The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
‘Choker Bali’ was written by Rabindranath Tagore as a serial in the periodical Bangadarshan from 1902 to 1903. In 1903, it was published as a book. In its preface, Tagore wrote “The literature of the new age seeks not to narrate a sequence of events, but to reveal the secrets of the heart. Such is the narrative mode of Choker Bali.” Reading these words today , a hundred and ten years after they were first written, I wondered if I am qualified to review a book by an author such as Tagore, and above all, such a path-breaking novel like this one, even if it is only a translation. However, having taken up this unenviable task, all I can do is put forth my thoughts on the book, and leave you to judge me, as well as the book for yourselves.