Madhusudan’s ‘Birangana Kavya’ and Indian Mythology: A Comparative Analysis/ মধুসূদনের‌ ‘বীরাঙ্গনা’ কাব্য এবং ভারতীয় পুরাণ : একটি তুলনামূলক বিশ্লেষণ

Abstract

Michael Madhusudan Dutt brought the first revolution in Bengali literature during the renaissance era of the 19th century. Influenced by Western education, literature and culture, Michael composed the poetry book 'Birangana' (1862) with his independent and unique mindset. The sources of the stories in 'Birangana Kavya’ is Indian epics and Puranas. He took most of the stories from The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. All the heroines presented by Madhusudan in this poetry book are women of ancient times. As individuals, they are of great stature. In mythology they are significant characters. Behind them lies the vast backdrop of India's past. Not only Shakuntala's identity as an ashrama girl, but also the character of India's emperor Dushyanta is associated with her. The background of Rukmini's story is the crooked political conflict of the royal family in Arabia in ancient India. Behind Jana’s story is the location of weak town-streets in the post-war period of Kurukshetra. And she is remembered as the consort of Brihaspati as the cause of a bloody struggle between the gods and demons of ancient times.

           Reading the ‘Birangana Kavya’, we feel that Madhusudan was not satisfied with serving the old gods and goddesses in new clothes, but transformed the religious stories taken from the Puranas into human stories. The names remain the same, the structure of the story is the same; He gave a completely new look to the story, characters and speech. If we analyze a little better, we will see that the heroines of Birangana are full of happiness, sadness, hope, despair, pride and anger like the hearts of ordinary women of modern times. As a result, they have come from the high court of the epic to the common people's home premises. They do not have the great scope of the epic. In Birangana's lyrics the characters of the heroines of the poem lack the mystique of mythological solemnity; they appear in ordinary human form. I will try to discuss this topic in detail in my research paper.