‘Kavi Bandyaghati Gnayir Jiban O Mrityu’ : History of the Subaltern Class in Alternative Narratives/ কবি বন্দ্যঘটী গাঞির জীবন ও মৃত্যু : বিকল্প আখ্যানে নিম্নবর্গের ইতিহাস

Abstract

The world's society, politics, economy, history and cultural practices¹ have caused a great stir in the seeding of 'Subaltern Studies' or 'Subaltern Historiography' in the post-colonial era. This approach sheds new insight² on the blind alley of traditional historical³ and literary practice. Antonio Gramsci (1890-1937), one of the Italian Marxist thinkers, used the term 'Subaltern'⁴ at first in Italian language his 'Prison Notebooks' (1929-35). The term 'Subaltern' is relative. Therefore, in our discussion, we have meant the term as lower class or marginal class in respect of caste, gender, occupation, wealth, education or in any other way accordingly. Our argument is that under the hegemonic rule⁵ of Bengal for a long time, the underprivileged, the deprived, the helpless agricultural labourers, the land serfs, the labourers, the untouchable tribal peoples and the floating people without a livelihood are called the lower class or marginalized people.

             Three decades before the Subaltern Historiography, the activist writer⁶ Mahasweta Devi spoke and wrote about them in different ways. He didn't read Marx, he didn't read Gramsci. He has read People, he has understood the hunger of people. The story of Aranya Chuad’s rise to fame as a poet in the rich background of Chaitanya-movement⁷ in medieval era is narrated in the novel 'Life and Death of Poet Bandhyaghati Gani' (1967). Mahasweta Devi, who was interested in the history of Bengal in the 16th century. He created history in an alternative narrative⁸ with life and poetry as inspiration. The main subject of the narrative is the dream, struggle, pursuit, love, despair, failure and suffering of the caste-ruled society in the whole world that continuity can only be understood by taking a casual look around us.