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Chandrakanta is a popular Hindi novel by Devaki Nandan Khatri. It is considered to be the first work of prose in the modern Hindi language, and may have significantly contributed to the language's popularity. The copyright on the novel expired in 1964 and it is now in public domain, along with other titles by the author.
| Author | Devaki Nandan Khatri |
|---|---|
| Language | Hindi |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Lehri Book Depot, Varanasi, India |
Publication date | 1888 |
| Publication place | India |
Story
The story is a romantic fantasy about two lovers who belong to rival kingdoms: the princess Chandrakanta of Vijaygarh, and the prince Virendra Singh of Naugarh. Krur Singh, a member of the Vijaygarh king's court who dreams of marrying Chandrakanta and taking over the throne. When Krur Singh fails in his endeavor, he flees the kingdom and befriends Shivdutt, the powerful neighboring king of Chunargarh (a renaming of "Chunar-fort", referring to the fort in Chunar that inspired Khatri to write the novel). Krur Singh coaxes Shivdutt to ensnare Chandrakanta at any cost. Shivdutt captures Chandrkanta and while running away from Shivdutt, Chandrakanta finds herself as a prisoner in a tilism. After that Kunvar Virendra Singh breaks the tilism and fights with Shivdutt with the help of aiyyars . Chandrakanta, the novel, has many sequels, prominent being a 7-book series (Chandrakanta santati) dealing with the adventure of Chandrakanta and Virendra Singh's children in another major tilism. The locations mentioned in the book are based on actual locations in the district Mirzapur and Sonebhadra, in current day Uttar Pradesh and Gaya,Rohtas districts in Bihar. Original Novel is very much different from the TV serial "Chandrakanta" made by Neerja Guleri.
Publication variants
Chandrakanta comprises a single volume, whereas its sequel Chandrakanta Santati comprises six volumes and Bhootnath comprises seven.
Since the copyright of the book expired, several publishers published it on their own. Some of the cheap quality variants are published by Diamond Pocket Books, AH Wheeler & Company, etc. However, reputed publishers in the field of Hindi literature such as Rajkamal Paperbacks also published this novel and its sequel at cheap rates. This book is available in free e-book format because of its public domain status.
Bhootnath and Rohtasmath are still under copyright.
A new book in this series, Heero Ki Ghati, has been written by Babu Devkinandan Khatri's great grandson Shri Vivek Khatri. This book is as interesting as other books of this series. It tells what happened to the family of Raja Birendra Singh and Tej Singh.
Tilism and Aiyyars
Chandrakanta is notable for introducing the concepts of "Aiyar" and "Tilism" to Hindi literature.
Aiyar/a
According to Devaki nandan Khatri, An Aiyar (male) or Aiyara (female) is a secret agent cum spy cum fighter. He or she is expert in many arts like:
- Disguise
- Fighting skills
- Spying
- Science
- Fine arts
- Medical
- Chemistry
Disguise is must (Aiyar/a may change him/herself into person of same or even of opposite sex but of resembling body built, by makeup).
Fighting skills are also must, for self defence. An Aiyyar/a always owerpowers any small group of ordinary soldiers.
He/she may need to spy for taking out some secrets or for finding some missing persons.
Knowledge of science and fine arts is also necessary, as it may come handy many times.
Medical knowledge, and specially that of Anaesthesia is needed for him/her.
Chemical knowledge is also needed
In a nutshell an Aiyar is a Jack of all trades. But contrary to common belief, Khatrian Aiyar/a are unfamiliar with magic and spells. He/she may join into any king's or landlord's service or may remain free.
The items must for an Aiyar/a: Kamand (a long very strong cord used to climb over building secretly, or for tying opposite Aiyar/a or captured person/s) Batua or purse (used to keep necessary medicines, makeup items, money and dry fruits) Lakhlakh must also be in the 'Batua' (lakhlakha is a medicine, used to revive any unconscious person) Khanjar or dagger (for safety and for attack) Langot or short smart pants are usually worn by Aiyars (but not by Aiyaras) when in easy mood
Ethics of Aiyars:
Never kill or torture any other Aiyar/a (but can arrest him/her)
Never cheat your master
Never attack too many Aiyars over a single person
The novel depicts a number of friendly and unfriendly Aiyar.
Aiyars on the side of Virendrasingh include:
- Tej Singh
- Jeet Singh (Tej Singh's father)
- Devi Singh;
Aiyars on the side of Chandrakanta:
- Chapla
- Champa
Aiyars on the side of Krur singh:
- Nazim
- Ahmed
Aiyyars on the side of Shivdutt (all except last two later joined the Virendra Singh's side):
- Pandit Badrinath
- Chunnilal
- Pandit Jagannath
- Pannalal
- Ramnarayan
- Ghasita Singh
- Bhagwan Dutt
Later on in Chandrakanta Santati, many more Aiyyars were introduced, including mainly:
- Bhootnath
- Nanak
- Bhairo Singh
- Tara singh
- Indra Dev
- Kamla
- Kamini
- Sher Singh
- Kamalini
- Ladili/ Lali
- Dhanpati/ Kundan
- Tara (not to be confused with Tara Sing)
- Harnam Singh (only name in this epic alloted to two totally different characters)
- Bihari Singh
- Raja Gopal Singh
- Laxmi Devi (Gopal Singh' wife)
- Mayarani (Gopal Singh' fraud wife)
Tilism
A tilism is a kind of maze containing many secret locations, passages and prisons. It is intended to be "broken", or deciphered, by a person; once broken, all its doors are opened and all its prisoners are released. The person who successfully breaks the Tilism also gains the immense treasures hidden within it.
Magic ,spells and ghosts
In Devaki Nandan Khatri's Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, There is no space for these things. Devaki Nandan Khatri did not believe in them either.
Astrology
Khatri ji incorporated the ancient Indian branch of science - astrology - in this epic.
Use of Gadgets
Although written over more than 120 years ago, this epic describes many gadgets, like- light sabres(Tilismi khanjar/neja),door lock hving alphabetic key pad, wheel operated lifts, lever operated secret doors, massive DC generating batteries, robots doing a limited set of prefixed actions.
Adaptations
Chandrakanta was made into a television serial in the mid-1990s, but the serial was never completed due to financial reasons. However, the only congruence between the novel and the teleserial was in the name of a few characters, the rest of the storyline being completely different from the book. The teleserial also introduced many new characters and both these deviations were not popular with viewers. The teleserial took far too many liberties with the original script and failed to attract wide viewership.
A new serial named Kahani Chandrakanta Ki has been started in 2011 on Sahara One TV Channel, Based on his next novel in Chandrakanta series named Chandrakanta Santati (story about achandrakanta's sons) by the same director Sunil Agnihotri, with same degree of deviations from the original devki nandan khatri novel. The story of Chandrakanta Santati is very much different from the story shown by new TV serial "Kahani Chandrakanta Ki".
Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra is producing a film adaptation of the book, which will be directed by Ram Madhvani. The film has been titled Taalismaan and includes Amitabh Bachchan among the cast, playing an Aiyyar.
Abhishek Bachchan will also be seen in this screen adaption of the tale of Chandrakanta. Starring in lead roles, both Amitabh and Abhishek have reportedly suggested Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's name to producers in a bid to bag her the role of Chandrakanta. However, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has refused to cast Aishwarya in this role as he feels she has already portrayed the role of a princess in Ashutoush Gowarikar's Jodhaa Akbar, and he wishes to give someone else a chance.
External links
Online Text
- Chandrakanta at the Digital Library of India