Bankimchandra Chatterjee, The father of Bengali literature

Bankimchandra Chatterjee

As an Indian, and more especially as a Bengali, I find myself owing a lot to the great Sahitya Samrat, the emperor of Bengali literature, Bankimchandra Chatterjee. And yet, I find little to have been done to keep his noble memory alive and fresh, so that newer generations can know and learn about him, can read and understand his works. This person of monumental intellect has thus been buried under the sands of time, and unless the entire Bengali society attempts to do so, it is beyond the capacity of any individual to bring his spirit back to the world of Bengali literature. This small article I attempt to write is about him, the Emperor who revived Bengali literature, instead, gave birth to it. 

Even before Bankim, Bengali language and literature existed. With prominent writers such as Madhusudan Dutta and Ishvarchandra Banerjee, more popularly known as Vidyasagar to his admirers like us, and reformers such as Rammohan Ray, Bengali language entered its phase of more intense development. But to quote the Aryan mythology, this was the phase of Hiranyagarbha for Bengali, and Bankim was the Brahma required to initiate, to father, the very core of neo-classical Bengali literature and language. In this process, he not only devised new literary tools to incorporate the compendium of Indian history into his works, but developed a new form of Bengali language itself, the so-named 'Bankimi Bhasa'. Thus vast was his monumental intellect. I can only think of another event that shows any similarity to this incident, the struggle initiated by Sir Issac Newton to give rise to what today is Mechanics. When Newton saw the then-existing system of mathematics too primitive for expressing his discoveries and findings, he developed a new form of mathematics, the Calculus, to interpret his results and relate his ideas to the mathematical model of events.

Thus, Bankim found the then-existing Bengali language unfit for being a worthy carrier to his mighty verses. As such, he walked along a different path. He devised, and laid down the foundations for the future of, a new form of Bengali language itself. Using a complicated, yet subtly sweet, beautious blend of classical Bengali and Sanskrit. It was like a shower of honey, over the barrenness of the fruitless fields of Bengal.

Even more wondrous were his glorious novels. When Durgeshnandini was first published, people of Bengal saw the advent of a new day, the dawn of a new era of majesty of Bengali literature. Previously, Bengali could only afford to produce childrens' tales, folk tales and tales to lull the insolent child into sleep. But now was the time, the beginning of a new age.

The victory of Durgeshnandini over the critics was like the victory of Bankim's arrows over the amassed darkness of Bengali literature. So much power of words, so much simplicity in the expression of glory, and yet so much majesty of India's historical might were put and wrapped up within his tightly-knit and carefully chosen words, that the skies of Bengal overflowed with the galactic light of his intellect.

Bengali film adaptation of Anandamath

Then followed the long train of the series of arguably the greatest works in Bengali, including the immediately succeeding Kapalkundala to the distant cosmic brilliance of Sitaram. But indeed, Anandamath was the real Sun around which even his other works dwarfed, like planets revolving around the massive barycentre of the subtle characterisions of Acharya Satyananda, the noblility of Shanti, and the might and valour of Santaal Dal. The sleeping, dormant giant of Bengali pride suddenly jumped up to the height of the skies. Bengal realised, and so did mother India, that she wasn't weak.
The strength of Bankims's words injected into the minds of the Indian youth the sense of fearlessness, the self-satisfaction of being the mighty children of the mighty nation, the national pride of a United India that Bankim dreamed of. As Vande Maataram echoed and resounded all around the Indo-Gangetic plains, the sandy Thar desert in the west and the forested hills of the east, the Aryan Sun rose to middle of Indian skies, commanding the influence of the windy slopes of the Vindhyas and the Himalayas. The rainbow of nationhood emerged over the war-beaten, ashamed faces of the Indians, the glorious Aryan civilization.

The glorious saying, signifying the unity of India

The father of a fallen language is the father of the very foundational process of rejuvenating the fallen race again, from shame and abjectness to pride and glory, from worries and fears to courage and grace. Thus, Bankim, as I right call him, is in a way the father of the Neo-Bengali youth, the sculptor of the fabric of Bengali culture, the forerunner and guide of the civilised Bengali society that emerged out of the ashes of an old and trudging culture.