Subalterns, Sundarbans and Bengali Novels: An Upstream Journey of Literature/ নিম্নবর্গীয় জীবন, সুন্দরবন ও বাংলা উপন্যাস : সাহিত্যের এক উজান যাত্রা

Abstract

Antonio Gramsci first coined the term ‘Subaltern’ in order to address economic disparity. However, the terminology ‘Nimno borgo’ (synonymous as ‘Subaltern’) clearly indicates the disparity in class, caste, language and culture. In the era of globalization, ‘Nimno borgo’ are those who are “marginalized and oppressed people(s) specifically struggling against hegemonic globalization” (Sousa Santos). Cultural imperialism and subalternism are antagonistic with each other as the latter is “a space of difference” (Spivak). However, the subalterns as ‘minority groups’ play a crucial role to re-define the ‘self’ of the ‘majority group’ as Homi K. Bhaba asserts, “Subaltern groups as oppressed minority groups whose presence was crucial to the self-definition of the majority groups”. This paper has explored the life of those ‘Nimno borgo’ in the Sundarbans. 

        The Sundarbans, comprising 19 blocks with 54 inhabited islands and an area of 9630 km², is home to a diverse population in India. This population includes communities from Medinipur; tribal groups from Bihar, Manbhum, and Singhbhum; refugees from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) and the marginalized lower-caste Poundra and Muslim communities. The religious harmony, cultural exchanges and diversity of thought of these four groups have transformed the Sundarbans into a unique field of mixed culture. These four groups are known as ‘Nimno Borgo’ and their life stories have started to reflect in literature from the 20th century onwards. The lives and struggles, bitterness, beliefs, folk cultures and rituals, and blend of the mundane and the supernatural among the marginalized people residing under the dominion of deities like Bonbibi, Shah Jongoli, Narayani, and Dakshin Ray revealed a new dimension of the subaltern perspectives in Sundarbans-centered novels, beginning in the 1950s with Manoj Basu’s novel Jal Jangal (1951) that shows the emergence of the marginalized people of the delta - bauley (wood-cutters), mouley (honey-collectors), bahardar, saidar, crab-catchers and fishermen. Subsequently, writers like Shibshankar Mitra in Sundarbone Arjan Sardar (1955), Bonbibi (1966) and Bede Baule (1985), Baren Ganguly in Bonbibir Upakhyan and Bagda; Shyamal Gangopadhyay in Kuberer Bishoy Ashoy, Shachin Das in Ondho Nodir Upakhyan and Nun Dariya; Tapan Bandopadhyay in Nodi Mati Aranya (three volumes), and Jhareswar Chattopadhyay in Rampadar Ashon-Byason; Char Purnima and Samudra Duyar followed this tradition. Authors like Sunil Gangopadhyay in Jal Jangoler Kabya; Amar Mitra in Dhonpoti’r Chor, Sadhan Chattopadhyay in Gohin Gang and Joltimir; and Amitav Ghosh in The Hungry Tide have also touched upon the Sundarbans through their literary brushes. In the twenty-first century, local writers of the Sundarbans like Soharab Hossain, Utpalendu Mondal, Niranjan Mondal, Bibhu Nageshwar, and Adam Safi have woven the lives of marginalized fishermen, bauley and mouley from the Sundarbans into literature. Through vivid portrayals of such representatives of a simple life centered around water and forests, Bengali novels have found a distinct new direction that marks the beginning of an upstream journey.