Mahesh 

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhya 

Author’s biography 

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (nickname Nyarha) was born in

Devanandapore - a village in West Bengal under the district of Hooghly
on 15th September 1876 (31 Bhadra 1283 BY). For a time his father was
employed in Bihar - the rest of the family lived in Bhagalpore with his
maternal grandfather. Changing family financial situations resulted in a
sequence of school changes for young Sarat. In his own words:

My childhood and youth were passed in great poverty. I

received almost no education for want of means. From my
father I inherited nothing except, as I believe, his restless
spirit and his keen interest in literature. The first made me a
tramp and sent me out tramping the whole of India quite
early, and the second made me a dreamer all my life.140

After passing the Entrance Exam in second division in 1894 Sarat

was admitted to the Tejnarayan Jubilee College. Freshly in touch with the
English literature, he read such novels as Dicken's ‘Tale of Two Cities’,
‘David Copperfield’ and ‘My Love’ by Lord Litton. The literary giant
claimed that his real inspiration was his own father's unfinished and
unpublished literary work:
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Father was a great scholar, and he had tried his hand at

stories and novels, dramas and poems, in short every branch
of literature, but never could finish anything. I have not his
work now - somehow it got lost; but I remember poring over
those incompleteness. Over again in my childhood, and many
a night I kept awake regretting their incompleteness, and
thinking what might have been their conclusion if finished.
Probably this led to my writing short stories when I was
barely seventeen.141

With the creation of Bhagalpore Shitya Sabha (literary group), a

handwritten children's magazine called "Shisu" was published. The stories
‘Kakbasha’ and ‘Kashinath’ were first published here (1894). In 1895 his
mother died. The following year Sarat had to leave college forever due to
dire financial stress in which his father had to sell off their
Devanandapore home for a mere Rs.225. They moved to Bhagalpore once
again. In Khanjanpur (a suburb in Bhagalpore) he came in close contact
with a number of people who would play a significant role in his literary
career. Notable are Anupama (later changed her name to Nirupama Devi -
author of the ‘Annapurnaar Mandir’) and her brother Bibhutibhushan
Bhatta and Rajendranath Majumdar (Raju). Raju is said to be the famous
Indranath character in his masterpiece ‘Srikanto’. In the Bhatta household
there were literary get-together quite regularly in which Sarat (was the
Chairman) would take part along with his young uncles Surendranath,
Gireendranath and Upendranath (later editor of the monthly literary
magazine ‘Bichitra’) Ganguli. Here he came in contact with writer

222 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Sourindra Mohan Mukherjee - who at a later date got the ‘Bardidi’ novel
published in the ‘Bharati’ - one of the most influential literary chronicles
of that time. At this time, the inexperienced and untamed creative talent in
Sarat was bursting out in short stories or novels like ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Bojha’,
‘Anupamar Prem’, ‘Sukumarer Balyakatha’, ‘Bardidi’, ‘Chandranath’,
‘Debdas’ and ‘Pashan’. Abhimaan was based on ‘East Lynne’ - the 1861
English novel of the English middle-class life by Ellen Wood (better
known as Mrs. Henry Wood, 1814-1887) which sold over half a million
copies in those days and was dramatised repeatedly. Pashan was written
following the theme of the then spectacularly popular English novel
‘Mighty Atom’ by Marie Corelli (1855-1924). Corelli's novels were said to
be extravagantly romantic. Can one consider Debdas in the same light?

Young Sarat had talents other than writing. He could not only sing
and act, but played instruments such as the flute and tabla. He was a good
sportsman too. His acting in the female roles in ‘Mrinalini’,
‘Bilvamangal’ and ‘Jona’ - which were dramatisation of Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee's novels - during this impressionable years perhaps allowed
him to be more fully influenced by Bankim's writings. The ‘Kunri
Sahityik’ - Budding Literateurs - group was formed comprising those
frequenting the Bhatta's published their first hand-written magazine
Chhaya in April 1901 which included Sarat's‘Aalo O Chhaya’ and later
‘Chhaya’ published a few other stories noted above.

Meanwhile, in 1900 Sarat started work in Godda's Banali Estate in

Bihar and later in Santhal district settlement - both he disliked and gave
223 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

up. Young Sarat was very sensitive and fragile. He left home following a
disagreement with his father. Alone, unhappy and indifferent, Sarat lost
purpose and lacked motivation. Referring to his natural love for and
obssesion with writing stories, he later told us:

But I soon gave up the habit as useless, and almost forgot in the long
years that followed that I could even write a sentence in my boyhood.

He felt dejected and for no apparent reason would walk around

crematorium grounds at dead of night. Later he joined a party of Naga
Monks for a while and came to Mujaffarpur (1902). For a brief period he
came back to Bhagalpore on his father's death and on completion of his
father's last rites went to Calcutta and was employed as a translator for
Hindi paper book for a mere salary of Rs.30 per month.

In 1903, soon before his departure for Rangoon in search of a better

financial future he was convinced by uncle Girindrandranath to send his
short story ‘Mandir’ for the ‘Kuntaleen’ literary competition. It would
appear that Sarat Chandra was least interested in that and on others'
insistence finally agreed to send the story in the name of Surendranath
Ganguli. From amongst one hundred fifty odd short stories Mandir was
selected to be the best of the year (1309 BY) - judged by the veteran
editor of the ‘Vasumati’, Sri Jaldhar Sen. ‘Mandir’ was published in the
name of Surendranath - and was incidentally the first ever printed story by
Sarat Chandra. This, however, was not the last time someone else's name
was used in publishing his own writings. He published regularly in the

224 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

‘Jamuna’ magazine in three different names - in his own name and in the
name of Anila Devi (his elder sister) and Anupama.

According to the author's own account ‘Jamuna’ was the catalyst in

reviving his literary career whilst he was in Burma. He said:

A mere accident made me start again, after the lapse of

about eighteen years. Some of my old acquaintances started
a little magazine, but no one of note would condescend to
contribute to it, as it was so small and insignificant. When
almost hopeless, some of them remembered me, and after
much persuasion they succeeded in extracting from me a
promise to write for it. This was in the year 1913. I promised
most unwillingly - perhaps only to put them off till I returned
to Rangoon and could forget all about it. But sheer volume
and force of their letters and telegrams compelled me at last
to think seriously about writing again. I sent them a short
story for their magazine Jamuna. This became at once
popular, and made me famous in one day. Since then I have
been writing regularly. In Bengal, perhaps, I am the only
fortunate writer who has not had to struggle.

Whilst in Rangoon after a number of temporary positions, he

was employed permanently in Accounts department of the
Public Works Department - where he served until his return
to Calcutta in 1916.142

225 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

In his own time Sarat Chandra practised Homeopathy, opened a

primary school and formed a party of ‘Keertan’ music. His first wife
Shanti Devi to whom he was married in 1906, died of plague in 1908
along with his one year old son. To fill the void in his life, he studied
sociology, politics, philosophy, health sciences, psychology and history
borrowing books from the Barnerd Free Library. In 1909 due to health
problems due to heart related complications he had to cut down his study
hours and started to paint. His first painting was named‘Ravan-
Mandodori’. Chatterjee was married in 1910 the second time an
adolescent widow named Mokshada - who he renamed Hiranmoyee.

Since his return to Calcutta the Author's writings appeared in all

magazines of note and his popularity grew from strength to strength.
Adaptation of his ‘Viraj Bou’ was first staged at the Star Theatre in 1918
under the direction of Amritlal Bose. Viraj Bou was also his first novel to
be translated to Hindi by Chandrashekhar Pathak in 1919. A year after
that ‘Datta’ was translated into Marathi and into Gujrati in 1921. In 1922
Oxford University Press published the English translation of ‘Srikanto -
Part I’ by Kshitish Chandra Sen and Teodosia Thompson. Srikanto was
translated into Italian in 1925. Here on, many other stories and novels
started to appear regularly in many Indian and other languages.

The first (silent) film ‘Aandhare Aalo’ based on the author was screened
at the Rasa (Purna) Theatre - was directed by none other than the Stage
King Sisir Bhaduri (with co-director Naresh Mitra) who was also
responsible for making film of the author's ‘Pally Samaj’ in 1932. The

226 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

first film (with sound) based on his ‘Dena Paona’ was directed by
Premankur Atarthi - released in 1931.

Calcutta University honoured him with the Jagattarini Gold Medal

in 1923 and Romain Rolland recognised him as one of the best novelists
of the world in 1925. Dacca (now Dhaka) University bestowed on him the
honorary D. Lit.degree in 1936.

Sarat Chandra was actively involved in Indian freedom movement

and became the President of Howrah District Congress at the request of C.
R. Das and wrote regularly in ‘Narayan’ edited by the latter.

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, who is belovedly known in Bengal as the

Immortal Wordsmith, died of cancer of the liver on 16th January 1938 at
10:10 am at Park Nursing Home in Calcutta. Bengal lost one of its
greatest sons - one that loved her from the core of his heart.Sarat Chandra
is the son of the soil. He says,

My literary debt is not limited to my predecessors only. I'm

forever indebted to the deprived, ordinary people who give
this world everything they have and yet receive nothing in
return, to the weak and oppressed people whose tears
nobody bothers to notice and to the endlessly hassled,
distressed (weighed down by life) and helpless people who
don't even have a moment to think that: despite having
227 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

everything, they have right to nothing. They made me start to

speak. They inspired me to take up their case and plead for
them. I have witnessed endless injustice to these people,
unfair intolerable indiscriminate justice. It's true that springs
do come to this world for some - full of beauty and wealth -
with its sweet smelling breeze perfumed with newly bloomed
flowers and spiced with cuckoo's song, but such good things
remained well outside the sphere where my sight remained
imprisoned. This poverty abounds in my writings.143

Poverty Sarat Chandra Chatterjee knew very definitely. Both in the

limited materialistic sense and in its psychosomatic dimensions. His short
stories and novels often present both in great depth. Almost with
pathological accuracy. In his carefully crafted, if not freighteningly real,
characters and events he captured the late nineteenth to early twentieth
century Bengali society. But in no sense did he get his materials from the
history. It was his encounters with life as a country youth that provided
him with the inspiration, ingredients and storylines for his life-like
characters in the (often) uncomplicated rural family settings. He plucked
characters for his stories and novels from his life experience and created
them in his own unimitable style. The distinctive features and the essence
of purpose that he added to them made them more attractive and perhaps
larger than life. This is why his stories had such universal appeal - a
reason which may explain why such a large number of them were
translated to other languages.

228 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Working in parallel with - remaining at a safe distance away from

the burning sun of the Tagore genius in Calcutta - Chatterjee's work was
unique and not overshadowed by Tagore. His best contribution perhaps
was the use of simple, unsanitised (i.e., unsanscritised) and very familiar
Bengali vocabulary - a welcome break from the literary tradition of the
time. This new wave of desanscritisation started with Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyay. Sarat Chandra who had a lot in common with Bankim as
they had similar middle class upbringing and shared the same socio-
economic background, was greatly influenced by Bankim's writings. By
contrast, Sarat Chandra (which means the Autumn Moon) hardly if ever
was dimmed, diffused or influenced by the powerful rays of the Sun
(meaning Rabindranath Tagore). According to Dr. Sukumar Sen, Sarat
Chandra (arguably) did not much appreciate poetry and hence deprived
his work a little of the vast wealth of the Tagore literary ocean which
could well have enhanced the texture and depth of his masterpieces.
Having said that Sen, however, recognised that in terms of popularity, the
Autumn Moon was brighter than the Sun.

Sarat Chandra was very popular as a story-teller - more so than

either Bankim or Tagore. His sketches on the social canvas had a very
subtle reformist twist to them. His critique on social norm was only a
message and never an agenda. He refrained from value judgement. He felt
that his duty as a writer was to raise awareness about social malice and
not to reform the society. The latter was a reformer's work. Nevertheless,
he faced uphill battle with conservative sections of the Hindu social
leaders (refer Pally Samaj). He was not particularly liked either by the

229 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Imperial representatives for his Pather Daabi. It was banned for alleged
preaching of sedition from 1927 to 1939 and again in 1940 under Section
124A of the Indian Penal Code and under the Dramatic Performance Act
respectively.

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhya’s unique writing style: 

The distinct feature of his novels and short stories was that most of
them had a women-centric plot. His treatment of the women characters
revealed his clarified knowledge of women and their importance in
building society. The lucid picture of countryside, of the early twentieth
century Bengali Hindu community, the effect of urbanization, and the
youth all accounted for the topic of his writings. His writing style was
considerably influenced by the Charles Dicken’s writings.

Chattopadhya experimented with different forms of writings

ranging from novels, short stories, novellas and even theater. He was one
of the first to break away from the tradition of writing in Sanskritized
Bengali or ‘Shadhu Bangla’. Poetry was given no importance in his works
and this meant that he was little affected by other contemporary writers
such as, Rabindranath Tagore and Bankimchandra Chattopadhya.

230 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Plot Summary: ‘Mahesh’ 

A poor peasant Gafur Zola had a pet bull Mahesh. Both of them are
old and Mahesh after eight seasons of ploughing can no longer plough the
field. It was difficult for Gafur to have rice enough for himself and his
daughter Amina. One day while Gafur was returning home in empty hand
found the hungry Mahesh eating the last stock of grain and a part of the
dry paddy grass covering the house roof. Being overpowered by anger he
beat his pet Bull who died on the spot. Next morning Gafur left his house
along with his daughter to a small town to become a jute mill worker
which earlier despite his starvation refused to take up.

The story relates to the sufferings in the life of Gafur, the weaver.
From the beginning the story stresses upon the hard life that the
downtrodden leads. As the story proceeds further and we delve deeper
into Gofur’s world we find that instead of finding some way out of his
problems. Gofur is encircled more by the inevitable chain of
circumstances. They make a ring around him in such a way that he is
totally cowed down with the breaking point. Pain and suffering and
indignation had never reached to such an extent in the life of any
character. The author narrated the story with the characters – Mahesh (the
Bull), Amina the only daughter Gofur and Gofur, the symbol of sufferings
and humiliation.

231 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Mahesh: Critical Appreciation  

Poverty is a smouldering fire in the belly and in the heart. It

drives one to reach out, to explore and at times to explode.
But when the heat is too much to bear, it could reduce one to
ashes which any can trample upon with impunity. It takes
great courage to be poor and to live with dignity.144

‘Mahesh’ voices out the typical 19th century India - its poverty, the
zamindari pratha and the consequent chain of pain and sufferings which
leads the reader to cry out the anguish to the Almighty questioning His
existence. The story touches the core of the heart and makes one
speechless, thinking over the meaning of so called democracy, so called
civilization and so called culture, as the worth of these words becomes
questionable. It is a story that deals with the life of Gofur, Amina and
Mahesh (the Bull), who lead their lives marked by problems, pain and
sufferings and yet survive all the onslaughts of circumstances. The story is
the expression of the author’s obsession with pain and grief of life.

The title of the story ‘Mahesh’ is relevant as we know he is an

animal – the Bull- that is used by men for the purpose of performing work
under harsh conditions. It is a beast of burden that works not for itself but
for others. Luckily Mahesh is the Bull of Gofur who loved him like his
son. Gofur has ten year old daughter named Amina. Gofur is the poor
Mohammadean weaver who lives in a small village named Kashipur. The

232 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

story stresses upon the hard life of Gofur that he leads in the time of
draught. Due to draught Gofur could not feed Mahesh and his family
neither can he ask for from the prevalent zamindar as he had already
bought loans before to feed his family which he could not repay and he
will not be able to repay at all because of the natural disaster – the
draught. The story further develops as chain of circumstances which
Gofur faces and we find the cruel face of zamindari and so called high
caste people and their selfishness. Gofur is kind hearted and honest man
who loves his Mahesh like his son and in no circumstances wants to sell
him away. Though everyone in the village advised him to sell off Mahesh,
he reacted angrily and said, “Do I have to explain? It’s mine and I won’t
sell it, it’s as simple as that”145. Only because of Mahesh he has to suffer
the pain given by the zamindars and he would not utter a single word in
the fear of getting Mahesh lost. He used to give up his meal for Mahesh. It
is strange that no one thinks about his family and his condition.

Sarat Chandra verily stands out not only as writer who describes the
hard core reality of life but also depicts the human psychology, human
mind and its limitations. At the end of the story beaten by zamindars,
hungry and thirsty Gofur finds that Amina is lying on the ground and
Mahesh is drinking water from her broken pot, he looses his mind and
became insane he took the ploughshare he kept for repair and with all his
might struck the lowered head of Mahesh.

233 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Only once did Mahesh try to raise his heads and then its
body, emaciated by hunger, fell down on the ground. A few
drops of tears from the corner of its eyes and a few drops of
blood from his ears rolled down. Once or twice its whole
body shivered, it stretched out its legs as far as possible and
then it breathed it last146.

Gofur could not move a bit, sat still and stared at the eyes of Mahesh. It
becomes very painful when in the circle of bare basic needs man has to
succumb to the worldly slavery and becomes inhuman at times. He loses
the emotions and sentiments and in his mental imbalance kills his own
self. The story is the mirror of the society which even today exists with its
harsh, brutal and cruel face of poverty and men’s shallowness. The two
aspects – the love between the man and the animal and the hatred between
man and man – are carefully woven by the author. Gofur’s final decision
to work in the jute mill, is again the symbol of slavery where he kills his
own conscience and the industrialization engulfs the poor, tender and
honest Gofur. The death of Mahesh is also becomes very symbolic here.
Till the time Mahesh was alive Gofur always rejected the idea of working
in Jute Mills. He believes that it cannot save woman’s honour and one’s
religion. But after Mahesh’s death he accepts the work which symbolizes
his dead self and consciousness.

234 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Saratchandra : A Writer of Universal Appeal 

Subodh Ghose says, “I occasionally come across critics saying

many things by way of explaining the popularity of Saratchandra’s
writings. I do not know if any critic has described his works as a perfect
and ideal specimen of national literature.” There was a time when the
idea strongly prevailed in the critical field that the mark of true ‘national’
literature lay in its being an ideological embodiment of the aspirations and
efforts towards some social or political or economic upheaval on the part
of the country or the nation. Many critics, even today, may be disposed to
determine the character of ‘national’ literature in accordance with the
principle enunciated by the great Rajnarayan Basu. But it would appear
that, in agreement with the opinions of Rajnarayan, we can admit the truth
that, for the purpose of inspiring patriotism, the poetic narrative cannot be
regarded as the proper form of ‘national’ literature. Without resorting to
comparisons with other writers we can, by comparing two specimens of
Saratchandra’s own writings, say that the qualities, the symptoms and the
significance of ‘national’ literature are to be found more in Palli-Samaj
than in Pather Dabi. But it has to be realised through a process of enquiry
and discrimination which particular virtues of his mind and pen have
invested his writings with the qualities of ‘national’ literature.

It would not be possible to correctly estimate the technical

perfection and the inner emotional content of Bengali prose fiction
without recognising certain truth. It has to be admitted that during the
period in question we come across in the field of Bengali literature a
235 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

number of prolific geniuses who cannot lay claim to the creation of truly
great ‘national’ literature, but whose writings, nevertheless, have other
kinds of literary appeal and charm in no small degree. The psychologist
will describe these as delightfully successful examples of assimilating the
wealth of the forms and methods of foreign literary works. This
achievement does not deserve to be branded as the sheer product of
imitative thought. The kind of literature that has established itself in
popular favour by virtue of its aesthetic charm or by the novelty of its
technical excellence is no doubt an important source of the cultural
satisfaction of any country or nation ; but it cannot satisfy the deeper
yearnings of its soul. Surely the greatest merit of Sarat literature lies in the
fact that its ideas, its emotions and its charm pass through the ear and
idea. The doctor can see bodily ailments ; the literary artist can go further
and visualise mental ailments. Just as the Geography teacher and the
nature-lover differ, so do the poet and the doctor. Saratchandra looked at
history with the object of mental transformation. It is from this angle that
he delineated the noble aims and the high ideals among the youth, and
pinpointed the outcome of misused conventions.

The humanism of Saratchandra moves the heart ; man can be saved

only by the realisation of his inner light, and so the gross materialistic
picture is rendered useless.

Society moves with all the paraphernalia and fanfare as if it

had been endowed with humanism, but it has lost the basic
roots of understanding, sacrificing spirit and sympathy” said
Saratchandra in a paradoxical vein.

236 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Social customs and practices belong to the rich. Just as the

philosophy of money devours money, so it has devoured ‘society’. If
man’s basic values were to depend on money, all the conventions, both
good and bad, belong to the rich. It is this stratum of the rich that had
created the systems of marriage alongside that of harlotry — such of the
individuals as have transgressed these conventions have been cast out of
society and been called immoral (‘Charitrahin’). In reality they are being
victimised by society.

Woman is a weakling. Married or unmarried, she has to drown

herself in her own tears like a widow. It is because of this that cultured
ladies are revolting against this barbarous tyranny. The character of the
revolutionary Kamal belongs to this category.

The ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ have been laid down by society with a view
to establishing traditions which make living easy within the social
framework. He gave them a new dimension. Just as the true poet
transgresses the norms of grammar to emphasise his new point, so also
Saratchandra transgressed the norms of society to grant a new charter of
freedom to the individual.

Just as he had disapproved and disproved the undesirable traditions

of the older society, so also he could have disproved the economic order
like a socialist, but he was not a moralist of Gandhiji’s type. He was not a

237 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

worshipper of beauty like Tagore, nor was he an economist of the type of

Marx. His chief object was to bring to the fore the terrible injustices to the
women of society. His revolutionary fervour was intense but it was not for
the betterment of the world as a whole.

He carried on an unceasing fight against the shackles imposed by

society. In one word, he was an intense humanist. This humanism is
dominant in Ses Prasna. Before he wrote this book, he was only alluding
to injustices to womanhood, but in this book he openly took cudgels
against the issues. Here Saratchandra pioneered a new social order.

Of all the problems, those relating to women are more important.

Men usually view these problems not from the social angle but from their
own individual selfish angle. Society is not made up of men only, but of
both men and women. It is said that to attain salvation, one must give up
both money and women. This implies that women do not need salvation.
In the eyes of man, woman is only an object of enjoyment. Along with
gold, she is only meant for decoration. Just as he secretes gold, he
secreted women in his dwelling or palace.

Men and women are not merely flesh and blood ; they are beings with
souls of their own. In the recognition of their separate entities lies the
welfare of society.

It is only in the reciprocity between man and woman that life attains its
full culture. Lord Siva is not merely a male ; he is half-female. For the
well-being of the world, the virility of man must be conjoined to the

238 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

forbearance and resilience of woman; this is the secret of ‘Ardha-

Nariswara’— the Lord who is half woman. Man without understanding
and one of the great principles of Indian aesthetics tells us that the formal
execution of a portrait or an image cannot be accomplished merely with
deft touches of the brush or the chisel. What is needed is the touch of
living radiance. If we apply this principle of Indian aesthetics to the
consideration of Sarat literature, we shall come to the natural conclusion
that Saratchandra could claim the greatest success in adding this touch of
living radiance to the story. The stories and novels of Saratchandra are
instances of flawlessly realistic portraiture of social life. The clash of
social good and evil and the analyses of the various mental reactions
involved in affairs of love and marriage form an important feature of his
novels. But even this is external. We have to go further and say that he
has not built up the dimensions of his story by merely touching up with
colour the map of his social thought. He has rendered the universal
feelings of the human heart.

Subodh Ghose does not remember to have come across any

wondering comment about Saratchandra’s technique of composition and
construction from any learned critic. Rather, it is the common idea that
there is hardly any touch of pronounced novelty in Saratchandra’s
methods of composition. His way of writing is praised for its remarkable
simplicity and clarity. It must be said that this praise actually implies the
highest appreciation for a writer’s talents. Even if this praise is uttered in a
low key, we have to understand that Saratchandra was not influenced in
the slightest degree by any facts or theories of foreign literary

239 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

accomplishments. It was as though his genius had sung the song of life,
gushing forth with the spontaneity of a fountain. Saratchandra, the artist,
has accomplished major delineations of the life, the mind, the body and
the soul of a story with those atoms and molecules of the propensities of
the human heart which preserve the truth of life, preserve the sweetness of
the sentiments and keep love wedded to the spirit of sacrifice. It is a
matter of honour and good fortune for Bengali literature that we did not
have to face the embarrassment of having to describe Saratchandra as the
Dickens or the Hugo of Bengal. He is a great and powerful creator of
‘sincere’ literature, of truly ‘national’ literature. The widening popularity
of Saratchandra’s achievements has only proved that he is not only an
ideally sympathetic story-teller in twentieth century Bengali literature, he
is, in his ideas and his feelings, in his imagination and his understanding,
an author, and probably the only one, reliant on and glorified by his own
genius.

Social consciousness is undoubtedly an aspect of the human

consciousness. So by a natural attraction, the mind of the novelist has
occupied itself with social good and evil and their ultimate results. It is
also true that preoccupation with social problems has produced good
novels. At the same time, however, we have to remember that the life of
an age does not stand still at the same stage, burdened with the same
problems. The dynamic human mind passes over its existing problems
and forges ahead, questing after new things. The old problem is no longer
there, but the undistinguished truth called life lingers on. The highest
mark of fictional literature is that even after the pressure of the problem

240 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

has relaxed, the charm of the story remains. Even after the importance of
the problem has vanished altogether, the charming portrayal of life in the
story remains a treasure which invests the story with immortality. And
although that immortality may not be eternal like the sun and the moon, it
goes on lighting the lamp from one age to another and thus illuminates
cultural life. It can likewise be said of Saratchandra’s writings that even
when the problems of the age concerned will no more be there, the eternal
human appeal of his stories will continue to flush the mind of the reader
with its rich tints amidst the dawning of a new age.

Yet another truth emerges from a review of Sarat literature — a

truth which has an educational value. Keeping especially in view the
question of nourishing and serving the needs of Bengali literature, it can
be unequivocally proclaimed that Saratchandra’s writings have taught the
talented Indian artist and literature to keep their heads high in a spirit of
‘legitimate pride’ without being indifferent to the great achievements of
the external world. It is this which Aristotle has recommended as the
legitimate pride reflected in the cultural thought and the manners of a man
of genius. Literature would surely turn into a vehicle of falsehood and
meet a lamentable fate, if there is no urge for spiritual freedom in the
consciousness of the creator, the writer, the artist. The poetess Kamini
Ray, while reviewing Hemchandra’s writings, has in a tone of regret
protested against a kind of modern formalism. She thinks that in judging
literature in the present age more emphasis is put on the novelty of
technique than on the excellence of idea, expression and suggestion. In
such an estimate, it is the verbal resonance of the technique, which only

241 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

affects the ear, that is most valued. The ideas of the poetess Kamini Ray
have a significant bearing on the estimation of Saratchandra’s fictional
writings. In their expression and style Saratchandra’s novels are like the
deep and yet crystal clear waters of a great lake. It does not look as though
he ever deliberately tried to exhibit any technical excellence. Stories and
novels which are striking examples of deliberate efforts at sheer technical
and stylistic exhibition are by no means rare. One apprehends that, in spite
of their prevailing fame, stories of such pure technical finesse are doomed
to transience. It is our good fortune that the simple and lucid tales woven
by our homely novelist Saratchandra out of the myriad-coloured effusions
of our homely heart are in their form as much as in their content open-
hearted like the ideal mode of urban architecture recommended in ancient
India. While reflecting the joys and sorrows of Bengali social life, they
are invested with a steadfast appeal for universal humanity.

Twentieth Century View: 

There appears to be a stubborn bond between art, artists and

poverty. In some cases the artist might seek it because poverty is the great
reality; but in most other cases poverty is the only reality that artist is
familiar with. Who can forget Van Gogh driven to insanity by punishing
poverty, cruel neglect and suffocating loneliness? Somehow a view has
gained ground that the artist is given to sense more keenly than others
only while placed in poverty, prison, or illness. Rainer Rilke said that one
cannot be a good poet unless one loves poverty; indifference and
wretchedness. The passion in human nature chooses “the one precious
thing” and urges him to pay for it through poverty, conflict, deprivation,

242 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

and endurance of anger from rejected divinities. As if to prove him right,

Dostoevsky, Kafka and others of the tribe lived their miserable life in
ignominy and penury while producing masterpieces. Strangely, an artist
who gains success and affluence would be seen as one who has lost his
authenticity; and, he would live the rest of his life on borrowed glory.

Whenever a debate about poverty and literature comes up, one

cannot help thinking about Charles Dickens and our own Sarat Chandra
Chatterjee.

Dickens portrayed the urban poverty, deprivation and the

wretchedness it brought, especially, upon the slum- children of the
Victorian society. No other author of that era presented a more realistic
and “humanized" face of poverty. He created some of English literature's
most memorable characters. Some People might mock Dickens's style;
but no one has been able to capture such variety of human nature. His
characters are all amazing, so vivid that by the time he reaches the end of
the novel, the reader comes to know them on a personal level.

Dickens’s was a study in abuse of power. Dickens' novels criticize

the injustices of his time; but are dedicated to the suffering poor
everywhere. He pictures poignantly their starving, rumbling stomachs,
bare feet, cold lives, empty staring eyes and the fear lurking behind them.
He says it is all because the mighty ones snatch away their rights and
refuse to help them. His novels, at a later time, succeed in bringing about

243 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

some changes in social conditions and criminal laws of England; and

above all in the attitudes towards the poor. Alike Dickens, Sarat
Chandra’s portrayal of poverty was lot more understanding and sensitive.
His characters carried around them their poverty with a great sense of
dignity. They never were ashamed of their poverty; instead they seemed
to feed on the misery mounting on them and eventually claimed out of the
heap with composure and dignity. Sarat Chandra Chatterjee knew Poverty
very intimately. He did not have to obtain his material from research. It
was his encounters with life as a country lad and youth that provided him
the inspiration, ingredients and storylines for his life-like characters
placed in rural family settings. He molded them in his own inimitable
style. The distinctive features and the essence of purpose that he added
rendered them larger than life. That is the reason his stories have gained
such universal appeal.

His real heroes are not those under the limelight, but those in the
corners, the shadows of life. They are the ordinary men and women
placed within their limited confines battling extraordinary situations with
courage and conviction; but finally emerge out of the ordeal with
composure and dignity though a bit bruised and looking tired. He seemed
to believe, One’s true test is in one’s daily life; and in one’s reliability and
integrity as a human being.

Most of his stories relate to rural life and society. Sarat Chatterjee
is at his best when he draws from his experience and writes about
women from poverty stricken rural Bengal who hold on to their values
244 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

even while placed in the very caldron of life. He had a deep affection and
respect for Bengali women. Some of his women characters stand out; they
are the dominant personalities without in any way losing their
femininity. Sarat Chandra had a great admiration for the fortitude of the
poor and respect for their undemonstrative courage.

Sarat Chandra wrote in all more than 30 full-length novels, dozens

of shortstories, plays and essays. He wrote about the evils of society,
social superstitions and oppression; and in his later works he wrote about
the patriotic and rebellious spirit of his times. Many of his early novels
were serialized in monthly magazines –just as in the case of Charles
Dickens. Both were prompted by the sheer need to earn a living by
pen. But, while Dickens specialized in creating a great number of
wonderful and fascinating characters, Sarat Chandra focused on
crafting intriguing situations depicting conflicts between conservatism
and social change; superstitions and rebellion; pure and profane.

Sarat Chandra’s earliest writings show influence of Bankim

Chandra Chatterjee. They display his displeasure with the core of Hindu
orthodoxy and the prevailing social system. His impatience and anger
against social discrimination, superstitions; and bigotry in the name of
religion simmer through in his writings. His criticism of the establishment
is never vitriolic; he never flouts the accepted moral basis of the Hindu
society. His novels such as Devdas (written in 1901, published 1917),
Parinita (1914), Biraj Bau (1914) and Palli Samaj (1916) belong to this
phase. The themes and their treatment are not much different from
245 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Bankim’s; but their presentation, their locales are updated; the language,
particularly of the conversations is easier and matter-of-fact.

The women in particular step out of the system with agony, passion
and intensity to cleanse the guilt ridden system. There is a burning desire
to blow away the old cobwebs and usher in a new order, a new
dispensation. Their restraint; and the clarity of thought and speech are
remarkable. That is the reason his stories retain their freshness even nearly
a century after they were written. Many read over and over weeping and
laughing with his characters.

Towards the latter half of his life Sarat Chandra wrote Pather Dabi
(1926) spun around a revolutionary movement, inspired by Bengal,
operating in Burma and in Far East. His last complete novel Sesh Prasna
(1931) was crafted around a slender theme , inflated by ethereal talks on
problems of love and marriage; and of the individual and of the society.
These were almost ‘intellectual’ monologues.

But, Sarat Chandra was at his best when he wrote with

understanding of women, their sufferings, their often unspoken loves,
their need for affection and their desperation for emancipation. His
portrayal, particularly, of strong-willed women of rural Bengal defying
the convention; and also of women rooted in their sense of values and
who set a benchmark for other characters to be judged by the reader, stand
out as authentic. His women are admirable for their courage, tolerance

246 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

and devotion in their love for their husbands, lovers or children. These
stories also picture husbands who do not know or do not care to express
love for their beloved ones. Somehow, the women in his stories never
attain happiness in their personal lives.

Just to cite an example, his Srikanta quartet(1917, 1918, 1927,

1933), encompassing lives of many women, is a remarkable study in the
conflicts between the individual and the social perception of purity and
profanity; and between rebellion and timid submission to orthodoxy.

Sarat Chandra refuses to be judgmental. His critique on social norm was

only a message and never an agenda. He lets his characters to speak for
themselves; and lets the reader form his own opinion of the purity concept
in the Hindu Society. He tried to heighten the social awareness; and to
ignite revolt against the oppressive social cults, which debased and
degraded humanity. “Sarat Chandra is one of those whose writings have
attracted much attention in India and abroad, but of whose life and
manners very little has been communicated to the world outside
Bengal.”147

Sarat Chandra’s eyes were in his heart. His genius is marked by a

splendid grasp of the tragic world in its social conflicts. Sarat Chandra the
man and Sarat Chandra the novelist and short story writer, equally shared
a revolutionary spirit. He found no difficulty in coming in contact with a
large variety of people. His experience of life reinforced his liberal

247 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

outlook on life. He was perfection itself in describing the agonies of

women, the abstruse problems of human life, the conception of love. His
novels condemn social injustice, social indifference and opposition. And
the teachings of his writings can be summed up in two words: love,
frustration. He was deeply stirred by the suffering of the middle-class
people.

We live in a world which is poisoned with hatred. The pressure of

society, he realized, is the root of all evil, and he could not help railing at
the leaders of society. He asked them to observe the value and dignity of
these persons whom they had so ruthlessly discarded. Softness and
sympathy towards deplorable humanity permeate his works. Society may
find it difficult to give shelter to a fallen woman, but to ignore her grace
and goodness in life, he declared, is unpardonable foolishness. Never did
he look at women as women, but as human beings. If the same
opportunity were given them, he was certain that they could walk
shoulder to shoulder with men. His works tell us that he had the
profoundest respect not for the men of vast learning or wealth, but for the
men of virtue. He was terribly hurt by the fact that the present society is
under the subjugation of the so=called men of learning, and tortured by
the men wallowing in the pleasures of riches. His heart was ready to
tolerate everything save and except hypocrisy. His life was an illustration
of his teaching.

If comparison has any importance, then he can aptly be compared

with Guy de Maupassant, as Tagore can be compared with Balzac. We
248 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

shall not be far from the truth if we hold that Bankim Chandra is the
creator of an epoch and Sarat Chandra is the announcer of an epoch in
Bengali literature. With his inquisitive mind, Sarat Chandra went deep
into the heart of Bengal to discover both her tremendous sorrow and her
stupendous joy.

From the very beginning, the creative spirit blossomed into full
splendor in the works of Sarat Chandra. His sudden arrival with his
‘Baradidi’ (The Eldest Sister) in the field of literary creativity was so
strange a fact that it sprang a genuine surprise on the readers and adorers
of Bengali literature. He wrote it under a nom de plume. Hence people
were certain that it was the mighty product of Tagore. But Tagore, too,
was frankly bewildered by the fact that Bengal had such a powerful
writer.

The uniqueness of his ‘Mahesh’ can only be felt and not described.
It happened that Dilip Kumar Roy, who is one of the true admirers of
Sarat Chandra, once made a fervent request to his Gurudev, Sri
Aurobindo, to peruse the book. Sri Aurobindo was then in a whirlwind of
work. Notwithstanding, his disciple’s request did not go in vain. He read
it. His comment on the book was, “A wonderful style and a great and
perfect creative artist with a profound emotional power”.

Let us not forget that Sarat Chandra was all admiration for Sri
Aurobindo. In one of his letters to Dilip Kumar he wrote,

249 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Whatever brief messages Sri Aurobindo gives you or answers

to your questions I read with every care, ponder over and re-
read. Of course, many things are past my understanding, I
admit. But that should not lead you to think that I have ever
said anything against him to any of your friends and
relations not favourably disposed towards you. The whole
country holds him in profound respect, am I the only
exception?148

His ‘Sri Kanta’, according to all, wonderfully satisfies all the

conditions to win the adjective “unique”. On reading the translation of the
first part of it, Romain Rolland, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his
‘Jean Christophe’, remarked: “Evidently ‘Sri Kanta’ can claim the Nobel
prize”149.

The life that passes in penury must necessarily pass in obscurity.

Sarat Chandra is no exception. He was born of poor parents. He knew
what poverty means. Yet he was a stranger to greed. A striking incident:

Fortune had still to dawn on Sarat Chandra when Deshbandhu

Chitta Ranjan Das requested him to contribute something to his journal
Narayan. He complied. He gave his story. He sent him a blank cheque
with a covering letter saying that he was not in a position to pit a price on

250 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

such a wonderful story and Sarat Chandra could fill in his own figure. But
Sarat Chandra drew only a hundred rupees.

He used to say that he was wanting in patience, so he could not

apply himself to writing poetry, in spite of the fact that he wanted to be a
poet. But we know at times he used to spend hours together to write only
a few lines in prose according to his satisfaction.

Now let us observe how the poet Rabindranath, by way of a joke,

compares himself with Sarat Chandra: “In story-writing many people
place Sarat above me, but that does not affect me. For even the greatest
censor cannot deny my superiority over him in poetry.”150

Sarat Chandra’s death was an irreparable loss for thousands of his

countrymen. They felt it as a personal loss. And Tagore, too, was one of
those. But the way he consoled his bereaved countrymen is revelatory,
and a fact never to be forgotten.

He who has his place carved

In the heart of love,

Death’s law can give us no sense of his loss.

He who has been taken away

From the bosom of the earth

Has been held in the heart of his country151.

251 
 
 An Anthology of Short Stories : Mahesh

Finally Sarat Chandra cannot better be described than in the seer-

words of Sri Aurobindo:

What is stamped on Sarat Chandra’s photograph,

everywhere, is a large intelligence, an acute and accurate
observation of men and things, and a heart full of sympathy
for sorrow and suffering. Too sensitive to be quite at ease
with the world, and also perhaps too clear-sighted. Much
fineness of mind and refinement of the vital nature.152 

252