words for say, seasons or terms of endearment, all feel natural and integral to the narrative.
Read it if you like translated Indian writing, collaborative writing, or can appreciate the novel for its role as an influence on Odia writing as well as on Indian feminist literature.
Displaying 1 of 1 review