Reconstruction of narratives of the Mahabharata in Samaresh Basu’s novels “Yud’dhēra Śēsạ Sēnāpāti” and “Pṛithā” Das Swapan1,*, Das Binita Rani2 1Department of Bengali, Barnagar College, Barpeta, India 2Department of Bengali, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India *Corresponding author : dasswapan588@gmail.com
Online Published on 07 March, 2024. Abstract After the first one hundred years of the rise of the trend of writing Bengali novels, the trend of writing novels with the help of the mythological elements called from the mythological texts, such as that of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas was introduced. These novels attracted the readers due to their novelty. Samaresh Basu, famously known as Kalkut, made a special place in the genre of writing mythological novels through some of his literary works. In his celebrated novels “Yud’dhēra Śēsạ Sēnāpāti” and “Pṛithā” (1984) and “Pṛithā” (1986), he analyses the narratives and characters of the Mahabharata from the point of view of the modern rationalist. Through “Yud’dhēra Śēsạ Sēnāpāti”, Kalkut has highlighted the battle of Mahabharata as a war of iniquity. He has tried to depict its narratives in a fresh way by portarying Aswathama, the deprived and infamous character of the Mahabharata, giving him the status of the last commander of the Mahabharata war. Besides, in his novel “Pṛithā”, he has presented the character of Kunti in a new form while rearranging the story of Mahabharata. Analysing some of the Mahabharata’s events associated with Kunti through eyes of the modern rationalist, he has presented the Mahabharata story in a newborn form to the readers. In this paper, we shall look into how the stories of Mahabharata in these two novels were retold by Samaresh Basu while absorbing the literary components of the epic and reconstructing them afresh through weaving various subtle and intricate feelings, and distinctive expressions into the texture of the past while dealing with the theme of life. Top Keywords Mahabharata, Samaresh Basu, Reconstruction, War, Injustice. Top |