Tagore's Chokher Bali, a question mark towards the society - Rahul Sankalpa

Watched Rituparno Ghosh’s Chokher Bali last night, after reading this masterpiece of Tagore. Rituparno had made a brilliant film with maximum justice towards the novel with his own dramatic extrapolations and convergences without losing the real elixir of the original work. However, the book remains special for its own authenticity and Tagore’s legacy. Reading Tagore once again, after Gitanjali, Gora and Purabi, this time, it was Chokher Bali, an English translation by Radha Chakravarty. Chokher Bali,though was first published in the early twentieth century, the novel takes place somewhere in the 1860s, a period of sweeping socio-economic changes which led to the beginning of a new kind of middle class society in Bengal. Although the Hindu-widow remarriage act was passed back in 1856 during the time of Lord Dalhousie, the society was still within the clutches of all kinds of narrow and primitive thoughts. Tagore published such a book when topics like Education of Women, Widow re-marriage and speaking against dowry were subjects of heavy social disdain!

In the novel, as Radha Chakravarty herself points out in her introduction, at many times Tagore’s position on old attitudes, hierarchies and socio-economic forces were ambivalent. However, the Brahmo element and the Tagore’s own upbringing is evident in many contextual details. However, undoubtedly, the novel throws immense light on women empowerment. Binodini, Ashalata and Rajalakshmi are three strong characters which supersedes the protagonist Mahendra and his friend Bihari. At every point, the women lead the

plot; the ladies make the first move and the ladies apply their own mind and strength so as to fix their own personalities. Ashalata, who remains submissive to her unfaithful husband throughout the story, takes up a strong U-turn towards the end of the story. She uses her own submissiveness as a double-sided blade to defeat her husband Mahendra emotionally. At that point, Ashalata gains immense respect which should have been a driving force for all those ‘restricted women’ who remained indoors for decades.

As any reader could feel, I also felt that towards the end, Bihari should have married Binodini. However, even after 120 years, if Binodini remains as an unhealed wound within the minds of every reader, that itself serves the purpose of the book. Binodini, would probably be one of the most significant women characters the Indian classical literature has ever produced. A beautiful woman, who got widowed at a tender age. Binodini could read and write since her father spent more of his money on educating her than spending on her dowry! On close observation, we could find that Binodini, had to pay a huge toll for being educated and being intelligent. She had to go through such a trauma for all those same factors which could have brought her fortune! 

More than sympathy, Binodini deserves respect and salute for keeping herself up throughout. Rather, Tagore’s legacy should not be left unappreciated for bringing about such a lightning character 120 years ago, while India was undergoing a surgical strike on socio-economic and cultural basis, on many aspects. It was the same era, when the renaissance had begun and the reform activities of people like Keshab Chandra Sen and Iswar Chandra Vidya Sagar, were at its zenith. Reading Chokher Bali would be a  reminder, a self-check for us to make sure how far we have reached from the 1860s. Only to realize that at some points, we are still the same and we still live within a society which restricts women! Somewhere, Tagore’s Chokher Balis (Ashalata and Binodini) would be laughing at the so called modern society that exists right now. Of course the incomplete story of Binodini becomes a question mark towards the society.

-© Rahul Sankalpa (Rahul Sharma)