BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJI: ANANDAMATH Deb Dulal Halde
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJI: ANANDAMATH Deb Dulal Halde
Anandamath was serialised in Bankim Chandra Chaterji’s journal Bangadarshan from 1881 to 1882. It was published as a book in 1882. The Sanyasi Revolt in Bengal, following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, inspired Anandamath’s plot. The novel's setting is Birbhum, and most events in the novel occur inside the forest. It is often thought to be the first political novel which brings to the fore the nationalist discourse. Anandamath is a narrative about the sanyasi rebellion against the Muslim rulers and the British tax collectors. This revolt has not been celebrated as the first national movement 1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION STRUCTURE 14 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses historically because of the localised nature of its spread in certain parts of Bengal in the 1770s during the Bengal famine. The history textbooks generally celebrate the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny as the first Indian national movement to gain independence because of the scale of its spread across India. However, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, in the novel Anandamath, portrays how the sanyasis, reeling as they were under the oppressive British regime of taxation and the famine with its consequent diseases and starvation, of the then Bengal fought for the cause of India and its. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s narrative portrays the rebellion and its nationalist spirit, probably one of the earliest displays of Indian nationalism in modern times. The song “Bande Mataram” from this novel later becomes our national song. It suggests the extent to which the novel is significant for critical study to understand the rise of Indian nationalism and how it relates to anti-colonial resistance. This unit on Anandamath, therefore, will focus on nationalist discourse along with a particular emphasis on the song “Bande Mataram.” The unit will also delve into other aspects of the novel, the historical context of its writing, the historical backdrop it is centred on, the gendered paradigm of colonial discourse and other facets. It is advised that before reading the study material further, you should read the novel first-hand to gain a thorough understanding of the narrative. In this Unit, we will learn about Bankim Chandra Chatterji's novel Anandamath and after reading this lesson it is expected that you will have some understanding of some of the pertinent issues that the novel deals with, such as: • Patriotism and Nationalism • The song Bande Mataram and its significance • Elements of History and how Bankim has treated history in the novel • Issues of Gender and Bankim’s representation of the same • Natural calamity • The genre of Text and Feature Film Bengali poet, novelist, essayist, and journalist Bankim Chandra Chatterji (June 26, 1838 – April 8, 1894) is mostly known for writing the patriotic anthem Bande Mataram, which was 1.3 ABOUT THE NOVELIST: BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJI 1.2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES 15 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English sung by liberation fighters in India and ultimately made into the country's national song. His father worked his way up the government ranks to become the Deputy Collector of Midnapur, and his family was devout. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1857 from Presidency College and subsequently went on to study law. He followed in his father's footsteps and served the government as a Deputy Collector and then a Deputy Magistrate before retiring in 1891. Bankim is sometimes called "the father of modern novels in India." Although he was not the first to pen Bengali novels, he did much to legitimize the novel as an essential form of Indian literature. Rajmohan's Wife was his first published work of fiction. It was likely a translation into English of a novelette that he wrote in Bengali. His first Bengali romance, Durgeshnondini, was the first Bengali novel to be published in 1865. Chattopadhyay's first significant work, Kapalkundala (1866), was also his first major publication. In Mrinalini (1869), his next romance, he makes his first attempt to place his plot in a broader historical framework. In the political book Anandamath (1882), Sannyasins (Brahmin ascetics) lead an army against Indian Muslims working for the East India Company. Devi Chaudhurani, the next novel by Chattopadhyay, was released to the public in 1884. His last work of fiction, Sitaram (1886), is about a Hindu ruler who rises against Muslim tyranny. Bankim, a religious nationalist, saw Bengal split between conservative reformers wedded to the past and liberal reformers who sought to imitate the West mindlessly. He thought that reforming Hinduism from the inside was the only way to make it strong and independent. Check Your Progress 1 1. When was the novel Anandamath published as a book? (a) The 1770s (b) 1882 (c) 1881 (d) 1857. 16 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses Famine strikes Bengal in 1771, the year that Anandamath was set in. Famine has devastated Padchina, and a young couple, Mahendra and Kalyani, decide to flee to Calcutta. They set out on the journey together but get separated on the way. Kalyani, a housewife, must run through the forest with her her baby try to evade man-hunters who want to sell them off for food. After a harrowing chase Kalyani is exhausted and passes out at the riverbank. A Hindu monk discovers her and the baby. But before he could rescue them, the British soldiers take him into custody because he is suspected of conspiring with other priests to incite a rebellion against British rule. As he is being taken away, he notices a priest who is not dressed like him. The first priest sends the message of the lady lying unconscious through a song. Kalyani and the baby are rescued by the other priest, who decodes the song and leads them to a rebel priest’s hideout. The priests also provide sanctuary to Kalyani’s husband, Mahendra, and the couple is reunited. Mahendra is keen to join the brotherhood of monks. The rebel leader takes him to see the three different manifestations of Bharat-Mata (Mother India) in the form of goddess housed in three separate rooms. The three idols represent: • What Mother Was - An idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri • What Mother Has Become - An idol of Goddess Kali • What Mother Will Be - An idol of Goddess Durga Over time, the rebel movement gained traction and found more disciples ready to fight for the Mother’s honour. They are then confident enough to relocate to a small brick fort. The British sent an overwhelming force to assault the fort. The rebels blocked the bridge over the nearby river without artillery or military training. The British make a strategic withdrawal across the bridge during the fighting. The Sannyasi army leads the British into a trap. As soon as the rebels flood the bridge, the British artillery pounces, killing dozens. Rebels take control of several cannons and begin firing at the British lines. After the initial victory, the rebels force the British to retreat. Mahendra and Kalyani rebuild their house, and Mahendra keeps fighting for the rebels. “Bankim Chandra Chatterjee…besides being a genius in imaginative literature, was certainly the most powerful intellect produced by India in the 19th century.” - Nirad C. Chaudhari 1.5 ANANDAMATH: A CRITICAL COMMENTARY 1.4 PLOT SUMMARY OF ANANDAMATH 17 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English “Bankim never clamoured for place or power but did his work in silence for love of his work even as nature does, and just because he had no aim but to give out the best that was in him, he was able to create a language, a literature, and a nation.” - Sri Aurobindo. Adversity leads to courageous acts when determination is high. Courage and determination mould character to go beyond selfish pursuits and attain greater good for the community and often for the nation. When famine and consequent starvation and diseases forced people to even think of eating human flesh, the Sanyasis of Bengal showed extraordinary courage to fight the misgovernance, free their motherland and establish a right over their resources. When the government officials relentlessly and cruelly taxed the people, even when the villagers were dying of starvation and diseases due to famine, the people of Bengal left their personal interests to join the order of “Children” of Mother India. Even though the novel champions the spirit of nationalist ethos and dedication to fight and die for one’s nation, an individual’s passionate desire to gratify sensual delight has also been the novel's subtext. Therefore, if, on the one hand, adversities caused by the famine serve as the backdrop of the novel, the nationalist sentiment of the sanyasi, which made many, like Mahendranath, leave their household and join the order of the mother, is the other end whereas passionate desire is also part and parcel of the novel. Thus, the novel Anandamath can be termed as providing a picture of the 1770s Bengal. However, as it was written during the colonial period in the 1880s, the political context of the novel is British Colonialism. In many ways, the novel champions the nationalist spirit necessary to fight the colonial regime. 1.5.1 Patriotism and Nationalism Meenakshi Mukherjee characterises Anandamath as one of the earliest political novels. It is overtly political as it deals with the issue of nationalism at its core. When Muslims were ruling Bengal and the British tax collectors were exploiting people, the Hindu Sanyasis come forward to fight against the misgovernance that was aggravating the hardships of the people at a time when the famine had already made human beings suffer like never before. It is believed that Bankim attempted to awaken the country to an “idealistic romanticised regeneration of the Hindu ethos” (Mukherjee, 1982: 903). Bankim was one of the earliest to define the Indian nation and to usher in a sense of nationalism amongst Indians with his literary outputs. Bankim Chandra Chatterji in Anandamath and his other works consciously tried to awaken Bengalis, if not the whole of India, to the new idea of the nation, which was necessary not just to drive away the foreign rulers but also to form a nation where veneration for the nation as a mother was a necessary condition. The nationalists in India later used 18 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses Bankim’s veneration for the nation as a mother to successfully inspire the masses, especially during the Swadeshi movement and the later phases of intense confrontation with the British. It can be said that, in Anandamath, Bankim Chandra Chatterji blended nationalism with religion by invoking an image of a goddess as Mother India; it worked wonders to inspire people to imagine the Indian nation and come together to fight the colonial British. In this, he puts forward certain tenets of militant nationalism. In this context, Ashish Nandy, in his book The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under colonialism, argues that the Modern colonial west tried to define themselves as masculine and the colonised as feminine. The Indians could not accept the feminine position ascribed to them and thus reacted with the masculine (Kshatriya traits) traits of Indian culture. As a reaction to the western binary, the initial Indian reaction was a celebration of Indian masculinity. The rise of militant nationalism was, perhaps, necessarily a direct response to western domination. For More Information Many believe that the creation of the first “nation-state” in France in 1789 is synonymous with the birth of nationalism. States with national borders that also serve as state borders existed before 1789, but these states did not make as much use of the situation as France did. This is where nationalism first entered the public discourse in a significant way. As Walter Bagehot stated, Nation-building “was the essential content of nineteenth-century evolution.” Even though most European nations did not come into existence until the twentieth century, the groundwork for their creation was laid in the nineteenth as empires began to fall apart. In the same century, nations like Italy and Germany established their first states with the explicit intention of creating a unified nation. 19 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English 1.5.2 The Song “Bande Mataram” The song “Bande Mataram,” written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji as a part of the motivating song for the members of the order of Children of Mother India, has become India`s national song. The song is included in the novel to ponder over its significance and the context of its composition. The people needed an image that would make concrete the idea of a nation as mother. Bankim provided that desired image in the song. So, the song “Bande Mataram” becomes crucial in the novel. The past grandeur of Mother India is invoked and is set to contrast with the shameful misery that the motherland had been reduced to by exploiters. This once-glorious mother is now reduced to abject suffering and begs her sons to restore the former splendour. Bankim associates the mother with the concept of "shakti," which is mentioned in the song Bande Mataram. The weapons she carries in her ten arms, her seemingly limitless strength, and her razor-sharp swords convey an impression of enormous power. In addition to having maternal and feminine traits, this mother is also "extremely violent and stimulating, invincible yet vulnerable when she needs to challenge her enemies." (Das 2012) The movement was paved with such a potent image, creating strong feelings. It is essential to see how Bankim's perspective changes from patriotic concerns confronting the Check Your Progress 2 1. The novel is set at a time when a natural calamity had happened. Which calamity is being referred to in the novel? (a) 1770s Bengal famine (b) The battle of Plassey (c) Sepoy Mutiny (d) None of the above 2. Which place did Mahendranath and his wife decide to leave to reach Kolkata? (a) Padchina (b) Puri (c) North Bengal (d) Patna 3. Who termed Anandamath as the first political novel? (a) Mulk Raj Anand (b) Nirad C Chaudhuri (c) Meenakshi Mukherji (d) Rabindra Nath Tagore 20 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses west to a more theocentric outlook, which has not been adequately addressed. (Ray Chaudhuri, 2002, 132). He seems engaged in promoting "true" Hinduism in the later years of his creative life. He set out to elevate nationalism to the status of religion because he realised how nebulous the feeling of nationalism was. Hinduism was viewed as an excellent way of life, and patriotism was the highest religion. For instance, he was using the earlier analogy between Krishna and Jesus. He was fascinated with the comparison to the point of obsession. A thorough analysis of the well-known song Bande Mataram is necessary because this is where Bankim's perspective on nationalism is best reflected. The song reiterates the motherland's initial wealth and fosters the image of Durga, the goddess known for defeating demons, who begs her sons to restore that power. Perhaps for the first time in Bengali literature, Bankim transformed a despicable region into a sacred place deserving of sacrifice and veneration. The earth was transformed into a "feminine ground of sustenance;" the other was a ferocious Hindu goddess. Because it successfully integrates nationalism and religious tropes, the book quickly gained popularity outside Bengal. The Bhagvat Gita is credited for motivating nationalists in the early stages of the movement to carry a copy of the Gita along with their pistols and the phrase Bande Mataram. The song is filled with a lot of strong emotions. In addition, Bankim formalised the nation as a mother and employed the goddesses Durga and Kali to define the mother, combining two essential elements. This nation's association with Durga will stoke religious feelings. This deification would have profound effect not only at the time, but we can also witness its effects today. It suggests that nationalism has become as important as religion and is effective in influencing the religiously inclined minds of the Indian populace. It is also claimed to have released a previously untapped spiritual force. Nationalism was a confession and a religion, not just something to think about or feel. The mother India image was the clearest example of how nationalism in the nineteenth century was heavily influenced by religion. 1.5.3 Elements of History Bankim Chandra Chatterji was a well-read man, and he was very much influenced by the historical novels of Walter Scott, which made him write many historical/semi-historical novels. One of the significant ones among them is Anandamath. To state that Anandamath is historically accurate would be an exaggeration, but, as stated earlier, it was based on a historically accurate incident. It was based on the Sanyasi rebellion in the 1770s when Bengal, especially the district of Burdwan, was going through a famine which had caused widespread devastation. 21 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s historical or semi-historical narratives - Durgeshnandini, Rajsinha, Kapalkundala, Devichaudhurani, Anandamath - were primarily inspired by the Scottish novelist Walter Scott's use of history to portray the state of the nation. Anandamath is a special one among them as it tries to fashion the Indian nation in the image of Mother India and mould its future by ousting foreign rulers. In his famous book, Benedict Anderson defines a nation as an “imagined community” whose manifestation needs to be there in the people's psyche. Bankim, through the concrete image of the nation as the mother goddess, was able to appeal to the people, not just in Bengal but across India. His appeal was such that the future nationalist leaders took this image of mother India and could popularise it and instil it in the hearts of millions of Indians, which ultimately paved the way for India`s freedom in 1947. The Sanyasi "rebellion" against Bengal's ruler Mir Jafar and the British tax collectors inspired Anandamath. The 'historical' fight between the Children of Mother Earth and the Muslim king of Bengal, who controls but does not rule in concert with the British, is shown on the literary canvas. The socioeconomic setting for the conflict is the devastating famine that struck Bengal in 1770 and its aftermath: "The low-caste and those who lived in the forests started to eat dogs, mice, and cats" (Chatterjee Anandamath, Trans. Lipner, 132). Those who fled to unknown locations perished there from starvation, while those who stayed "died of disease, either because they ate the uneatable, or for want of any food at all" (132). The novelist depicts the ruthlessness of "the haves” during the crisis. Hunter's Annals of Rural Bengal (1868) provided the source material that Bankim used for Anandamath. It is important to note that the work strictly does not adhere to history. The emotion behind it, however, seems to embody Bankim's vision of a free India, as Rabindranath Tagore notes in his chat with Mulk Raj Anand: "This novel is a legend of the struggle for freedom." To support his ascetic nationalist theme, Bankim uses this historical incident; nonetheless, the nationalist rhetoric is entirely his creation. Since the novel creates an alternative history of Indian nationalism rather than just representing it, it is difficult to place it in the country's history of nationalism. Bankim was influenced by his socio-cultural forces, and he tried to (re)construct history in an apparent effort to free his contemporaries from their captivity and collective amnesia. The storey resonates with the historical past and the political issues that were highly important throughout Bankim's lifetime; however, it pulls more from imaginative truth than factual reality. 22 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses 1.5.4 Issues of Gender “One peculiarity of the images of women throughout history is that archetypes have reinforced social stereotypes. Another way of putting this would be to say that in every age, women have been seen primarily as mothers, wife, mistress, sex-object, and their role about men.” –Mary Anne Fergusson Though the novel, Anandamath, is about the patriotic sensibilities of the Sanyasis of Bengal during the Bengal famine yet when we look at the novel, it explores different aspects of the social order and how different communities are affected by the natural calamity as well as the nationalist fervour in different ways. Women have been the worst victims of any calamity in a patriarchal order. Women are given a secondary status compared to men, but Bankim does not see women as secondary. In his realistic portrayal of society he shows women to be sufferers, but when it comes to nation-building, Bankim believes that women have a similar role to play as men. In this context, it is crucial to understand how and why Bankim Chandra Chatterji represents the masculine and feminine in these terms in the novel. Indian society has traditionally been patriarchal, where women are seen as subordinate to men. When the colonial west (British) arrived in India and other colonised nations, they celebrated their masculinity in terms of their martial strength and looked at the orient or the colonised as Check Your Progress 3 (a) By which western novelist was Bankim Chandra Chatterji influenced? (b) Walter Scott (c) Mary Shelley (d) Charles Dickens (e) Jonathan Swift 1. To what extent do you think Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s Anandamath can be read as the first political novel in India? 2. What is the significance of the song “Bande Mataram” in the novel and present times? 23 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English feminine Indians reacted to this male chauvinist viewpoint (the relationship between the coloniser-colonized) by celebrating their own masculinity, as pointed out by Ashish Nandy in his book The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism. The initial reaction of the Indian writers to this patriarchal-colonial homology was to celebrate instances and myths from Indian history and mythology to celebrate Indian masculinity in terms of kshatriyahood. Nandy points out how Mahatma Gandhi later tried to question this colonial homology and looked at the humanitarian aspect as much more significant than the masculine-feminine dichotomy. However, before Mahatma Gandhi could do so, Bankim Chandra Chatterji was already celebrating the feminine in his portrayal of the nation in terms of the “mother” and all its sons to be her devotee. Bankim Chandra Chatterji, significantly for his times, pointed out that women have a more significant role to play in nation-building than men. Though Bankim was a magistrate in the colonial administration, he wanted his writings to inspire the youth to come forward and join the order of the mother to free Indian from the clutches of the oppressors, whether they be the Muslim rulers or the British tax collectors. 1.5.5 Natural Calamity Natural calamities are common in the history of human civilisation. There has been constant effort to mitigate the devastating effects of the calamities and have the preparedness to deal with them. In literary studies, the eco-critical academic engagement in recent decades has gone beyond profound veneration for nature to critically gauze and fathom how the anthropogenic ways and human selfishness has caused more harm to nature and humankind when men tried to dominate nature instead of co-existing with other species in nature. Though Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s Anandamath does not deal with the causes of natural calamity, the famine of Bengal in the 1770s works as a backdrop. The novel's first part portrays how famine had devasted village after village in Bengal. Mahendranath and his wife decide to move to Kolkata (Calcutta) from Padchina to save themselves from the onslaught of famine. This forced migration has not just occasions the narrative but also becomes the cause that makes Mahendranath realise how he should dedicate his life for the greater good of the nation. Furthermore, natural calamities are also testing times for people. Communities either perish due to their selfishness during natural calamities, or they fight together to reclaim what is lost during the calamity. If, on the one hand, the Bengal famine led to the starvation of people to such an extent that they were ready to eat human flesh, then on the other, “the order of the children” found its zeal and courage to fight the colonial British tax collectors because 24 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi All UG Courses the adversities had made them so. The adversities had made the courageous and conscientious people come together and establish a righteous nationalist order and stop the drain of wealth from the commoners. Calamities are also times when good governance should be at its best to use the available resources equitably so that the adverse effects of the calamities can be mitigated in the best possible manner. Governments should take proactive steps and roles not just in saving citizens’ lives but also see that the concerns of the downtrodden are taken care of. Due to the Bengal famine in the 1770s, as represented in Anandamath, the colonial administration, along with the Muslim ruler of the then Bengal, carried out its most authoritarian taxation regime that aggravated peoples suffering from starvation and dying from diseases. The motivation for people to come together and join the order of the “children” to free their motherland came from the experience suffering during the calamity. The same is true of Mahendra and his wife. When the natural calamity made them come out from the comfort of their home and experience the people's insurmountable sufferings, they dedicated their lives for the nation's sake. Anandamath (1882) is a novel, a more extended narrative dealing with the history of the Sanyasi rebellion The novel has been translated many times – the two authentic ones which are most popular are the ones translated by Sri Aurobindo and another by Lipner. There are two Bengali and two Hindi film adaptations of the book Anandamath. Directed by Satish Dasgupta, the Bengali version was released in 1951. In 1952, Hemen Gupta adapted the novel into the Hindi film Anand Math, which starred Prithviraj Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Ajit, and Geeta Bali. Hemant Kumar scored the music for the film, and Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of Vande Mataram became a fan favourite. Anandamath has caught the attention of film makers and others because not only helps understanding Indian nationalism but has also shaped the Indian national sensibility. We must remember that before the British came to India, Indians did not have a notion of nation as we know nation today. There were kingdoms whose boundaries and allegiances were never fixed. However, people living in India had a sense of belonging to their soil. Often people think about nations merely from a western point of view and believe that modern nations grew up with capitalism and the rise of colonialism. However, such a view of the nation has its limitations. How India came together cannot be understood merely if one thinks of the nation from a western point of view. Tagore, in his lectures on nationalism, had 1.6 THE GENRE OF TEXT AND FEATURE FILM 25 | P a g e © Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi Reading Indian Fiction in English stated, “Form yourself into a nation to stop the encroachment of the Nation.” The Western colonial powers approached the colonised as a Nation, and they exercised political and cultural hegemony over the colonised, which needed to be countered with a different idea of nation and nationalism. Bankim, in his novel Anandamath, provided a counter-discourse to colonialism. More than ever, in today’s context, Anandamath has become significant when many try to read the novel as a representation of the first nationalist discourse of Hindu nationalism. The Sanyasis of Bengal took up arms to safeguard Indians from the oppressors. But their taking up of arms should not be seen as a justification of violence in the name of the nation. The Sanyasis took up arms because that was the only option available. At unusual times, the Sanyasis found it justified to take up arms to rebel against the autocratic order to deliver justice and take control of the resources so that the commoners could be saved. Anandamath remained a crucial text for the Indian revolutionaries. We must revisit, read, and reread the novel to figure out the context in which it is situated and in the context in which it is written to understand the actual manifestation of the nationalist discourse it celebrates. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991. Check Your Progress 4 1. Do you think Bankim Chandra Chatterji is reacting to the colonial paradigms in projecting the nationalist sentiments of the Sanyasi rebellion? 2. The novel Anandamath is occasioned by the suffering of ordinary people during the Famine of the 1770s in Bengal. How does the novel deal with natural calamity?
