On-site visit to Maynadwip/ ময়নাদ্বীপের সরেজমিন

Abstract

This paper examines Moynadwip, the fictional island in Manik Bandopadhyay’s Padmanadir Majhi (1936), as a utopian construct within Bengali literature. Depicted through the lives of impoverished fisherfolk on the Padma River, Moynadwip emerges as a labour-based, egalitarian society envisioned by its owner, Hossain Mia. It rejects religious divisions, legitimises consensual sexual relations, and promises self-sufficiency through collective cultivation. However, beneath its socialist and Freudian underpinnings lies a centralised authority that shapes, regulates, and subtly dominates its inhabitants.

          By juxtaposing Moynadwip with canonical and modern utopian models from Plato’s Republic and More’s Utopia to Lyman Tower Sargent’s typologies—this study identifies the island as a hybrid space, reflecting overlapping utopias: those of the author, the character, and the reader. While Hossain Mia’s vision mirrors anti-hierarchical ideals, it simultaneously reproduces patriarchal and quasi-colonial control, particularly in gender relations and reproductive politics.

          The analysis foregrounds how Manik Bandopadhyay’s narrative negotiates the tension between liberation and domination, between idealist aspiration and pragmatic governance. Moynadwip thus becomes a site where socialist egalitarianism, sexual autonomy, and communal labour coexist with embedded power structures. This multiplicity ensures that the island remains fluid— continually reimagined by successive readers— embodying both the allure and the impossibility of a universally accepted ‘good place.’