Durgeshnandini

By Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

Published in 1865, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s first Bengali novel Durgeshnandini revolutionised Bengali prose writing. Many consider it to be the first modern novel in an Indian language. Durgeshnandini is set in the sixteenth century during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, when the Mughal army was fighting the Pathans for control over territories in eastern India. Many characters in the book—Mughals, Rajputs and Pathans—are historical figures. With this as the backdrop, the author skilfully sets up a romance between a young Rajput commander of the Mughal army and the daughter of a minor ruler. The romance becomes layered when a charming Pathan princess also falls in love with the Rajput commander in defiance of her suitor, the Pathan army chief. Prevailing social norms barred love across caste and religion. Bankim Chandra seems to question this in this novel in an indirect way.The novel ran into thirteen editions during Bankim Chandra’s lifetime and was translated into several languages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Niyogi
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9788193393536

Book preview

(1838-1894)

DURGESHNANDINI

Part I

Chapter I

In the Temple

In AD 1591, on a summer evening, a young man was riding from Bishnupur along the road to Mandaran. The sun was about to set and seeing a large, open field ahead, the man spurred the horse to go faster so that he could find a shelter, in case there was a thunderstorm. The sun set as soon as he crossed the field and the night sky was covered with dark clouds. Though it was early evening, the sky turned pitch dark. He managed to continue to ride when lightning showed the way.

Soon the thunderstorm broke with a deafening noise accompanied by heavy rain. The rider could not discern the way. After a while, the horse’s hooves hit some object and the horse slipped. The rider saw a large white structure ahead in a flash of lightning. Believing it to be a mansion, he jumped off the horse and immediately realised that the horse’s hooves had hit against some stone steps. In the dark, he carefully climbed the steps and soon saw that the building in front was a temple. He found the door closed, although not locked from outside. He was surprised as well as curious as to who would bolt the door of a temple situated in such a desolate place. Since it was raining heavily, he loudly knocked on the door again and again, but nobody opened it. He considered kicking the door open, but did not wish to show disrespect to the temple. At his hard and repeated knocking, the wooden latch gave way. As soon as the youth crossed the threshold and entered, he heard an indistinct shout, and the strong wind through the open door blew out the dim lamp. He could not make out if there was anyone inside, nor the form of the idol.

Finding himself in that strange situation, the brave and pious youth smiled to himself and bowed to the divinity in the temple, and then called out, Who is in the temple? There was no reply, but he heard the jingling of ornaments. The traveller then closed the door to keep the rain and thunder out, and since the door latch was broken, he leaned on the door to keep it from opening again. He addressed the unseen person in the temple, Whoever is here, please listen. I am armed and I am sitting at the door to have some rest; please don’t disturb me. If you are a man, then disturb me at your own peril; if you are a woman, please rest and have no fear. As long as I, a Rajput, hold a sword, no one can harm you.

Who are you? It was a woman’s voice.

Surprised, the traveller asked, From your voice I know that you are a woman – a beautiful woman. Why do you wish to know my identity?

We are afraid.

It is not our custom to disclose our identity ourselves. But rest assured, as long as I am here, you won’t be harmed.

Your words give me courage; we have been half-dead with fear. Even now my companion is not fully recovered. We came here before sunset to worship Lord Shaileshwar. When the storm broke, our attendants left us and ran away. I don’t know where they are.

Please don’t be afraid. Rest, and I will reach you home tomorrow morning.

May Lord Shaileshwar bless you.

When the storm and rain abated late at night, the youth said, Please gather courage and stay here a little longer. I will go to the nearest village to get a lamp.

Hearing this, the woman who had spoken earlier said, Sir, you don’t need to go as far as the village. The caretaker of the temple lives nearby. In the moonlight you will see his house. Since he lives alone in this desolate place, he always keeps things necessary to light a fire.

The youth came out of the temple and saw the house in the moonlight. He knocked on the door and woke up the caretaker, who was afraid and didn’t open the door immediately, but observed from inside. Not finding anything suspicious and being tempted by the money offered by the young man, he opened the door and lit a lamp.

The traveller brought the lamp and saw in its light the Shiva idol in the temple. Behind it, were two women. The younger of the two immediately covered her face with her veil, but the diamond bangles on her arms, the intricate designs of her dress and her jewellery left him in no doubt that she was from a noble family. The second woman was less gorgeously dressed, which led the youth to believe that she was a maid-companion of the first, although she was better dressed than a maid. She seemed around thirty-five. He had no doubt that his conversation earlier had been with her. He also observed neither was dressed like local women. They were dressed like Hindustani women from the western areas. He placed the lamp inside, approached the women and stood in front of them. In the light of the lamp they saw that the youth was not much more than twenty-five. His exceptional height would not have suited another man, but with his broad chest and well-proportioned body, his height was an asset. His clothes and ornaments were that of a Rajput. He had a sword in a scabbard, a long spear in his arm, a diamond on his head dress, pearl earrings, and a gem-studded chain around his neck.

Both parties were eager to know the identity of the other, but neither wanted to seem impolite by asking first.

Chapter II

The Introduction

The young man voiced his curiosity first. He asked the elder of the two women, I guess that you belong to the household of a fortunate man. I dare to ask, believing that you may not have as strong a reason as I have, to hide your identity.

The elder lady said, What is a woman’s identity? How can they introduce themselves, when they are not allowed to bear the family name? Those who spend their entire lives in seclusion, how can they reveal themselves? When custom decreed women not to utter the name of their husbands, it prevented them from disclosing their identity.

The young man did not reply. His mind was elsewhere. The younger of the two women had moved her veil partially and sat behind the elder one, staring at the young man. During the conversation, the traveller glanced in her direction and then could not take his eyes off her. He had never before seen such beauty. Their eyes met, and immediately the young woman lowered her eyes. Her companion, not receiving any response from the young man, looked at him and observed the direction in which he was looking. Noticing that the young woman was also admiringly looking at the young man, she whispered in her ears, Would you like to marry this Shiva-like man?

The younger one pressed the other one’s hand and whispered, Stop it!

The older woman saw indications of her young ward falling in love with this unknown, handsome young man. Because it might ruin the prospect of her future happiness, she was determined to nip it in the bud. She wished to send the young man away on some pretext.

She said, Sir, a woman’s reputation is ruined easily; it can’t bear the weight of even the wind. Since the storm has abated, we might be able to walk back home.

The youth replied, If you must walk back in this darkness, then I would reach you home. The sky has cleared, and I would have left by now, but I stayed back because I didn’t want to leave a beauty like your friend unprotected.

You have shown such kindness to us, yet I am unable to talk frankly. You might think us ungrateful. Unfortunately, we women are suspected easily. We would be fortunate to have you as our escort, but when my employer, this girl’s father, asks who escorted us back at night, what would she answer?

The young man thought for a few minutes and said, She should tell him that she was escorted by Jagatsingh, son of Maharaja Mansingh.

Had lightning struck the temple, the two women would not have been more startled. Both stood up. The younger woman moved behind the cover of the idol. The older one stood with folded hands and said, Prince, we have offended you unknowingly. Please forgive us.

Jagatsingh said with a smile, Such a grave offence can’t be forgiven! Yet I am willing to forgive you if you disclose your identity. Otherwise you will be punished!

I will accept any punishment from you.

Then I will escort you home, said Jagatsingh.

She was in a dilemma. For some reason, she did not wish to reveal the identity of her young companion to Jagatsingh, a commander of the Mughal emperor’s army. It would be worse if he escorted them home. So, she just kept quiet.

They could hear the sound of approaching horses. The prince quickly went to the door and saw that almost a hundred cavalrymen were riding past, and they were Rajputs under his command. Earlier, Jagatsingh had been to Bishnupur for some war-related errands. From there he was going to meet his father, accompanied by a hundred horsemen. On the way he had ridden ahead of them, taken a different route and was caught in the terrible thunderstorm and rain. He shouted, Victory to the emperor.

Hearing this, one horseman came near him. Jagatsingh addressed him, Dharamsingh, I took shelter from the storm here.

Dharamsingh bowed low and said that they had been searching for him and found his horse under the banyan tree.

Jagatsingh said, Send two men to the nearby village to fetch a palanquin and suitable bearers. Order the rest of the cavalry to proceed on its way.

Dharamsingh was surprised by his commander’s orders, but without asking any questions he conveyed the order. Hearing about a palanquin, a soldier smiled and commented that this was a novelty, and another said, Why not? The Maharaja has hundreds of wives.

While the prince was outside, the young beauty removed her veil and