"Bhikharini" (English: The Beggar Woman) is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

short story written by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. The story was first published in 1877 in ''Bharati'' and was the first short story written in Bengali language. This was also Tagore's own first short story, and he was 16 years old at the time of its publication.

Plot

The story is set in a village in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

. Amar Singh and Kamal Devi are the main protagonists of the story. They grew up together and were good friends. Kamal's father was a renowned person in the village and Amar's father Ajit Singh was a commander (

Senapati Senapati (Sanskrit: सेनापति; ''sena-'' meaning "army", ''-pati'' meaning "lord") is a title in ancient India denoting the rank of military commander or general of the army. It was a hereditary title of nobility used in the Marath ...

) in the king's army. Their families arranged Amar and Kamal's marriage. After the death of Kamal's father, their family's financial condition became poor.

References

External links

Bhikharini
at NLTR {{Rabindranath Tagore} 1877 short stories Works by Rabindranath Tagore