Fantasy Fictions From the Bengal Renaissance, Oxford University Press, 9780199486755

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Fantasy Fictions From the Bengal Renaissance

Abanindranath Tagore (Author) Gaganendranath Tagore (Author) Sanjay Sircar (Translator)

Synopsis

Toddy-Cat The Bold (Bhonda Bahadur): ‘In the Manner of Lewis Carroll’, but a Very Different Matter. 1. Bhonda Arrives: The Call to Battle. 2. The Attack of the Two-Faced Rakshasa of Chutupalu. 3. Farewell to Bhonda Mahal The Song the Army Sang. 4. Mishap at Kamalapuli Railway Station, but Soldiering on to the Ancient Apothecary. 5. In Front of the Mad King’s Garden, and What Happened There. 6. The Blue Mountain, the Palm-Leaf Sentries, and Brother Fox. 7. To the Secret Chamber. 8. The Top-Knotted Old Mother. 9. Sleeping— 10. —and Waking. Appendices.

Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance presents two masterpieces of Bengali literature by Rabindranath Tagore’s nephews, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore.

The Make-Believe Prince is the delightful story of a king, his two wives, a trickster monkey, a witch, and a helper from another world who is not a ‘fairy godmother’. Abanindranath deploys traditional children’s rhymes and paints exquisite word-pictures in his original rendering of a tale which has its roots in Bengali folktale materials in various genres.

Toddy-Cat the Bold sees a group of brave comrades seek help from a young boy to rescue the son of their leader from the Two-Faced Rakshasa of the forest. Here, a more numinous supernatural helper appears. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, it presents a comic, exciting, and mysterious journey quite unlike Carroll’s, with many traditional local touches and an unexpected ending.

Contents: Foreword by Peter Hunt. Preface. The Make-Believe Prince (Kheerer Putul): Recasting Folktale: Maerchen-Rupkatha/Women’s Ritual Bratakatha Tale Material to Buchmaerchen/Kunstmaerchen. 1. The Two Queens. 2. The King Plans a Sea Voyage. 3. The Desires of the Younger Queen. 4. The Elder Queen’s Desire. 5. The King’s Illusions. 6. The Land of Rubies and the Land of Gold. 7. The Land of Pearls and the Land of the King’s Daughter. 8. The King’s Return. 9. The Younger Queen’s Welcome. 10. The Arrival of the Monkey. 11. The Elder Queen’s Welcome. 12. The Sorrow of the Elder Queen. 13. The Monkey’s Consolation. 14. The Disappearance of the Monkey. 15. The Monkey’s Prediction. 16. The Elder Queen’s Necklace. 17. The Royal Quarrel. 18. The Monkey’s Complaint. 19. The Hovel Renewed. 20. The New Pavilion. 21. The Witch. 22. The Platter of Sweetmeats. 23. The Monkey Physician. 24. The Imaginary Princeling. 25. Arranging a Betrothal. 26. The Make-Believe Prince. 27. The Bridegroom’s Journey Two Nursery Rhymes.28. The Venerable Shashthi and the Aunts of Sleep. 29. The Monkey’s Blackmail More Nursery Rhymes. 30. The Dreamland of Children And Still More Nursery Rhymes. 31. The Monkey’s Quest. 32. The Wedding. 33. Happy Ever After. Annotated Bibliography.

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About the author

Abanindranath Tagore

Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) was an artist and writer from the illustrious Tagore family, and a nephew of Rabindranath Tagore. The principal innovator of the Bengal school of art, he created a distinctive Swadeshi style of art at a time when only western models were being imitated and practised in contemporary India. He revitalised Rajput and Mughal art into ethereal watercolours, and his later works incorporated Chinese and Japanese influences as well. He was appointed by Calcutta University as the Bageswari Professor of Oriental Art, and his writings and lectures on art remain relevant and important to art theory and practice to this day. His literary works, of delight to children and adults alike – Buro Angla, Khirer Putul, Bhoot-Potrir Deshe, Nalak and Raj Kahini – are marked by the delightful whimsy of his imagination and brought alive by his singular ability to paint pictures with words. TRANSLATOR Urbi Bhaduri has been bewitched by the magic of words for as long as she can remember. She is grateful to stories for teaching her almost everything she knows of life today. After completing her Masters in English from Jadavpur University, she has been exploring her strengths in different capacities—as a writer, editor and translator freelancing with publishing houses, newspapers and other organisations, and as a facilitator in the developmental sector, holding experiential workshops on poetry, memoir, self-discovery, deep listening, gender and entrepreneurship with young people who inhabit the urban margins, mostly in the streets and slums of Kolkata. She moves home frequently, and has lived all over India with her husband, her four dogs and more recently, with a baby girl.

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