''Nastanirh'' (also ''Nashtanir''; Bengali: নষ্টনীড়, ''Nôshţoniŗh''; English: 'The Broken Nest') is a

1901 Events January * January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Minist ...

Bengali novella 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 ...

. It is the basis for the noted 1964 film ''

Charulata ''Charulata'' (Spelt as ''Cārulatā''; ) is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel ''Nastanirh'' by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The f ...

'', by Satyajit Ray.

Background

According to Mary Lago in the introduction to the English translation of ''Nashtanir'' (translated by Lago and Supriya Sen), the novella was released three times: in 1901 in serial format, in 1909 as part of a special short story collection, and in 1926 as part of Tagore's standard collection of fiction (p. 9). Scholarship indicates that this story might have been based upon the relationship between Tagore's elder brother Jyotirindranath; his brother's wife,

Kadambari Devi Kadambari Devi (5 July 1859 – 21 April 1884) was the wife of Jyotirindranath Tagore and daughter-in-law of Debendranath Tagore. She was ten years younger than her husband, whom she married on 5 July 1868 (২৫শে আষাঢ়, ১২� ...

(who committed suicide shortly after Tagore's marriage); and Tagore (who spent a great deal of time with Kadambari, reading and writing poetry).Ketaki Kushari Dyson, trans., Rabindranath Tagore, ''I Won't Let You Go: Selected Poems'' (London: Penguin, 2011), 68.

Plot summary

''Nastanirh'' takes place in late 19th-century

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

and explores the lives of the " Bhadralok",

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of ...

of wealth who were part of the Bengal Renaissance and highly influenced by the

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...

. Despite his liberal ideas, Bhupati is blind to the loneliness and dissatisfaction of his wife, Charu. It is only with the appearance of his cousin, Amal, who incites passionate feelings in Charu, that Bhupati realizes what he has lost.

Film adaptations

'' () is a 1964 film by

i director Satyajit Ray, featuring Soumitra Chatterjee,

Madhabi Mukherjee Madhabi Chakraborty (''née'' Mukherjee; born 10 February 1942) is an Indian actress. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Bengali film ''Dibratrir Kabya''. She has acted in some of the most critically ac ...

, and Sailen Mukherjee, and is based upon ''Nastanirh''. Another adaptation is '' Charuulata 2011'' by director Agnidev Chatterjee.

English translation

*Tagore, Rabindranath. ''Broken Nest (Nashtanir)''. Mary M. Lago and Supriya Sen (translators). New Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd, 2000

References

External links