Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
1876–1938
Biography
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876–1938) was a Bengali novelist and short-story writer whose books are among the most widely read and translated works of Indian fiction. He was born in a village in rural Bengal and wrote almost entirely in Bengali. He named the French novelist Émile Zola as his literary teacher, but his own style is plain, warm and easy to follow, and readers value the sympathy he showed for women, for the poor and for people judged harshly by their families and communities.
His best-known novels came out between 1913 and 1926. They include Parineeta (1914), Devdas (1917), Charitraheen (1917) and Pather Dabi (1926). Devdas, the story of a man whose thwarted love for a childhood friend leads him to ruin, has been filmed many times. His long novel Srikanta appeared in parts between 1917 and 1933. His stories look at family life, caste and social custom through the eyes of those who suffer under them, which is a large part of why he is still read across India.
Three of his works are on this site, all in Bengali: বড়দিদি (Barodidi, 1913), a story built around an elder sister in a Bengali household; বৈকুণ্ঠের উইল (Baikunther Will), a novel that turns on a contested will in a family; and বিরাজ বৌ (Biraj Bou), a novel about a young wife and her place in her husband's family. Together they show the range of his concerns, from family quarrels to the quieter injustices of domestic life.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
দেনা-পাওনা
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Jibananda, the hard landlord of Chandigarh, a village that grew up around an old temple of Chandi on the Barui river, and Shorashi, a woman of the temple's circle who has never been tamed by his house, are two of the strongest figures of Sarat Chandra's 1923 novel. The title…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.দেবদাস
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Devdas and Parvati grow up as neighbours in a village, quarrelling and inseparable as children, until the difference in their families' standing begins to count. Written in 1901 and first printed in 1917, Sarat Chandra's novella is the most often filmed story in Bengali and…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.নিষ্কৃতি
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Two brothers, Girish and Harish, their younger cousin Ramesh and their wives live in one house in a village of Howrah on the river Rupnarayan, and a quarrel between the women begins to split the joint family. Sarat Chandra's novel of 1917 is a close book about one household and…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.পথের দাবী
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Apurba, a young clerk from Bengal, arrives at his post in Rangoon and meets a circle of Indian exiles led by the shadowy doctor Sabyasachi, who plans to end British rule. Sarat Chandra's novel of 1926 was banned by the colonial government within a year of its publication. This…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.পরিণীতা
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Lalita, an orphan raised in her uncle's house in Calcutta, and Shekhar, the rich son of the family next door, grow up together in houses with one wall between them. Sarat Chandra's short novel of 1914 follows what happens when a quiet affection meets debt, pride and a rival…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.পল্লী-সমাজ
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Ramesh, a young man educated in the town, returns to his father's village to take care of an estate and finds it run by the small cruelties of its elders. Sarat Chandra's 1916 novel is a portrait of a Bengali village, its factions and its young widow Rama, who has her own…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.বড়দিদি
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Surendranath, a gentle and careless young man with nobody to look after him, comes to live in a village household, and the 'elder sister' of the title, Madhabi, takes charge of him. Sarat Chandra's long story, one of the first of his to be printed, in 1913, is a quiet account of…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.বিরাজ বৌ
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Biraj, a devoted wife in a village in Hooghly, keeps her husband Nilambar's house together while his easy nature and his debts wear it away. Sarat Chandra's novella of 1914 is a close look at a poor household and the strains of a marriage that has nothing to spare. This book…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.বৈকুণ্ঠের উইল
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Baikuntha Majumdar, a grocer in a Bengal village, has made his shop prosper against the odds and has taken his eldest son Gokul out of school to work in it. The will of the title and the brothers' quarrels over what is to be theirs make the story, a comedy of family life more…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.মেজদিদি
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Kesto, a boy of fourteen left an orphan by his mother's death, is sent to live in the well-off house of his half-sister, where he is overworked and beaten and finds one person to be kind to him, the 'middle sister' of the title. Sarat Chandra's novella of 1915 is a story of a…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.শ্রীকান্ত
by শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
Srikanta, a restless young man with no home to speak of, tells of his boyhood friend Indranath, a boy of the river and the night, and of the people he meets as he wanders across Bengal and Bihar. The first part of Sarat Chandra's best-loved book, from 1917, reads like a memoir…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.