Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ The sun was furious, and the earth like a furnace. The wind spread fire all round, the sky looked like a canopy of heated copper and the grains of street dust were like sparks of fire. Kalyani perspired horribly; she sat down to rest now under the babla and now under the date-palm drank the murky water of ponds and then walked again, suffering terribly. Mahendra held the child in his arms and fanned it now and then. ”

“ Myriads of beasts, birds, worms and insects lived in the woods, but not one made a sound. You might rather imagine the darkness that was there, but you could not think of that dead stillness of the wood in a world which so much revels in sound. In that vast lonely forest, in that pitch-dark midnight, and from that unimaginable stillness came forth the words, "Will my desire not be fulfilled." ”

“ A novelist is always a teacher, but the teacher should not overshadow the story-teller. This golden rule Bankim Chandra fairly follows in most of his works. But in his Abbey of Bliss the teacher is much too evident. The result is assuredly a great take-off from its merit as a novel per se and, taken as such, this work is certainly defecient. But it is everywhere too evident that the author does not care to be taken as a story teller at all. The story is only the setting. ”

“ Yet the sort of patriotism that strikes their fancy most is not the patriotism which they themselves breathe. Scott was a good Britisher but in his writings he is intensely Scotch. Bankim Chandra too was a good Indian but in his writings he is most prominently a Bengali. The sort of patriotism that appeals to his fancy is the local feeling of the Rajputs for their country and of the Children for mother Bengal. Intellectually he may have been a citizen of India and member of the Indian nation but in his inmost heart was the sentiment of an intensely exclusive Bengali Hindu. ”

“ Now that we are dying with hunger, come, let us eat this rogue to-day." Then every one shouted in delight "Jai Kali"—"Bom Kali! To-day we will eat human flesh." So saying the lank and shorn, black and ghostly, shapes began to laugh and clap and dance like fiends. ”

“ With nature's liberal endowment was joined in him a sound education in the literature of the past as well as in the ideas of the new civilisation which was yet only skimming the surface of Indian life. At this time English culture was knocking at India's gate and the vast wealth of India's ancient civilisation was waiting to be unearthed. The man who would seek to lead the people at such a time was one who knew how to manage both and could find a proper scope for the functions of each. ”

“ Their earnestness and singleness of purpose, their tenacity and resourcefulness, their courage in facing the immense odds that are arrayed against them, not only on the battle-field but everywhere in the existing order of things and above all their supreme indifference to their own interests,—these are traits of character which every reformer, every patriot and every fighter in a noble cause should lay to heart if he wants to succeed. ”

“ In style, though Bankim Chandra did not emulate the heavy tread of Sir Walter's yet the style of both share the same frank openness and want of pretensions that serves to stamp it as one eminently suited for light literature. In their treatment of men, we find that both are impressed more with the broader features of human life than with the fine shades of feeling or thought that come in for the greatest share of the attention of an Austen, a Dickens or a Thackeray. ”

“ It has been said of Scott that he never had an idea that he was bound to leave the world better than he found it, yet this was the rooted conviction of Bamkim Chandra, and it was the one with which he set to work. The aspect of a novelist's function which struck him most was that of a teacher and never in his writings does he forget his avocation of a born teacher of his people. ”

“ It is a matter of common knowledge that superstitions, once rooted, are far more difficult to uproot than mere ignorance, and if permitted to remain, they may promote particular ends, but must be a dead block to all progress. Thus patriotism gains nothing by this distortion and it only helps to hinder the growth of true Indian Nationality by preventing the participation of Hindus and Mussulmans and other religious communities in a common patriotic work. ”

“ In the world of letters Bankim Chandra Chatterji may fairly claim an honoured place by the side of the greatest novelists of the world. His genius for fiction was superb and his execution of his work pre-eminently in his domestic sketches presents some of the master pieces of the art. It would be too much to say however that the high level of excellence is preserved in all his works. ”

“ Bankim Chandra does indeed display great powers of diving deep into the hearts of men and women and invites us to witness the play of the nicest sentiments and thoughts in some of his domestic novels. ”

“ Mahendra fondly hoped that there he would be able to refresh his wife and child with cool water and give them some food to keep them from starvation. But alas, he found no one in the inn. Big huts lay there, the men had all fled. Mahendra looked about. He then made his wife and child lie down in one of the rooms, and coming out shouted to the top of his voice. No one answered. Then he said to Kalyani, "Do just gather up courage to stay alone for a while; if there is a cow in the land, Srikrishna help me, I'll get some milk." ”

“ Left alone with her daughter in that lonely place and in that gloomy room, Kalyani was anxiously looking about on all sides. She was struck with fear. There was nobody there, no trace of a human being ”

“ If life is lost, who will enjoy the riches? Let us now lock up our doors and be off. If life is spared us, we shall come back to enjoy them again."
Mahendra said, "I don't know if you will be able to go on foot as you will have to; for Palki bearers are dead, and, as for bullock-carts, if you have the driver you have not the cattle, and if cattle is found you don't find the driver." ”

“ As to the religious tone of his patriotism he perceived that the strongest sentiment of the Indian, as well as the most pronounced element in the Eastern civilisation, is the religious sentiment. To acclamatise Western culture in the Eastern soil then, we have to dip it full in the well of spiritualism. Nothing in Western culture can take root in the East unless it is inspired with the religious sentiment. ”

“ We must have one Indian nation or no nation at all. Sectarian sentiments are ill dignified by being named in the lofty vocabulary of patriotism.
Two very sinister consequences are seen to flow from this conception of a religious basis of nationality in the present work. The first is the attempt to rehabilitate the Hindu Pantheon with new-fangled patriotic gods and goddesses, and the second is the morbid dislike of Mussulmans that seems to be indicated in this work. Neither would seem to be the least profitable. ”

“ Let's eat what we have secured to day; let us roast that tender girl." Another said, "Roast something—anything—boys, can't bear the hunger any more." And they all greedily looked to the spot where Kalyani lay with her child. But lo! the place was empty; neither mother nor child was there. She had made good her escape while the robbers were busy quarrelling, having silenced the child by putting her to suckle. Seeing that their prey was gone the fiendish ruffians rushed out on all sides, yelling like beasts. There are times when man becomes little better than a beast of prey. ”

“ Our modus operandi must needs be different from the suicidal path of revolution, our conception of national welfare and of the goal of national life may be altogether different, but let us all he inspired with the same sense of the nobility of our mission and the selfless zeal in serving the interests of our 'Mother' as the Children. ”

“ Here a leaf caught fire, there a grass shone bright with the light; at other places the darkness grew thicker. When the fire was ready, one was about to throw the corpse into it when another said, "Tarry, my man, if live we must on the noble meat today, why then eat the stiff flesh of that old wretch? ”

“ The experiment therefore of degrading patriotism by basing it on superstition is not only fruitless but positively harmful.
The other is a more serious matter still. Now one thing that would be patent to every reader of this novel is that its heroes are frankly hostile to Mussulmans. This has led me to think thrice before placing the work before a larger public by translation. Our Mussulman friends have no doubt a good right to get offended at the way in which the anti-Mussulman sentiment has been developed in this novel. But several facts have got to be taken into consideration. ”

“ Even as a parable it has to be viewed from the point of view of feeling rather than of conception. For the type of patriotism which our author has here depicted is certainly not the richest in conception nor well worthy of emulation. It is its intensity in feeling and its richness in self-sacrifice that ought to commend it to all right-thinking people. The reader must however be warned against taking the parable too literally. Our author's patriotism is not to be identified with the revolutionary propaganda of his adventurers in the present work. ”

“ If it is sought by this means to instil patriotism into the superstitious mind through superstitions, it fails sadly; for patriotism thus distorted can never develop into genuine patriotism and must remain a superstition for ever. ”

“ Intellectual sympathy with these he has none, and he takes good care to dissociate himself from this lawlessness; but even in seeking to expose the foolishness of Children as he professes to do, he forgets himself and almost exults in deeds which his better sense soon condemns. His mysterious physician tells us that an empire could not be founded by robbery, and no good could come out of sin. ”

“ No one looked at any body else. No one removed the dead. The fairest bodies lay down to rot in the mansions. When small-pox once made its appearance in a house, the householders instantly took to flight, leaving the patient behind. ”

“ When they were about to start, Mahendra said: "The road is hard and robbers are prowling about everywhere, we should not go without arms." So saying he went back into the house and returned with a gun and some powder and shot.
Seeing this, Kalyani said, "Since you remind me of arms, will you just hold Sukumari awhile and let me too fetch mine?" So saying she gave the child to Mahendra and entered the house, Mahendra observing, "What arms are you going to have?" ”

“ Then there could not be found buyers of men, everybody wanted to sell. They then fed on leaves, grass and weeds for want of other food; the lower classes and wild tribes fed on dogs, mice and cats. Many fled and died of starvation away from their homes. Those who did not fly away died from starvation or from diseases brought on by eating unwholesome food. ”

“ Those who reaped a harvest at all had their crop bought up by the State for the support of its army. The people therefore starved. At first they had one meal a day, then they went on half rations, and then starved the whole day. ”

“ He will also see that there is some difference between a history and a novel. The battles described in the novel did not really happen in Birbhum but in Northern Bengal. And, in the novel, the name of Major Wood has been used in the place of Captain Edwards. This difference I do not consider essential, for the novel is a novel and not history. ”

“ The village was full of houses but you could find very few men there. There were rows of shops in the market, rows of huts in the fair, and mud houses in hundreds and brick buildings, high and low, here and there. ”

“ I will take nothing more till I hear of my husband." The monk urged no more. "You are safe in this temple," said he, "stay here while I go in search of your husband."
↑ This and what follows refers to a point of etiequette in Bengali Hindu Society where a lady does not consider it consistent with her modesty to take food before males or strangers. ↑ A Hindu wife would never partake of food till her husband has had it. ↑ It is considered indelicate, nay, even a sin, in orthodox Hindu Society for a wife to utter her husband's name. ”