She is extremely intelligent and alert, wise and valiant, talented and educated, romantic and remarkably restrained, a manager par excellence of domestic, social and political affairs, her mysterious and eventful life provides socio-cultural and psychological insights, which seem to have contemporary relevance in feminist and socio-cultural terms.
She is Bimala, she is DurgeshNandini
The poweress, the mistress, the valiant, the lover, the backbone of kingdom of Mandaran. She is the friend, guide and mentor to Virendra Singh and his motherless daughter Tilottama. She is brain behind the ruler of the kingdom and the only one who can reason King Virendra. A solace to the father-daughter duo, she fills up the empty spaces of love and affection too. She witnesses Tilottama falling in love with Jagat Singh, the Prince of Amber, and supports her infidelities, considering the fact that Virendra nurses an animosity against the State of Amber. In all the plans to bring the lovers together she takes heed of a Guru and intellect Abhiramswami .
As she plans to support the cause of the lovers in front of King Virendra, Mandaran and Amber have to face a common enemy, Katlu Khan. Prince Jagat, King Virendra , Tilottama and Bimala are now in mercy of the Pathan slayer. Another facet of humanity is experienced here in form of Usman Khan and his daughter Ayesha, who take care of a very injured Jagat. Ayesha falls in love with Jagat while Usman finds himself drawn to the mysterious Bimala. Nevertheless the father-daughter duo try to give the best aid in such circumstances to all.
Bimala and Tilottama’s unparallel beauty lands them in Pathan King’s harem , but still here Tilottama has no cause to worry coz her strongest sheath Bimala is her ever accomplice. Bimala offers herself for Pathan’s sexual advances, in lieu of Tilottama and Jagat’s escapade. Meanwhile she also witnesses King Virendra, her heart and soul being killed mercilessly.
Pages of the tale unfolds, and the reader witnesses the power of Durgeshnandini, as Bankim Da carefully clears the path from all the hurdles and therein Bimala emerges as the true reflection of Goddess Durga.
The best portion of the novel is the way it weaves the story around the two strong female characters Bimala and Ayesha. Though Ayesha does not fill up too many pages, but still the finale finds her as equal second best after Bimala. In the end also she chooses to face the life rather than the cowardly act of suicide. Honestly confessing Tilottama is probably the only weak link in the book. She is the typical sob-story, whose world is painted by the agonies of love. Though her stand for her love is incredible, yet it seems that she cannot even walk a step without Bimala to her call.
Prince Jagat and King Virendra are depicted as true Rajput warriors. Their valiance and the Rajput maan is evident throughout the book. And as per Abhiramswami, though he is a matchless intellect, he is not able to match up with the guts of Bimala. A common factor evident in all the male characters is that they respect the women with due diligence. Except for Katlu Khan, the plunderer, even Usman Khan invokes the feeling of respect in reader’s mind. The rationale and balanced attitude of Usman, acts as the savior for all in the end.
The reason I found this book so fascinating was the fact, that the time when it was penned( the facts say 1865 was the year), it was a real courageous act to write something like this. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee must have possessed some mettle to write something like this in the times, when Bengal and whole of India was suppressed by traditional practices. Especially keeping a female character in the core required a lot of nerve at the time and that to a character which speaks of guts like anything. It probably must have been a rebel in those times. Also the commendable fact is that this is the first novel of Bankim Chandra which really makes me bow at his capability.
I read the English version of the book, translated by B.M Bhalla and in his prologue he mentions:
“Bankim Chandra thus presents a vision which rejects narrow divisions, prejudices and discriminations based on religion, caste and sex. His world is secular, without any social barriers, where people belonging to different communities can live harmoniously sharing common values and composite culture. This world can only exist only if self-reliant, resourceful and confident woman are allowed to actively participate, to shape social, cultural and political life. This is the vision of Modern India”