Banalata Sen

Banalata Sen (in Bengali script: বনলতা সেন) is a Bengali poem written in 1933 by Jibanananda Das that remains, arguably, the most read, recited and discussed poem of Bengali literature. Poet Jibanananda Das was a quiet person, who preferred to live in obscurity. It is unlikely that he developed relationship with any woman of the name of Banalata Sen. However, Banalata Sen of Natore, a tiny town in the Rajshahi area of the then Bengal, has become the emblem of feminine mystery as well as beauty and love.

Introductory Note

"Banalata Sen" was composed by the poet in 1933 and first published in the poetry magazine Kavita edited by poet Buddhadeva Bose in 1935. It is also the first poem of his third collection of poetry titled "Banalata Sen" published in 1942. It was also collected in "Modern Bengali Poetry" jointly edited by Abu Sayeed Ayub and Hirendranath Mukhopadhyaya, published in 1939.

Although popularly regarded a romantic lyric, poet’s historical sense of human existence is unmistakably the underlining essence. In a certain sense, "Banalata Sen" is akin to "To Helen" by Edgar Allan Poe. However, while Helen's beauty is the central theme in Poe's work, for Jibanananda, Banalata Sen is merely a framework to hold his anxiety for apparently endless human existence on earth since primordial time. In the endless tumultuous continuum of ‘time’ Banalata Sen is a dot of quietitude and tranquility. Banalata Sen is a feminine emblem that Jibanananda created in his virtual world and faced on many occasions with wonder and questions as embodied in different poems. She has occurred with various names like "Shaymoli", "Sobita", "Suronjana", etc.

The Poem

The poem is self-narrated by an unnamed poet. Banalata Sen is a woman's name who the poem describes to be in the town of Natore. The poet describes seeing her after having wandered upon the earth over thousands of years. He proceeds by alluding to different mythologial and ancient persons, plcs and events. He describes having wandered from the Ceylonese ocean to the seas of Malaya, having travelled in Ancient India in the times of Emperor Bimbisara, and centuries later, in the times of Ashoka the Great. He describes having wandered in darkness in the ancient cities of Vidarbha and Vidisha, yet, for his tired soul, the only moment of peace in any age was with Banalata Sen of Natore.harvnb|Lago|Gupta|1965|p=638]

The Poem Banalata Sen is the most representative of the essence of Das's poetry and exemplifies his use of imagery.harvnb|Lago|Gupta|1965|p=639] The wary traveller is an interative motif of Das's poetry.Harvnb|George|1992|p=509] The poem itself uses four key images comprehensively, the darkness, flowing Water, passage of time, and a Woman. Das proggressively develops these same four images throughout the poem, metamorphosing these from remoteness to intimacy, dimness to distinction and from separation to union.

Banalata Sen is a recurrent theme in Jibanananda Das's work. Jibanananda's poetry, with his characteristic rich tapestry of imagery, repeatedly portrays the image of human fulfilment personified by a woman - Banalata Sen in this poem. There is no record or evidence to suggest a Banalata Sen actually existed in Das's life. [citeweb
author = Mundoli R
publisher =
url=http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/446.html
title=Banalata Sen
accessdate=2007-12-21] However, Jibanananda first used this name in "Karubasana", a largely autobiographical novel he wrote in 1932 which was never published during his life time. There Banalata, a young maiden, happens to be the neighbour of the hero. ["Karubasana", Jibanananda Das, 1986, Protikshan, Calcutta. Pages: 39, 40, 54 and 110. ] Banalata Sen also occurs Jibanananda's another poem, namely, "Playing for a thousand of years" of Jibanananada. "Banalata" is a women's name in Bengali Language that would have been fashionable in the Bengali middle class "Bhadralok" community of Das's parents' generation. The Surname "Sen" ordinarily denotes the vaidya caste to which Das's own family belonged before they became Brahmo. Natore itself is a small "Mofussil" town, now in Bangladesh, that developed during the Colonial era at a time that a number of other towns developed throughout Bengal, spurred by the Colonial economy and social changes. [citeweb| author = Chaudhuri A| publisher = The Hindu| url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/lr/2002/02/03/stories/2002020300070100.htm| title=In the Company of Ghosts. Book review
accessdate=2007-12-21] She is thus a contrmporary woman. However, Jibanananda described her in terms forgotten and classical locations, essentially portraying her as 'timeless'. Like Banalata Sen, other female names that occur in the poetry of Jibanananda Das are 'Suronjana', 'Sorojini', 'Sabita', 'Shefalika Bose', 'Sujata' and 'Amita Sen', among others. She is as much as a spirit as a woman. Populalry, she is an emblem of beauty. Famous Indian painters who have tried to capture Banalata Sen in their works include Ganesh Paine and Jogen Chaudhuri.

One can see that while Poe has ended by appreciating the beauty of a woman, Jibanananda Das has gone far deeper and on the landscape of a woman's beauty has painted the expanse of human existence both in terms of time and topography, drawing attention to the ephemeral existence of individuals. Unlike many others', Jibanananda's poetry is the result of filtered interaction between his emotions and intellect.

References

*Harvard reference
Surname1 = Lago
Given1 = Mary
Year = 1965
Title = Pattern in the Imagery of Jivanananda Das.The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Aug., 1965), pp. 637-644
URL =
Publisher = Association for Asian Studies.
ISSN = 00219118 .
*Harvard reference
Surname1 = George
Given1 = K.M
Year = 1992
Title = Modern Indian Literature: An Anthology
URL =
Publisher = Sahitya Akademi.
ISBN = 8172013248 .

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK7GL5NAdoY Recitation in Bengali]
* [http://bangladesh.wetpaint.com/page/Jibanananda+Das?t=anon Banalata Sen]

* [http://www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/bhattacharya/poetry.html Translation by Joudeep Bhattacharya]

* [http://www.kritya.in/0202/En/editors_choice.html Translation by Ron. D K Banergjee]
[http://www.cs.albany.edu/~amit/poems/banalata.html Translation by Amitabha Mukerjee]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgydV0vK1XM A video recitation]

* [http://www.newagebd.com/2006/oct/15/eidspecial06/essays01.html Comments on Banalata Sen]


* [http://www.geocities.com/poetjibananandadas/ A Bengali Web-site on poet Jibanananda Das]