Diverse Forms of Women in Saratchandra's Novel Srikanta (Part-1)

Abstract: Saratchandra Chattopadhyay is a significant personality in the world of Bengali literature. The achievement he has seen especially in characterizing women is rare in Bengali literature. Some of the women in his novels come from ordinary homes, some from middle-class or lower-middle-class families. He was the first to value women. He has established through the character that women are also human made up of flesh and blood. The female characters created by him may not have fought, may not have done politics, but he has drawn a human image of women within the family life. At the same time, he describes how different people or women can be while analyzing Rajalakshmi and Annadadidi in the first episode of Srikanta novel. In the novel he presents a definite picture of the life of Annada and Rajalakshmi. He shows Annadadidi and Rajalakshmi as two such women who are prostitutes and outcasts in the so-called social eyes. But Saratchandra has shown a noble form in the femininity of these two women which is not visible to ordinary people. Therefore, the author has revealed the form in the heart of these two characters and showed us. In my discussion I will try to discuss the different lives of these two women based on Saratchandra's Srikanta novel.