''Chander Pahar'' () 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 ...

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

written by

Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay () (12 September 1894 – 1 November 1950) was an Indian writer in the Bengali language. His best known works are the autobiographical novel, '' Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road''), ''Aparajito (Undefeat ...

and published in 1937. The novel follows the adventures of a young

man in the forests of Africa. The novel is one of the most-loved adventure novels in the Bengali literature and is one of Bibhutibhushan's most popular works. It spawned a media franchise.

Plot summary

This novel tells the story of an ordinary young Bengali man,

Shankar Ray Choudhuri Shankar Ray Choudhuri is a fictional character and the hero of the novel of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, ''Chander Pahar'', a young Bengali man from a village in undivided Bengal, India. He is a smart, brave person who has a penchant for adven ...

, as he adventures in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

in the years 1909 and 1910. After graduating from college at 20-years-old, his family's financial struggles almost force him take a job in a

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is '' Corchorus ol ...

mill in Shyamnagar — a prospect he absolutely loathes. Shankar loves the subject of geography, he wants to follow the footsteps of renowned explorers like Livingstone, Mungo Park, and

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

. He wants to explore the wilderness, passionate for learning about African forests and animals. By a stroke of luck, he gets a job as a clerk at the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the li ...

and rushes to Africa without a second thought. After a few months laying rail tracks, he encounters the first of many dangers in pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Africa: a man-eating lion. Later, he takes up a job as station-master in a desolate station amidst the

Veldt Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswa ...

s, where he narrowly escapes a deadly black mamba. While at this post, Shankar encounters, rescues and nurses Diego Alvarez, a middle-age Portuguese explorer and gold/diamond prospector. Alvarez's arrival becomes a turning point in Shankar's life. While recovering, Alvarez describes his exploits in Africa with his friend Jim Carter. He explains that, lured by the prospect of a priceless yellow diamond from a Kaafi village chief, Alvarez and Carter searched for these yellow diamond caves, on the Mountain of the Moon (Chander Pahar) in the Richtersveld. Rumors suggested a mythical monster, the

Bunyip The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia ...

, guards the mine. The explorers set off into the dense jungle, much against the villagers' advice, and Carter was gruesomely killed, supposedly by the Bunyip. Shankar, inspired by Alvarez's exploits, resigns from his job and accompanies Alvarez to venture again for the mines. They meet hardships, like a racist gambler, legends about Dingonek the monster and later, a raging

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

. Eventually, they get lost in the forests where Alvarez is killed by the

. Demoralised, Shankar tries to return to civilization. He finds the Bunyip's cave and the diamond mines by accident. Almost getting lost, he finds the remains of the Italian explorer, Attilio Gatti, and learns that the cave is in fact the diamond mine. Leaving, he becomes lost in the deserts of

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coasta ...

and nearly dies of thirst. Fortunately, he is rescued by a survey team and taken to a hospital in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, Rhodesia, from where he sets sail for home. Before going back, he writes his account in a newspaper, earning him money. He names the volcano after Alvarez. He ends the book saying that he will return to the cave one day with a large team, and continue the legacy of Alvarez, Carter, and Gatti.

Characters

— The main protagonist, a young man from a village in Bengal. He is a smart, brave person who has a penchant for adventures. * Diego Alvarez — A Portuguese explorer. He is a friend and mentor to Shankar, and together they explore the deepest reaches of Richtersveld for the Mountain of the Moon. *Jim Carter — A British explorer who was Alvarez's companion in his previous expedition. Alvarez revealed to Shankar that Carter was killed by the

while he and Carter were exploring the Mountains of the Moon. *Attilio Gatti — An Italian explorer. He discovered the diamond mine caves in ''c.'' 1879 but dies in a cave (later discovered by Shankar) on his way back, at the hands of his traitorous followers. *Prasad Das Bandyopadhyay *Tirumal Appa *Shankar's mother *Shankar's father

In other media

Films

* A film based on the novel, named '' Chander Pahar'' directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee was released on 20 December 2013 (27 December 2013 in all over India). The film, joyfully received by critics and the Bengali audience, was produced by

Shree Venkatesh Films SVF Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian media and entertainment company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, founded by Shrikant Mohta. Apart from producing and distributing Bengali films, SVF also distributes Bollywood and Hollywood films ...

and has been shot on locations across Africa. It was reportedly being made with a budget of nearly , making it one of the most expensive in the Bengali film industry. Director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee mentioned ''Chander Pahar'' as his "Dream Project". The film has reportedly incorporated CGI and visual effects at par with Hollywood and Bollywood standards. Dev plays the role of the main protagonist, Shankar. Most of the other cast members are from South Africa. According to the crew members, it took a considerable time to decide who would play the role of Diego Alvarez, and South African actor Gérard Rudolf was selected. The first theatrical trailer of the film was released by

, at the Kolkata Nicco Park on 14 November 2013. Shooting locations include Kruger National Park, the mountains of

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...

, and the deserts of

. * A sequel film '' Amazon Obhijaan'' also directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee and starring Dev, was released in 2017. The film is based on the characters of ''Chander Pahar'' created by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay.

Graphic novels

* ''Moon Mountain'' is a 2014

Graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

adapted from

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay () (12 September 1894 – 1 November 1950) was an Indian writer in the Bengali language. His best known works are the autobiographical novel, ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road''), ''Aparajito (Undefeate ...

's classic ''Chander Pahar''. The graphic novel is published by

Penguin Books India Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Saurav Mohapatra with illustrations by Sayan Mukherjee *Another graphic novel named ''Amazon Obhijaan'' released as a promotional activity of the film of same name, written by film director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee.

Legacy

Inspired by Shankar's character in ''Chander Pahar''

adventurer Anindya Mukhopadhyay took an expedition to explore the "Chander Pahar" or "Mountain of the Moon" in

, which inspired

to write the novel, and he finds the real " Mountain of the Moon" is

Rwenzori Mountains The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range ...

. Anindya Mukhopadhyay travelled the mountain and have written a book called ''Abar Chander Pahar'', where he explained about his journey to Rwenzori Mountains.

Sequels by other writers

*Writer Partha De has written two of the novels featuring Shankar as the protagonist. Name of those novels are - ''Chander Upatyaka'' and ''Rajhangsir Sarobar''. In both novel another character Prasad Das Bandyopadhyay from the original novel also featured along with Shankar Roy Chowdhury. Later in 2017, two of the novels were published in a collection book named ''Chander Upatyaka'' by Prativas Prakashan. **''Chander Upatyaka'' - Prasad Das Bandyopadhyay is now at

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and doing

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...

business. Where Shankar was called by him to take a part in that business. Soon Shankar finds that he has been called here for a different reason. He learns, the treasure of last

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

king Atahualpa was hidden somewhere in

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

. He tries to explore the place. **''Rajhangsir Sarobar'' - Prasad Das Bandyopadhyay is now at

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n jail. A mysterious lady invites Shankar to Russia to hel Prasad Das. After arriving Russia Shankar gets involved into a conspiracy, which might led to a worldwide devastation.

References

External links

English TranslationHindi Translation
{{Authority control 1937 novels Adventure novels Indian children's novels 20th-century Indian novels Novels set in Africa Fiction set in 1909 Fiction set in 1910 Indian Bengali-language novels Novels by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Indian novels adapted into films