Gandharvi

Music, Friendship and Love

The English translation of Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novelist Bani Basu’s 1993 novel Gandharbi  has been released. The translation by Jayita Sengupta is titled Gandharvi, and has a preface by musicologist and music critic, Meena Banerjee.

For those who have not been following contemporary Bengali literature, it is a good way to catch up.  Gandharvi (and there is an explanation of the term in the preface) is about a young woman, Apala, who belongs to an old-fashioned, middle-class family, that does not understand or value her passion for classical music.  Her mother is widowed and under the thumb of her autocratic elder brother-in-law.  Apala’s brother is getting set to become a doctor and go abroad—away from the oppressive atmosphere at home.  Apala learns from a kindly tutor,  Rameshwar Thakur, who wants the best for her, but even he cannot break walls of tradition that surround her.

The book begins with Apala rushing off home after participating in a very important music competition, in which she excels, but comes second. The gathering of music scholars and connoisseurs recognises in her a rare talent, and she is offered a prestigious scholarship to study with a great musician.  

Her uncle, however, frowns at the idea of her going to Lucknow and learning from a “tawaif”, and forces her to get married. Her husband-to-be heard her singing at the concert and decided to marry her.  Apala is not a beauty, nor is she outgoing and charming; so even though she would rather devote her life to music, she is not given the option.

Apala is meek by temperament, but when, just before her wedding, her friend Soham, also a singer and pupil of Rameshwar , has a nervous breakdown, she helps in his treatment by going over and singing for  him till he recovers. In a fit of jealous rage, Soham had attacked his guru’s daughter, Mitul, and injured her.  It is only Apala’s care that helps Soham recover fully.

In her marital family, she is given a kind of limited independence, that allows her to sing on radio and Doordarshan, but she is also expected to be a model housewife. She gives birth to three children and loses her edge, while Soham and Mitul go on to achieve fame and fortune singing popular songs.

For the protagonist of a novel, Apala is rather bloodless—she submits to whatever fate throws at her, whether it is a forced marriage, marital rape, her mother-in-law’s interference in the upbringing of her children, or even the hostility of her kinds towards her pursuit of music. The more complex character seems to be her husband Shibnath, who is caring and supportive on the one hand, and an unrecognisable monster on the other.  Apala’s friend Dipali and her doctor husband Bidyut are quite superfluous to the narrative, so is Mitul’s dance partner Shekharan. 

What Basu has done is captured the world of classical and popular music, even a bit of cinema and dance. The translation keeps to the usage of Indian English, but could have done with some more careful editing, for example terms like “business magnet” could have been corrected; some terms like horsetail instead of the more popular pony tail, are jarring.  But the Bengali milieu and the period come across well; there is also a helpful glossary of musical terms at the end. Classical music lovers would undoubtedly appreciate the book.

Gandharvi

By Bani Basu

Translated by Jayita Sengupta

Pages: 288