Famous Literary texts of the Subcontinent

[Nahid Kaiser]

Syed Shamsul Haq was born in a small town called Kurigram (now a district town) on 27 December in 1935. His father was Syed Siddique Husain a homeopathic physician and mother Halima Khatun. His father came to Kurigram to pursue in the practice of medicine. Traditionally they were a peer (saint) family but Haq's father breaking the family tradition studied in the main stream course of English education and then took up Medicine. Haq's grandfather Syed Raisuddin was furious at this audacity of his son.
Haq passed his childhood in Kurigram. During his childhood he observed the harshness of Second World War.
Haq married Dr. Anwara Syed Haq (also an outstanding writer in her own right.) They have one daughter, Bidita Sadiq and one son, Ditio Syed Haq. Bidita teaches English literature at higher school level. Ditio, an IT specialist, writes stories, lyrics and music.
An author:
Syed Shamsul Haq writes poetry, fiction, plays- mostly in verse and essays. He is recognized as the leading poet of Bangladesh. In all the medium mentioned above he has broken new grounds. His experiments with forms and the language have given a new direction to Bangla literature.
Works :
Nurul Diner Shara Jibon is one of the best works by Syed Haq.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Story-line: “Nurul Din was a poor indigo farmer during the British rule in Bengal, when Indigo cultivators were being tortured by the British agents and local landlords. One day, he takes his his young son to till the Indigo field, where he works.
“Since Nurul has no oxes to till the land - because of the landlords’ meanness- he tells his son to hold the ploughshare while he becomes the human ox to drag it down the field. Weak and hungry, Nurul collapses under the weight of the ploughshare. His son watches in horror as Nurul slowly metamorphoses into an ox and moos in agony in a rather Kafkaesque (Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’) manner,”

[Nahid Kaiser]

Nasreen Jahan was born and brought up in Mymensingh. She joined the Chander Hat, a national children's and juvenile organizaiton in 1974 and started to write rhymes and short stories in the children's page of daily newspaper Doinik Bangla. She was profusely encouraged by Literary Editor Late Ahsan Habib who was also a top-brass poet of Bangladesh. Later she concentrated on short stories and published in all leading literary papers and magazines of the country including the Kishore Bangla. She is married to poet Ashraf Ahmed and has only daughter Orchi Otondrila.
Her novel Urukku, published in 1993, became a hit after it was awarded the Philips Literary Award in 1994. For a brief period in 1993-94, she worked for the Banglabazaar Patrika published for its weekly literary supplement. Since late 1990s, she has been working as the editor of the literature section of weekly Anyadin. She a feminist, who believes in women's freedom without disrespect for tradition and social norms.

[Nahid Kaiser]

She has distinguished herself with her poetic prose and psychological approach to human behaviour. She is capable of handling intricate human mind with dexterity. She is prone to focus on man-woman relationship in the backdrop of social fabric and examine its intricacies. Nasreen Jahan has candidly treated sex as a theme and went ahead of time by refelcting on homosexuality her short stories and novels. Her writing separately exhibits realism, surrealism, also magic realism. Her works are never erotic in nature.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Ahmed Sofa (June 30, 1943 – July 28, 2001) was a well-known writer, critic and intellectual from Bangladesh. He wrote novels, poetry and non-fiction essays. He also translated the writings of others. Ahmed Sofa was renowned for his intellectual righteousness as well as his radical approach to the understanding of social dynamics and international politics.
Sofa helped establish the anti-communalist Bangladesh Lekhak Shibir (Bangladesh Writers' Camp) in 1970 to "organise liberal writers in order to further the cause of the progressive movement".hmed Sofa's outspoken personality and bold self-expression brought him into the limelight. At the same time, he was very affectionate towards the younger generation, who gathered around him. He was never seen hankering after fame in a trivial sense. He hardly practised religion, but his religious belief was unquestionable.
Sofa's views, such as his position against Taslima Nasrin, are considered controversial, even questionable, by some. This criticism did not dissuade Sofa from speaking his mind.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Surya Tumi Sathi
Surya Tumi Sathi was composed when Sofa was in his early 20s. The novel centres around Hashim, a youth whose father converted from Hinduism to Islam. The religious conflict of Bangladeshi society was vividly painted in the book. Hashim's grandmother rises above the orthodox rituals and thoughts of her society by taking responsibility for Hashem’s newly-born baby. Living in a society where a Hindu does not even take food from a Muslim neighbour, Poddar Ginni, an aged, ordinary-minded, pious woman, does not hesitate to come see the dead body of her grandson’s wife. The whole story was narrated in a very conventional way, but despite that, the book was acclaimed for its characterization and the novelist's sincerity in the analysis of social values.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Onkar
In Onkar, Sofa achieved his own individual qualities as a novelist in the context of form and content. The 24-page novel assimilates an extraordinary theme in a simple story.
Due to his father’s unwise activities, the narrator is forced to marry a mute girl. Having no other alternative to save his own family, he has to do it. The mischievous father-in-law arranges a job for him. His sister, who resides with him in his town house in Dhaka, practises songs with a harmonium. It is discovered that his speechless wife is trying to make sounds with that musical instrument. This makes the narrator-husband more sympathetic to his wife, and it inspires the woman to try even harder to speak. One day after the death of Asad in 1969, while a procession passes by their house, the housewife goes out to the veranda and tries to voice the slogans, but only blood flows out of her throat and she dies. In the novel, the socio-political condition of the society as well as the socio-familial environment has been delineated very minutely and skillfully.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Onkar
In Onkar, Sofa achieved his own individual qualities as a novelist in the context of form and content. The 24-page novel assimilates an extraordinary theme in a simple story.
Due to his father’s unwise activities, the narrator is forced to marry a mute girl. Having no other alternative to save his own family, he has to do it. The mischievous father-in-law arranges a job for him. His sister, who resides with him in his town house in Dhaka, practises songs with a harmonium. It is discovered that his speechless wife is trying to make sounds with that musical instrument. This makes the narrator-husband more sympathetic to his wife, and it inspires the woman to try even harder to speak. One day after the death of Asad in 1969, while a procession passes by their house, the housewife goes out to the veranda and tries to voice the slogans, but only blood flows out of her throat and she dies. In the novel, the socio-political condition of the society as well as the socio-familial environment has been delineated very minutely and skillfully.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Alat Chakra
In Alat Chakra, Liberation-time helpless Bangladesh in Kolkata is the focal point of the story. The story of the narrator, Daniel, and his lover-friend Tayeba works as a thread of loosely-related episodes, though in the same scenario. Different viewpoints about the liberation of Bangladesh, its possibility, and its way to success have been moulded into the work. On December 3, 1971, when India declared war against Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh became certain, Tayeba, a cancer patient, passes away in the blackout night.
[edit] Aali Kenan
Sofa created an existentialist character in Aali Kenan in a very true Bangladeshi context. The political scenes, from Ayub Khan to Sheikh Mujib, have also been portrayed vividly.

[Nahid Kaiser]

] Death in Maran Bilash
Maran Bilash is about the spontaneous talks of a minister at his deathbed. From 12:13 a.m. until dawn, the minister opens his mind to his attendant-cum-political follower Moula Box. In these episodes, the whole life of the minister has been pictured—from his boyhood to his maturity. All the misdeeds of his life as the minister are revealed here, one after another. The novel exposes a society where immorality is the only ladder for a politician to climb the top. The minister's hateful activities include such misdeeds as poisoning his younger brother, having a sexual relationship with a woman of his mother’s age, and burning the headmaster in his house.
[edit] Gaavi Bittano
Sofa has placed the supreme institution of Bangladesh, the Dhaka University, in a satiric milieu in Gaavi Bittano. Sofa ridiculed Bangladeshi society by making caricatures of the people of this highest education centre.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (Bengali: বঙ্কিমচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায় Bôngkim Chôndro Chôţţopaddhae)[1] (27 June 1838 [2] – 8 April 1894) was a Bengali a famous writer, poet and journalist.[3] He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several ‘serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treaties’ in Bengali. His works were widely translated into other regional languages of India as well as in English.
Bankim Chandra was born to an orthodox Brahmin family at Kanthalpara, North 24 Parganas. He was educated at Hoogly College and Presidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta. From 1858, until his retirement in 1891, he served as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector in the Government of British India.
Chatterjee is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India.[3] He is still held to be one of the timeless and brightest figures of not only Bengal, but also of the entire literati of India. Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.[3]
When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906, he named it Bande Mataram, after Chatterjee's song. Lala Lajpat Rai also published a journal of the same name.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Anandamath (Bangla: আনন্দমঠ Anondomôţh. First English publication title: The Abbey of Bliss) is a Bengali novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji and published in 1882. Set in the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion in the late 18th century, it is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Bengali and Indian literature.[1] Its importance is heightened by the fact that it became synonymous with the struggle for Indian independence from the British Empire. The novel was banned by the British. The ban was lifted later by the Government of India after independence.

[Nahid Kaiser]

Plot summary
The book is set during famine in Bengal (see Famine in India, for more information about famine in India under the British regime). Kalyani, a housewife, is fleeing through the forest with her infant, trying to escape from man-hunters who will sell her for food. After a long chase, she loses consciousness at the bank of a river. A Hindu monk, stumbles upon her and the baby, but before he can help her, he is arrested by the British soldiers, because other priests were fueling revolt against the British rule. While being dragged away he spots another priest who is not wearing his distinctive robes and sings,
"In mild breeze, by the bank of the river,
In the forest, resides a respectable lady."
The other priest deciphers the song, rescues Kalyani and the baby, taking them to a rebel priest hideout. Concurrently, Kalyani's husband, Mahendra, is also given shelter by the priests, and they are reunited. The leader of the rebels indoctrinates Mahendra by showing him the three faces of Bharat-Mata (Mother India) as three goddess idols being worshipped in three consecutive rooms:
1.   What Mother Was - An idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri
2.   What Mother Has Become - An idol of Goddess Kali
3.   What Mother Will Be - An idol of Goddess Durga
Gradually, the rebel influence grows and their ranks swell. Emboldened, they shift their headquarter to a small brick fort. The British attacks the fort with a large force. The rebels blockade the bridge over the nearby river, but they lack any artillery or military training. In the fighting, the British makes a tactical retreat over the bridge. The Sannyasis undisciplined army, and lacking military experience, chase the British into the trap. Once the bridge is full of rebels, British artillery opens fire, inflicting severe casualties.
However, some rebels manage to capture some of the cannons, and turn the fire back on to the British lines. The British are forced to fall back, the rebels winning their first battle. The story ends with Mahendra and Kalyani building a home again, with Mahendra continuing to support the rebels.
[edit] Commentary
The plot background was loosely based on the devastating Bengal famine of 1770 and unsuccessful Sannyasi Rebellion. Bankim Chandra dreams of an India rid of the British. In this dream, he romantically imagined untrained Sannyasi soldiers fighting beating the highly experienced Royal Army. Despite the romanticism, the novel patriotism was a significant voice amidst the oppression and the struggle for independence. The novel's prose has been quoted by many writers talking about Indian independence.[cita

[Nahid Kaiser]

The Bhagavad Gītā (Sanskrit: भगवद्गीता, IPA: [ˈbʱəɡəʋəd̪ ɡiːˈt̪aː], Song of God), also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that comprise the more general Vedic tradition. It is a very comprehensive compendium of the whole Vedic tradition, and an introduction to the text states that the book is considered among the most important texts in the history of literature and philosophy.[1] The teacher of the Bhagavad Gita is Lord Krishna, who is revered by Hindus as a manifestation of God (Parabrahman) Himself,[1] and is referred to within as Bhagavan, the Divine One.[2]

[Nahid Kaiser]

The context of the Gita is a conversation between Lord Krishna and the Pandava prince Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra War. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma about fighting his own cousins who command a tyranny imposed on a captured State, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on different Yogic[3] and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu theology and also as a practical, self-contained guide to life. During the discourse, Lord Krishna reveals His identity as the Supreme Being Himself (Svayam Bhagavan), blessing Arjuna with an awe-inspiring vision of His divine universal form.
The direct audience to Lord Krishna’s discourse of the Bhagavad Gita included Arjuna (addressee), Sanjaya (using Divya Drishti (or divine vision) gifted by the sage Veda Vyasa to watch the war and narrate the events to Dhritarashtra), Lord Hanuman (perched atop Arjuna’s chariot) and Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha, who also witnessed the complete 18 days of action at Kurukshetra.