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SomdattaMandal
SomdattaMandal19thc.
TravelogueofaBengaliLady
1885coverof'EnglandeBongomohila.'Credit
SomdattaMandal.
EnglandeBongomohila:ABengaliLadyinEngland
Prelude
Readers! Though I am totally unknown to you and am
residing hundreds and hundreds of miles away from you,
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neverthelessIhaveventuredtoputinfrontofyouthissmall
and incomplete text to provide you with some pleasure. I,
the authoress of this book, did not start writing it to win
fame or to express intelligence I am witnessing many new
things and these have evoked many new ideas within me. I
am trying to collect them together at leisure and describe
them lucidly in simple language. There are no grammatical
elaborations in it neither does it have the feeling of
tempting you to breathlessly read it at one go without food
or sleep as you would do for a play or a novel. It does not
contain the exciting narrative of any brave hero or heroine,
nor the primary emotions embellished in epics the
differences between an independent and a colonized nation
canonlybeseenhere.Thisbookdoesnothavedescriptions
ofunnecessarysubjectsandyouwillbebenefitedifyouread
it carefully. At least you will not lose anything and it will
also not harm you. Nowadays the relationship between
EnglandandIndiaisgraduallyincreasing.ManyyoungIndian
men are very eager to learn about England before coming
here, so many of them might be able to learn a few
necessarythingsfromthisbook.
Myfemalereaders!Iwasalsocloisteredinahouselikeyou
I had no relationship with my country or the world. I would
trytopacifymymindwithafewthings,butcouldnotdoso.
Iwouldbeenticedtoknowindetailsaboutthingshappening
inthecountry,andifIeverheardsomeonegoingtoVilayet
or returning from there, my heart would jump up in joy. I
felt eager to go and meet these people and hear about all
the new things they had seen and heard abroad. But the
wishes of unfortunate and colonized Bengali women were
neverfulfilledandhenceIhadtokeepquiet.Maybelikeme
manyofyouarecurioustoknowaboutEngland,andtofulfill
that desire I am dedicating this book A Bengali Lady in
Englandtoyou.
I have written about all the good and bad things that I have
seen in the English people here. I have tried to be as
impartialaspossibleinmyjudgmentofEnglishmannersand
customs,leavingasidethetransformationtheyundergoonce
they are abroad, especially in India. The big difference
between India and England and the relationship of the
EnglishwiththeIndiansmakeitextremelydifficultformeto
analyze the virtues of the English people hence if you
readersdoawaywithallsuchprejudicesandreadthisbook
with a broad mind, then you will be able to judge how far I
have been successful in evaluating things in an impartial
manner.
IhavetakenthehelpofsomeEnglishbooks,periodicalsand
newspapers in the composition of this book. I have even
consulted a few trusted English friends to help me write
what is real, what is true. In case I am mistaken in my
evaluation,IhaveevenreadafewbookswrittenbyEnglish
and foreign authors where they describe their impressions
about you. Among them I have been greatly helped by a
book on England written by the famous French intellectual
Monsieur Taine. My husband has helped me considerably in
understanding issues related to education and politics he
has even revised and corrected a few sections of this book
and according to his advice I have added new topics in
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several places. This book would not have come out in its
presentshapewithouthislabourandcare.
The above mentioned excerpt forms the first chapter of a
Bengali travelogue published anonymously in Calcutta in the
year 1885 as A Bengali Lady in England. The author,
Krishnabhabini Das, did not put in her name when she sent
the handwritten manuscript from England to Calcutta for
publication. From the middle of the nineteenth century,
women from colonial Bengal have been travelling to Europe
andEnglandinparticularbutnoneofthemwrotefullfledged
travel narratives about their experiences. In this sense this
publication holds a unique position in being the first Bengali
travel narrative written by a woman. In the comments that
preface the book, Sri Satyaprasad Sarbadhikari, the
publisherstates:
The author of this book is living with her
husband in England. I am publishing the
manuscript according to her wishes. Except for
changing a few occasional words, I have not
interfered with her writing.The language of the
book is easy and sweet. I believe this kind of
unembellished and unemotional language is
alwaysdesirable.(3)
Apologizing for the errors that might have crept in, he
further mentions that the printed proofcopies of the pages
could not be corrected by the writer herself as she was still
living in England. Maybe those could be rectified in the
second edition when she will be present in India. He then
appreciates the agenda of the writer in inculcating the
lessonsofselfdisciplineandgovernancetohercountrymen.
Evenifalltheinformationgiveninthisbookisincorrect,he
cannot disagree with the authors noble and honest
attempt.
Staying colonized for a long time India has
gradually turned into a lifeless lump of flesh in
religion and work arena. The children of Mother
India are longing for food and nourishment.If
we have to sow the seeds of rejuvenation into
our motherland, the seeds have to be collected
from the flaming workplace of a living nation.
There is no doubt that England is that living
nation.(Publishersnote,3)
Historically women have been more associated with fixity,
with home rather than the road. The women travellers to
Europe worked to shape feminized personae characterized
by conventionality, conservatism and domesticity even as
theyimitatedamaledominatedtraditionoftravelandtravel
writing.Also,womenstravelwritingusuallywasneverdone
professionally for publication. Though they often travelled,
migrated, moved for the same reasons as men their
husbands, fathers or sons the kind of experiences they
relate and the metaphysical roads they travelled could be
quite different. They crossed boundaries of genre and
purpose the personal documents by ordinary women who
organized their texts and mapped the self according to the
journey, geographic movement providing the root metaphor
bywhichtheymadesenseoftheirlives.Whilemostwomen
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Formanyyearsthereisinmyheart
Asecretdesireofhope
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Toseebelovedfreedom
Togotothelandwhereitlives.
Iwillgowherethegoddessofindependence
Residesthereineveryhouse
Withhappinessintheirwideheart
Where everyone wanders with breath of
happiness.
Withalotofdesire,Iwanttosee
WithwhatpowerBritainissoworshipped
TramplingpoorIndiawithherfeet
Clutchingeducationandcivilizationtoherheart.
Sobreakingthecagewithalotofeffort
Havecomeouttogatherwisdom
Hidingthepainwithin
Alwayswipingtears,fearingsomeonewillseeit.
Aftergreatpains,bindingmyheart
Bharat!Mother!Lovinglandofmybirth!
Donotthinkmeheartless
WithgreatpainsItakeleavetoday.(1316)
At the end of Chapter 20, Krishnababini ends her travelogue
withaprosaicmatteroffactstatement:Ifevenoneperson
is inspired by new ideas after reading this book, or thinks
abouthishomelandandtheforeignland,thenallmylabour
will be successful.(154) Just after this declaration, she
breaksintopoeticexuberanceonceagain:
HereMother!HavecometoindependentBritain
Withlotsofhopeinthemind
Ithoughtwillwineternalpeace
ButMotherIndia!Whereishappiness?
The more I listen to songs of
independencehere
ThemoreIseejubilantspirits
The more my heart breaks into
hundredpieces
Andflowswithtears.
ThisBritain,likeyourdaughter
Atinycountry,butpowerful
Shakes the earth with its strength
andbravery
Humanityisscaredinfear
Ofitscourageousfeats.
SoIfeelthispowerfulspirit
Thisimmensepleasure,greatwealth
I feel jealous, alas! To keep this
spirit
Inlowsubservientdisgrace.
..
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Sevenhundredyearsflowintears
Thecountrylivinginforeignclutches
Icannotseeyourpainanymore
Only sorrowful fire in the heart of
India
My heart breaks thinking of the
sorrow
OfthepoorstateofIndians
Icannotholdmyheartanymore
Thinkwhatabadtimeitis
Onlymyheartburns.(1567)
As mentioned earlier, Krishnabhabini went to England along
with her husband in his second visit. During his stay there,
Devendra N. Das also indulged in writing and wrote regular
articles in several contemporary British magazines at the
behestofhisfriendswhowantedhimtoilluminetheEnglish
reading public on different aspects of Indian life. These
articleswerecollectedandpublishedin1887asSketches of
HindooLife.Inthebooktheauthormadeitclearthatitwas
not the work of some unknown Indian but penned by an
erudite person Devendra N. Das, B.A., Late Scholar of
Clare College, Cambridge, Lecturer at the Birkbeck
Institution,London.Hestatesatthebeginningofthebook:
In these Sketches I have tried to depict some
phases of the inner life of my countrymen in
India, and to make them as clear as possible to
Englishreaders.
andthenelucidates:
IhaveoftenbeenaskedbymyEnglishfriendsto
describe the orthodox mode of worship in a
Hindoo temple. Europeans have travelled
throughout the length and breadth of India,
visited almost all the places considered sacred
bytheHindoos,andhavelivedanddiedinIndia
yet hardly any of them have been able to give
an accurate description of the poojah, or
worship, in a Hindoo temple. And the reason is
not far to seek. 'None except strict Hindoos are
allowed to step within the precincts of the
Hindoo devalays, or abodes of gods, much less
to join in the service conducted in them. It is
with great pleasure, therefore, that I now recall
my young days, which I spent in the city most
veneratedbytheHindoosBenares(1).
SowhereDevendraN.Das,withhisOrientalistagenda,was
trying to educate his fellow Britishers with the myths,
religion and lifestyle of the Indians back in India speaking
about the jogee, the astrologer, the zemindars, the nautch
girls, the folklore of Indian birds, infant marriage, the
matchmaker, the Hindoo widow, funeral ceremonies et al
his wife was trying to educate the fellow Indians about
different aspects of British life the English race and their
nature,theEnglishlady,Englishmarriageanddomesticlife,
education and the system, religion and celebration, British
labour, trade, income, working class etc. This selfordained
mission of educating the people back home with the ground
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realitiesinEnglandiswhatmakesKrishnabhabinisnarrative
unique.
Before concluding it is worthwhile questioning the
significance of Krishnabhabinis travelogue once again.
Where does she stand visvis other women who travelled
to the west in the latter part of the nineteenth century?
Unlike Pandita Ramabai or Anandibai Joshi or Cornelia
SorabjifromMaharashtrawhowenttoEnglandwiththesole
aim of higher studies then denied to women scholars in
India, Krishnabhabini belonged to the scores of middle class
Bengali women who went to England for no special purpose
but usually as accompaniments of their menfolk. But at the
sametimetheyalsoappropriatedaspectsofEuropeantravel
discourse, particularly the set of oppositions between self
andother,EastandWest,homeandabroad.Inheranalysis
of womens travel narratives, Rita Felski describes a
contemporarymodel:
in which female selfdiscovery is depicted as a
process of confrontation and dialogue with a
social environment. Although the text often
emphasizes
internal
growth
and
self
understanding rather than public selfrealization,
only by moving out into the world can the
protagonist become critically aware of the
limitation of her previously secluded existence
and her unquestioning acceptance of the
circumscribed nature of womens social roles
(135).
Becauseoftravellingtoanewplacethisseparationfromthe
communityoforiginbecomesveryimportantforwomenlike
KrishnabhabiniDaswhocanthenseebothgenderandselfin
relief. Thus the significance of this first travelogue by a
Bengali woman from colonial Bengal cannot be
overestimated.
Notes
Unless otherwise stated, all translations from the original
Bengalitextaremine.
WorksCited
Das,DevendraN.SketchesofHindooLife.London:Chapman
andHallLimited,1887.
Das, Krishnabhabini. Englande Bongomohila. Calcutta: Sri
Satyaprasad Sarbadhikari, 1885. Rpt. Krishnabhabini Daser
Englande Bongomohila. Edited with an introduction by
SimontiSen.Calcutta:Stree,1996.
Felski, Rita. Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist Literature
and Social Change. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1989.
Gupta,Jayati.LondonThroughAlienEyes
http://www.literarylondon.org/london
journal/march2003/gupta.html
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Copyright2015MuseIndia
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