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Stella Chitralekha Biswas

CL-601: Comparative Literature: Concept, History and Theory

Enrollment number: 16301103

Central University of Gujarat

23rd Sept. 2016

Tracing Heteroglossia in Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Srikanta (Vol. 1)

Bakhtin, in his Discourse in the Novel discusses as to what constitutes the individual and

the society as well as the interaction between the two which lead to the formation of

communities and nations. He sees the idea of the individual as being constructed within a

network of social materiality, looking at social relations and language as circumscribed within

this contract. This is clearly reflected in the birth of the heteroglossic novel form reflecting the

complexities of speech laden with cultural baggage. Variations in language may be based on

class, caste, gender, culture, dialects, economics, professions, passing trends etc. which lead to

the differences in the articulation of certain ideas or perspectives by different people. A

multitude of discourses and cultural ideologies go into the making of languages. Heteroglossia

portrays how different people speak in different ways and appropriate the ideologies of others

into their own through speech variations. A heteroglossic work strives to skillfully portray this

immensely complex web of influences and impacts upon language, ranging from a highly

aristocratic one to a casual, daily discourse. The significance of such a work lies in the depiction

of various voices through variations across languages or within the same language, trying to

compete with one another and establishing their own existences. Instead of a single, objective,
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monoglossic voice of the author or narrator, scope is given for the expression of a multiplicity of

voices, consciousnesses and realities.

The modern Bengali language of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with

innumerable borrowings from foreign languages, was characterized by a strong influence of the

west-central dialect of the Nadia region, bifurcating itself into the standard/literary (original and

proper) form known as ‘sadhu-bhasha’ and the colloquial, slightly-inflected speech known as

‘cholito-bhasha’. However, there may be marked differences in the regional usages of the same

standard Bengali language, unique word constructions and colloquialisms characteristic in

specific variations. Although mostly fluent in the standard colloquial Bengali language, many

Bengali people exhibit notable dialectical variations, often due to the aspect of religion with the

Hindu man borrowing from Sanskrit vocabulary and the Muslim man preferring Persian, Arabic

or ‘deshi’ words more. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who was considered as one of the greatest

prose writers of colonial India, was writing at a time when Bengal was undergoing tremendous

unnerving historical developments such as the Renaissance and humanist movements, religious

reformation, etc. that were bewildering the youth of this age. The tone of his works is incredibly

materialistic, uncompromisingly humanistic, youthful and militant, providing evidence for the

progressive growth and development of the proletarian culture in India. Although Chattopadhyay

does not indulge in excessive philosophizing, theorizing or use of lofty, erudite vocabulary

unknown to the common people, yet it is his lucid aesthetic rendition of the complexities of

human relationships, emotions, life and social problems that have a more profound impact upon

the minds of the readers. His celebrated work Srikanta which is a magnum-opus in four volumes

takes the form of a picaresque and bildungsroman novel written in an episodic, autobiographical

mode. The utterances, verbiage, behaviour, social customs, interactions and family relations of
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these characters wonderfully portray the moods of this time and a subtle rather than radical

criticism of society without the usage of high-sounding speeches. In this paper, focus has been

made upon the first volume of the series so as to show how an amalgam of characters coming

from various socio-economic backgrounds depicts heteroglossia through speech-interactions,

experiences, self-expressions and consciousnesses.

Using the flashback technique, the first part of the novel recounts the childhood,

adolescence and youth of the main protagonist, Srikanta who is also the first-person narrator.

There are vivid descriptions of nature, his lodging at a paternal aunt’s home, his adventurous

meeting with the daring Indranath and subsequent fascination for him, his acquaintance with

Annada didi and her snake-charmer husband, his chance encounter with a long-lost childhood

friend Rajlakshmi who has now turned into a ‘nauch girl’ named Pyari baiji as well as his

reckless wandering across various places. This entire part is set in Muzzarfarpur and therefore

the existence of a Bengali population amidst the ‘hindustani’ culture of Bihar proves to be very

interesting. Although majority of the characters belong to the Bengali community yet there are

quite a few occasional glimpses of the differences in lifestyles, habits and customs between the

two cultures. Language and dialectical differences emerge most palpably in the space of

interaction between the two cultures, which also try to appropriate and adjust each other in their

own ways. Chattopadhyay takes up the diglossic Bengali language and works it out extensively

with several modifications in speech so as to portray the heteroglossia reflected through a

demographically intercultural community. The first-person narrative voice interestingly takes up

the standard, literary ‘sadhu bhasha’ form of the West-Central Bengali dialect throughout the

entire course of the novel. The values, ideologies, perspectives of the narrator, who is also the

main protagonist Srikanta, are presented in this very form which is why some instances of his
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thoughts appear to be either philosophical or ironic or satirizing. The genuineness of feeling,

emotion and depth of passion is perhaps expressed more profoundly through an aesthetic,

polished, literary language over a more easy-flowing, colloquial one, thereby giving the text its

literary appeal. The literary effect is heightened by longer inflections in the verbs and the usage

of words borrowed from the ‘Tatsama’ vocabulary. Within the framework of the narrative

however, the characters speak in the standard colloquial Bengali or ‘cholito-bhasha’ which was

the South-Western/West-Central/Nadia/Shantipuri ‘Bangla’ dialect. This style is characterized

by shortened verb forms and the liberal use of colloquial idioms. Since the characters hail from

different regions, classes, genders, socio-religious backgrounds, castes or professions, several

variations occur in the spoken dialect and accents. It leads to a reflection of a complex web of

ideologies within the novel.

The dialogues among the characters betray their social and cultural identities, depicting a

multiplicity of voices within the narrative framework. At the very outset of the novel, Srikanta

has gone to watch a football match between Hindu and Muslim students where a brawl breaks

out and he gets cornered by an angry mob of the latter community. They hurl abusive shouts at

him such as “Dhoro sala ke, maaro sala ke!” (Catch the wretched fellow, beat him up!), typical

for their age, temperament and colloquialism. When Indranath rescues Srikanta and they get

acquainted with each other, the readers realize that they speak in the colloquial dialect

appropriated by the middle class bourgeoisie. This dialect is seen to be used by Srikanta’s kin as

well as the majority of the middle class village folk. Most of the characters appropriate the

grammatical usage of consonants in their daily speech such as the use of /chô/ in place of /chhô/

in words like ‘ashche’, môreche’, ‘dekhchi’, ‘shunechi’, ‘kôrche’, ‘dichchi’, ‘ghumôchchen’,

‘chaichi’, etc. or using /e/ instead of /a/ in conjugating words like ‘jashne’ (don’t go),
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‘khashne’(don’t eat), etc. There are also instances of the usage of idiolectic words like ‘kôshe’

(speedily), ‘thukechi’ (beat up), ‘chhôra’ (lad), ‘bôi ki’ (obviously), ‘bamun’ (Brahmin), ‘khôtta’

(non-Bengali people), ‘nabbô’ (get down), ‘ret’ (night), ‘ujôn’ (tide), ‘nimônia’ (pneumonia),

etc. which belong typically to a suburban Bengali culture and is characteristic of the individuals

in their community. This is interspersed by cross-cultural glimpses of the ‘hindustani’ men-folk

of Bihar appointed as night-guards of Srikanta’s village. They hum Tulsidasi tunes and speak in

their native Bhojpuri dialect, which is appropriated by some people of the Bengali community as

well. For instance, Srikanta’s ‘pishemoshai’ (husband of paternal aunt) gets furious during the

‘Srinath bahurupi’ episode and utters shouts in Hindi such as “Aaur maaro, sala ko maar daalo!”

or “Sarki lao, banduk lao!” or “Sala ko kaan pakar ke lao”, etc. Even the local priest named

Bhattacharjee-moshai slips into a terrible jargon of Bengali-Hindi mixture in his fury: “Ei

haramjada bojjatke baste amar gotor churno ho giya. Khotta salar betara amake jeno kilayke

kanthal pakay diya!” (“Due to this wretched moron, my health has degenerated. These wretched

non-Bengali people have beaten my wits out!”). The character of Srinath speaks in an extremely

pedestrian idiolect, using the epithet of ‘babu-moshai’ while respectfully addressing members

belonging to upper classes. This reveals his proletariat status based on his occupation as a

‘bahurupi’ or a travelling, quick-change artist with a meager income. When Srikanta meets

Annada didi and her husband Shah-ji for the first time, he is given to believe that they are

‘hindustani’ Muslims on account of their depraved appearance, their occupation as snake-

charmers and their marginalized, penury-stricken position in society. Shah-ji even talks in

colloquial Hindi, uttering Bengali only on one particular occasion but his wife prefers speaking

in the latter throughout her appearance in the novel. However, the actual fact that they are a

converted Brahmin couple is revealed only after Shah-ji’s death and the readers realize how
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language use can become a façade for concealing true identities and donning on disguises. This

becomes all the more prominent in the letter that Annada didi leaves for Srikanta, written in the

standard ‘sadhu bhasha’ and thereby reflecting the literary, educated and refined mindset of a

woman who had the courage to trespass against society’s norms in choosing a man thought to be

unworthy of her despite its severe repercussions. Socio-economic circumstances play a crucial

role in the relegation of language to different groups in society. The anti-pathetic attitude of the

middle-class Bengali sensibility towards a completely different ‘hindustani’ culture of Bihar is

clearly reflected in their dialogic exchanges and this repugnance heightens all the more in the

case of Muslims who are treated as outsiders due to religious biases. This is an indirect

contestation on the part of the Bengali cultural ideologies to carve out a niche for themselves in

an alien cultural sphere of Bihar, despite being subject to inter-cultural/linguistic assimilations.

The readers also get a glimpse of the idiosyncratic Natun-da, the ‘bhayankar babu’ (terrific

gentleman) from Kolkata who is Indranath’s maternal cousin. His appearance, outfit, manners,

speech, etc. all are tremendously affected and betray the petty snobbery in his mind. His speech

is extremely rough and consists of innumerable words of condescension such as ‘jachchhe-tai’

(disgusting), ‘hôtôbhaga’ (wretched fellow), ‘janôwar’ (beast), ‘khôtta-môtta’ (unrefined non-

Bengalis), etc. He has the same bent of mind as the other middle-class people, sharing the same

ideologies and prejudices but ironically, he considers himself superior to them since he hailed

from the main city of Kolkata and dismisses Srikanta and Indranath as ‘chasha’ (uncivilized

rustics).

Indranath moves into the domain of youth and joins the ‘shikar party’ (hunting troop) of

Kumar-ji, the son of a Bengali zamindar as an attendant. There he comes across another mixed

group belonging to different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. The zamindar’s son is
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addressed through as ‘rajputrô’, ‘rajkumar’ or ‘kumar-shaheb’ (prince) by the rest of the troop on

account of his elevated socio-economic position as compared to the others. Probably belonging

to the class of landed gentry or zamindars, he is always treated with exaggerated flattery and

praise while he himself has a typical manner of addressing others as “Ki he!” (Hey!). His

attendants are presupposed to have a sycophantic attitude towards him whilst he deigns to

interact with them out of his graciousness. However, it can be estimated from the very few

dialogic exchanges that he holds with others that he is actually a very insubstantial person

exploiting the power of his status and indulging in frivolous luxury— characteristic of most men

belonging to his class. The readers also get a glimpse of the ‘babu-baiji’ culture and the ‘majlish’

(performance) customs prevalent at that time through this episode. Most of Kumar-ji’s attendants

like Surju, the unnamed old gentleman, etc. belong to the ‘hindustani’ background of Bihar

except for Srikanta and another man named Purushottam. They address each other as ‘Babu-ji’

and their dialogic exchanges depict an interesting mixture of Bengali and Hindi dialects. For

instance, Surju once questions Srikanta on his lack of interest in bird-hunting: “Chiriya shikar-

me kuchh sharam hain?” (Is it shameful to hunt birds?), wherein the latter replies in an idiolectic

manner: “Shôbaikar nehi hain, kintu amar hain!” (Everyone does not have shame, but I have).

This is not unusual in a space where members from different cultural backdrops come together

and interact with each other— it is the sense conveyed through words that seems to be solely

important.

It is the character of Pyari ‘baiji’ (courtesan) that comes across as most striking and

fascinating to the readers across ages. Though she is introduced as hailing from Patna yet it

becomes clear from her gestures of ‘prônam’ rather than ‘salaam’, her clear, fluent Bengali

speech and her habit of uttering “Durga! Durga!” that she is native from Bengal. Later, Srikanta
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himself as well as the readers get to know that her real name is Rajlakshmi, she is a Brahmin and

that she had been sold off by her husband at a very tender age into the prostitution market.

However she had managed to fight against all odds and establish herself as a renowned ‘baiji’,

much acclaimed for her singing and dancing skills. Inspite of her profession, she considers

herself socially equal to Srikanta as she hails from the same class as him which is why she does

not use any extraneous verbiage to address him; only once out of overwhelming emotion does

she call him “Thakur!” (Lord). Typical to her identity as a Bengali woman, she uses some

feminine idiolects which can be traced in Annada didi’s speech-mannerisms as well such as

‘mathar dibbi dewa’ (swearing by the head), ‘paaye pôra’ (falling at the feet), etc. The servants

attending on her as well as Kumar-ji speak almost in a similar fashion, addressing their social

superiors as ‘babu’ or ‘babu-saab’ (master) or ‘maa’ (mistress). Pyari’s man-servant Ratan even

reveals his caste as that of ‘Paramanik’ to Srikanta, which is usually relegated to barbers. All of

them belong to the same proletariat class as Srinath who had appeared earlier in the novel,

conversing in a particular way with respect to their socio-economic positions and occupations. It

can also be deduced from their dialogic exchanges that their actions and words are subject to a

profit (basically monetory) motive as well as communal biases within their minds.

Srikanta’s momentary turn towards an ascetic life leads him to encounter the ‘sadhu’

(hermit) community in Bihar’s Baanr district. They speak in a typical Bhojpuri dialect,

occasionally reciting verses from Bharadwaj Muni which Srikanta has to acquire on account of

his association with them. He even comfortably slips into their lifestyle of daily begging and

meditative practices for the attainment of salvation. A rather satirical picture of the ‘sadhus’ and

‘sanyasis’ come up in this context whereby Srikanta reveals the materialistic, comfort-seeking

and worldly nature of this group of people despite their totally different claims. During this
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period of his life, Srikanta has a chance encounter with a Bengali child-bride who had been

married off in a ‘hindustani’ household. She comes across as a strikingly pathetic victim of child-

abuse and a misfit in totally alien surroundings. She herself claims that she can neither

understand the language of her in-laws nor consume their food. Her voice comes out as

delineating her precarious, marginalized existence in a rigid, patriarchal social set-up. Her voice

serves as a critique upon the narrow, religion-bound, casteistic ideologies of the Bengali

community that provide no scope for the independence or emancipation of women. Srikanta

happens to meet several other Bengali people, both men and women who are struggling to

survive in an unfamiliar cultural set-up and establish their own identities. Whenever they come

across a Bengali-speaking person, they are filled with relief and a sense of immense ease because

they can palpably relate and feel at home with them. They have an ethnocentric attitude in

defining their own cultural identity as uniquely distinct from others. When Srikanta is rescued

from a terrible fit of illness and isolation by Pyari ‘baiji’, he gets acquainted with her stepson,

Banku and their home in Patna. Though their conversational exchange, Srikanta gets a view of a

different aspect of Pyari’s life— she shares a precious mother-son relationship with Banku who

adores her despite not being her own flesh-and-blood. Banku strives to defend Pyari on all

grounds, even to Srikanta who is totally a stranger to him. He is aware of the morality-ridden

values and principles of the society to which he belongs where the position of ‘fallen’ women

was seen as highly problematic. This can be linked to an earlier interaction between Srikanta and

Pyari where both are uncomfortable to be alone in each other’s presence due to societal

stringencies.

Some readers might argue that although this novel reflects the cultural and ethical

standards as well as the humanist values emerging in society at that point of time, yet it does not
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give adequate space for the proletariat voice to speak which had been a major concern for

Chattopadhyay throughout his literary career. The people of the lower class are not given enough

scope to express their ideologies or thoughts within the narrative framework despite a few

glimpses into their dialogic exchanges. There is no voice of protest or reform within this novel

that might appear as a departure from the bourgeois revolutionism that Chattopadhyay advocated

generally. However, it has to be clearly understood that he did not center this novel around the

working class although he significantly thought and discussed about them elsewhere. This novel

particularly highlights the conflict between the individual perception with that of the social with

respect to notions of purity, chastity and profanity as well as between rebellion and a submissive

attitude to orthodox notions of society. The voice of the oppressed woman is given special

consideration— despite being aware of her problematised existence in a rural Bengal society and

the fact that she never attains happiness in her personal life, the novelist deliberately writes a

discourse upon her strong-willed consciousness and sense of revolt as well as a rooted sense of

values that make her an ideal yardstick for other characters. Chattopadhyay’s characters are

mostly drawn from rural or suburban life and society in Bengal, their class-consciousness and

cultural ethics highlighted vividly through their dialogic exchanges. This contributes to the

superb aesthetic, vividly colourful and subtly artistic ‘rasa’ evoked and expressed by the

narrative. Chattopadhyay has often been criticized as a “pakshalar sahityik” (very domestic

novelist) or half-heartedly acknowledged as a “writer of sweet tales” but this is a limiting view

upon his greatness as a litterateur. Any sense of false vanity, ego or abstract, ostentatious theory

which he himself brands as “propertyless, unconcerned, indifferent, meaningless verbiages” is

absent in his narratives, with only a realistic rendition of the true essence, tune and complexities

of his age and society.

Works Cited :

Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra. Srikanta (Vol. 1). Ed. Dr. Shuddhasatwa Basu. Kolkata: Ghosh &

Co., 2000. Print.

Chatterjee, Chandrani. Translation Reconsidered: Culture, Genre and the “Colonial Encounter”
in Nineteenth Century Bengal. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. Print

Ghosh, Shibdas. “An Evaluation of Saratchandra.” Shibdas Ghosh Internet Archive. Marxist

Internet Archive, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.

S., Sreenivasarao. “Of Poverty Literature and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee”. Sulekha.com. Sulekha,

n.d. Web. 22nd Sept. 2016.