Anandmath Abbey of Bliss by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Описание: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was one of the most prominent novelists, essayists, poets, and journalists who wrote more than 17 novels and many essays. Initially, he wrote romantic novels infused with strong feelings of nationalism, and gradually, he started writing political novels strengthening the calls for Indian freedom struggle against the foreign rule. In 1882, he published his most popular novel Anandmath in Bengali which was soon translated into English as The Abbey of Bliss. The first translation was by Naresh Chandra Sengupta in 1906. In 1909, another translation by Shri Aurobindo Ghosh and Barindrakumar Ghosh appeared, and in 1941, Basanta Koomar Roy published his translation of Anandmath as Dawn Over India. The recent translation of Anandmath by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was published by Julius J. Lipner in 2005 and was titled Anandmath, Or The Sacred Brotherhood.

The novel is a historical fiction that fictionalizes the Sanyasi Rebellion of the late 18th century (1770-1777) and mixes it with two love stories. Anandmath is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Indian literature as it certainly strengthened the Indian freedom struggle. The novel is also known for one of its poetic songs titled Vandemataram (Hail to Motherhood). It was later adopted as the national song of India by the Indian National Congress in October 1937. On January 24, 1950, the Constitution Assembly of India declared Vandemataram as the national song of the Free Indian Republic.

Characters: Mahendra is a wealthy landlord of the high class living in his village Padachihna with his wife Kalyani and daughter Sukumari. Mahendra and Kalyani deeply love each other but they face troubles as persistent famine forces them to see days of struggles. Unable to sustain in the village, the couple venture into the nearby city of Calcutta to find ways to earn a living. Mahatma Satya is a leader of Sanyasis struggling against the atrocious government headed by Muslim rulers (Mir Jafar) aided by the British East India Company that got the right to collect taxes. While the general populace of Bengal was suffering extreme hunger and poverty due to persistent famine, the rulers were competing to collect more taxes from those who could barely feed their family members. In a cruel move, Muhammad Reza Khan, the king’s revenue officer, thinking to show how important he was, at once increased taxes by 10 percent, and great was the lament in Bengal. This not only affected general people, but also created troubles for sanyasis who were dependent on the alms offered by common people to them. They raised their voices against the cruel taxation system and hence came directly in conflict with the East India Company, which had the right to collect taxes through atrocious means. The drastic situations also raised rates of crimes and the number of dacoits, and it became difficult to distinguish between a sanyasi and a dacoit. Bhavan is a brave disciple of Mahatma Satya who leads the ascetics in his absence and dies while fighting against the British soldiers. Jiban and Shakti are the other loving couple in the novel. Jiban is a young man who marries a poor orphan girl Shakti as he loves her. However, considering the situation of society and the condition of people in general, he decides to leave his family and join the forces of Mahatma Satya for the independence of his nation. Shakti, being a woman is left with Jiban’s elder sister Nirmala or Nimmi. However, Shakti finds it difficult to stay away from Jiban and decides to join the Ascetic forces disguised as a male soldier. Later on, her disguise is turned out and Mahatma Satya decides to send her back. But, she with her bravery and strength, proves that though she is a woman, she is no less a soldier than any man and becomes an integral part of the ascetic army against the British forces.
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