History and Literature: The Lower Classes in Tarashankar Bandhapadhyay’s Short Stories and Novels (ইতিহাস ও সাহিত্য : তারাশঙ্কর বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের ছোটগল্প ও উপন্যাসে প্রান্তজন)

Abstract

Since time historical, the lower classes people have remained barytas in the page of history. Literature have more often than managed to do, what history has not by highlight the conditions of these deprived classes about the Indian social system. Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay’s Lokayat is the storyteller of life. Tarashankar is the painter of those who are deprived, oppressed, helpless, wretched, fighting at the edge of degradation.  He wrote about the poor, the downtrodden, those who are helpless, oppressed, exploited, neglected, untouchable, stupid and who now have any status in society. The lower classes, tribals, nomads, Bedes who are deprived of the light of the ongoing civilization have painted their lives realistically and vividly--like the great procession of Haris, Muchis, Dom, Bagdi, Bedes.  While writing the history and literature of the lower classes of society like Patau, Malakar, Kahar, Santal he acquired first-hand knowledge of their way of life, their spoken language and full knowledge of their normal domestic, social, and worldly life. A perusal of Tarashankar Banerjee's short stories and novels reveals the ethnographic, economic, social, and cultural history of a large community irrespective of the community in a particular region. Although he is not a sociologist and historian, his short stories and novels based on deep analysis of the position of marginalized people in the basic structure of society, their behaviour and lifestyle can be said to be an invaluable reference of time and social life.