The Novelist Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Raja Debroy

We generally know Bibhutibhushan as the author of Pather Panchali. But it would be wrong to call him only a novelist. He was a philosopher who left behind the deepest questions of life under the veil of stories. So on his birthday, it is important to discuss not his biography, but his philosophy.

In Bengali literature, nature was earlier just a backdrop. In Rabindranath, nature is beauty; in Saratchandra, nature is the scenery of the village. But for Bibhutibhushan, nature itself is a main character, even God.

For Apu, seeing a train, for Durga, seeing kash flowers- these are not just events. He wanted to show how small man is before nature. In the novel Aranyak, sitting in the forest of Lobtulia, he writes- man is arrogant in the city, but in the forest he becomes calm. This is his philosophy- the forest makes man humble. Today, when the environment is being destroyed, Bibhutibhushan is most relevant. He said 100 years ago- nature is not to be conquered, one has to merge with nature.

Other writers have shown poverty as weeping. Bibhutibhushan has shown poverty as beauty. In Apu\'s family there is no rice, but there is moonlight. In Sarbajaya\'s house there is no grain, but there is the wind of the kash forest. His theory is- want does not make a man small, greed makes a man small. Apu is poor, but his imagination is bigger than a king\'s. He sees a train, he thinks he will go to America. Poverty could not kill his imagination. This is Bibhutibhushan\'s analysis- the real wealth of the Bangalee middle class is not money, but its power of imagination.

Bibhutibhushan\'s greatest philosophy is the Path. The word path is associated with almost all his writings- Pather Panchali, Pather Devata, Path Chola. His explanation is- there is no destination in human life, life itself is a path. Apu goes from one village to another, from one city to another, but never stops anywhere. Because to stop is death. As long as man is on the path, he is alive. That is why he called movement the greatest religion.

There is no sensation in Bibhutibhushans literature, no fight between hero and villain. He does not write events, he writes feelings. A train passing by, a kash flower swaying, the death of a child- with these feelings he has created epics. His literary theory was- a great story does not need a great event, it needs a great vision. He did not make Durga\'s death a melodrama, he showed- a kash flower has fallen, a season in Apu\'s life has ended.

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (Bannerjee) is called popular, but he is actually the loneliest writer. He is not a writer of crowds, he is a writer of lonely people. For those who have walked alone in life, who have seen a distant train through a window, who have sat for no reason in a kash field- he has written for them. So remembering him on his birthday does not mean only reading books, it means looking once at the path of one\\\'s own life- how much have I walked and how much have I remained still.

About The Writer: Raja Debroy was born on May 18th in Agartala, the capital of Tripura.  Raja Debroy is a renowned  writer and philosopher who writes in various genres, including essays, articles, free verse, satire, dialogue, drama, short stories, poetry, science and detective fiction.  He has published several books. Some of them are as follows: 

1)150 Years of Umakanta Academy (essay)

2) Chhandapatan (rhymes)

3) Char Line Hoye Jak (poetry)

4) Electoral Reforms (e-book)

5)Thoughtful Poems (English poetry)

6) Kalpana Ki Duniya (Hindi short stories)