Sarat Chandra Chatterji Death Anniversary

 

Sarat Chandra Chatterji, who passed away on 16 January 1938, was a Bengali novelist and short story writer. He is arguably the most popular novelist in the Bengali language. Most of his works deal with the lifestyle, tragedy and struggle of the village people and the contemporary social practices that prevailed in Bengal. He remains the most popular, translated, adapted, and plagiarized Indian author of all time.

Around 50 films have been made on his works in several Indian languages. From Bengali and Hindi to Telugu, approximately 16 versions were made of the ‘Devdas’ novel alone. Even the movie ‘Parineeta’ was also made twice. The film Sabyasachi, released in 1977, was based on his work ‘Pather Dabi.’

The themes he used in his novels were influenced by the writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. His works and life are still being showcased in ‘Sarat Mela’, an annual week-long fair that is held in late January every year in Howrah, West Bengal

 

Major Works

Sarat Chandra Chatterji built strong female characters in his stories.

The novel ‘Swami’ was also a reflection of his feminism. The story describes an ambitious and bright girl named Saudamini who is doubtful about her emotions towards her husband, Ghanshyam and her lover, Narendra.

‘Devdas’, his most famous work, was not critically acclaimed. But it was indeed his most remembered work. ‘Devdas’, published in 1917, was a love story. It was adapted more than seven times in numerous versions on the screen.

In 1914, Parineeta, a Bengali language novel of social protest, explored themes of caste and religion, which were prevalent at that time.

‘Iti Srikanta’ was a four-part novel that was published in 1916, 1918, 1927, and 1933 respectively. It is acclaimed as Sarat Chandra's 'masterpiece'. The narrator, Srikanta, is an aimless drifter in the novel. Through his dynamic characters, Sarat Chandra Chatterji brought alive nineteenth-century Bengal. Society at that time was prejudice-ridden that needed to be radically changed.

‘Choritrohin’ which was published in 1917, was a tale of four women. They were wronged by society.