Kahar community of HansuliBank and the forces of change
Kahar community of HansuliBank and the forces of change Karl Marx says in his article ‘The British Rule in India’, “England has broken the entire framework of Indian society, without any symptom of reconstitution yet appearing. The loss of his old world, with no gain of a new one, imparts a particular kind of melancholy to the present misery of the Hindoo, and separates Hindostan, ruled by Britain, from all its ancient traditions, and from the whole of its past history”. The novel ‘Hansuli Banker Upakatha’ relates the history of such a community of rural Bengal that is compelled to change their profession again and again to become rootless and destitute at the end. It is also a document of a semi tribal society which was disintegrated by different forces worked within and outside the community. Tarasankar, the gifted novelist shows how a community and a place are totally changed by imperial force. The muscle power as well as logic of development turned the peasant kahars overnight to laborers, forced to become industrial slaves leaving their traditional habitat.
The novel is set on the turmoil period of the Second World War. Here the writer unravels the history of a semi aboriginal indigenous people who lives in the 20th century but their life is guided by the beliefs, customs, rites and rituals of primitive age. The novelist explores the realities of Zamindari system that is responsible for the social inequalities; the changes are nakedly seen in every sphere of life. Aktaruzzaman Ilias, the renowned Bangladeshi writer said that Tarasankar is the best chronicler of Bengal as he presented his time in full details. Like two other Banerjees (Manik and Bibhutibhusan) his work features a realistic picture of life in rural Bengal.
In Hansuli….Tarasankar deals with industrialization, capitalism and urbanization. Much light is thrown in the decaying feudal system to which he himself belongs. With a keen eye of a researcher he observes the culture of the kahars and
The novel is set on the turmoil period of the Second World War. Here the writer unravels the history of a semi aboriginal indigenous people who lives in the 20th century but their life is guided by the beliefs, customs, rites and rituals of primitive age. The novelist explores the realities of Zamindari system that is responsible for the social inequalities; the changes are nakedly seen in every sphere of life. Aktaruzzaman Ilias, the renowned Bangladeshi writer said that Tarasankar is the best chronicler of Bengal as he presented his time in full details. Like two other Banerjees (Manik and Bibhutibhusan) his work features a realistic picture of life in rural Bengal.
In Hansuli….Tarasankar deals with industrialization, capitalism and urbanization. Much light is thrown in the decaying feudal system to which he himself belongs. With a keen eye of a researcher he observes the culture of the kahars and