Satinath Bhaduri (27 September 1906 – 30 March 1965) was 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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n novelist and politician. He was known by his literary pseudonym, Chitra Gupta.

Early life and career

He was born on 27 September 1906 in Purnia,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

, where Indubhusan Bhaduri, his father, practised law. His ancestral home was in

Krishnanagar Krishna Nagar or Krishnanagar may refer to: Places India * Krishna Nagar, Delhi ** Krishna Nagar metro station (Delhi) ** Krishna Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency) * Krishna Nagar, Hyderabad * Krishna Nagar, Lucknow ** Krishna Nagar metro s ...

in the district of

Nadia Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: ...

. He obtained an MA degree in economics from the

University of Patna Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern e ...

in 1930. In 1931 he completed his BL degree. He started practising law at Patna between 1932 and 1939. He then joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

and became a district secretary of

Purnia Purnia ()(also romanized as Purnea) is a city that serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia division in the Indian state of Bihar. Total geographical area of Purnia Urban Agglomeration is which is next ...

. He was imprisoned in Bhagalpur Jail twice: 1940–41 and 1942–45. In 1948, he fell out with the Congress and joined the Socialist Party.

His works

Satinath's first novel was ''

Jagari ''Jagari'' or ''Jagori'' (, English: "The Vigil" or "Awake") is a Bengali novel written by Satinath Bhaduri. The novel is considered to be a master-piece of Indian literature and it was first published in 1945. It is a semi-autobiographical novel ...

'' (1946), for which he received the very first

Rabindra Puraskar The Rabindra Puraskar (also Rabindra Smriti Puraskar) is the highest honorary literary award given in the Indian state of West Bengal. This award is named after the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and is administered by the Government of W ...

(1950). This book earned him considerable fame, and was translated into English in 1965 as part of the

UNESCO Collection of Representative Works The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. As a

political novel Political fiction employs narrative to comment on political events, systems and theories. Works of political fiction, such as political novels, often "directly criticize an existing society or present an alternative, even fanta ...

, Jagari occupies a unique place in Bengali literature. He also wrote a travelogue, ''Satyi Bhraman Kahini'' (1951), about his experiences in Paris. His other noteworthy works include ''Gananayak'' (1948), ''Chitragupter File'' (1949), ''Dhorai Charita Manas'' (2 parts, 1949, 1951), ''Achin Ragini'' (1954), ''Aparichita'' (1954), ''Sangkat'' (1957), ''Alok Drsti'' (1964), Paruyar Notebook (collection of writings) etc.

Critical appreciation

Partha Chatterjee in his celebrated work ''The Politics of the Governed'' analyses the narrative of Dhorai charita manas which according to Chatterjee could be read as 'a faithful ethnography of colonial governance and national movement in India'The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. Partha Chatterjee Columbia University Press, New York, 2004, 173pp

Themes

His short stories are satirical critique of judiciary, partisan politics, crude

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

etc. It is very difficult or almost impossible to analyze the parody-texts or these

black comedies Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

as critiques cannot make comments on self-avowed institutionalized organized funded science or anatomo-bio politics of lab-state science, survey techniques, statistics etc. The critical analysis of Bhaduri's discourse led to parody of parodies. A critique could cut a sorry figure to gauge the story-line with standardized as well as pre-supposed formalized tool. Bhaduri's stories are the instances of double session, where the existing civil and political society and the stereotypical literary critiques are at a time attacked with subtle wit. Bhaduri declared the death of model-theoretic formularized criticism. Most of his writings portray the lifestyle of the people of

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

east East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

ern

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

Death

He died on 30 March 1965.

References

* * Hindi reference books # फणीश्वरनाथ रेणु और सतीनाथ भादुड़ी के उपन्यासों का तुलनात्मक अध्ययन : डॉ ब्रजकिशोर झा, आनंद प्रकाशन, कोलकाता # ढोंढायचरित मानस, हिंदी अनुवाद : मधुकर गंगाधर, लोकभारती प्रकाशन, इलाहाबाद {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhaduri, Satinath Bengali-language writers Bengali novelists 1965 deaths 1906 births Recipients of the Rabindra Puraskar Writers from Patna 20th-century Indian novelists Novelists from Bihar