Kadambari Book Pdf

[Brayan Sedillo]

Kādambariis a romantic novel in Sanskrit. It was substantially composed by Bāṇabhaṭṭa in the first half of the 7th century CE, who did not survive to see it through completion. The novel was completed by Banabhatta's son Bhushanabhatta, according to the plan laid out by his late father. It is conventionally divided into Purvabhaga (earlier part) written by Banabhatta, and Uttarabhaga (latter part) by Bhushanabhatta. (An alternate tradition gives the son's name as Pulindabhatta.)[1]

The standard editions of the original Sanskrit text are by Peterson[2] and Kane.[3] There are translations into English by Kale,[4] Layne[1] and Ridding;[5] and an abridgement into Gujarati by Bhalan (edited by Keshavlal Dhruv).

This novel has an extremely intricate plot which is difficult to summarize concisely. Its central thread is that of a romantic attachment (and eventual union) between the hero Chandrapeeda and the heroine Kadambari. However, there are several competing subplots; indeed, the heroine does not make her appearance until past the midpoint. Many of the characters appear in multiple incarnations, some as humans and some as demigods or animals. The narration proceeds in a succession of nested frames; a large part of it is a retelling by a parrot of a story which was told to it by a sage. The latter story also contains several instances of one character relating a sub-story to another character.

The plot has probably been adapted from the story of King Sumanas from Gunadhya's Brihatkatha (a conjectural collection of stories in the extinct Paishachi language). This story also appears in Somadeva's Kathasaritsagara (which is believed to be a Sanskrit precis of Gunadhya's work). [4]

This work can be plausibly claimed to be one of the first novels in the world; making due allowance for the ambiguities of such a classification. In fact, two modern Indian languages (Kannada and Marathi) use 'kadambari' as a generic term for a romance or a novel.

Apart from the Kadambari, Banabhatta is also the author of Harshacharita, a biography of his patron king Harshavardhana. It is this circumstance which allows one to date the author with a reasonable degree of certainty.

(The paragraphs have been numbered for ease of reference. The original text is continuous, and has no chapter divisions. The Purvabhaga (first part) ends abruptly inside Paragraph 16, at a point when Kadambari is speaking about her love-sickness to Patralekha, as narrated by the latter to Chandrapeeda.)

Great post.

I read somewhere that Jyotindranath was either gay or not interested in conjugal relations with his wife. Maybe, since brides were so much younger that grooms back then, he never saw her in that light. Apparently, he was liberal in his attitude to her- teaching her horse riding and so on.

Perhaps, for this reason the gossips turned against her and started poisoning her mind.

Since the husband would have been in company with actors and musicians a lot of the time, small minded people would have alleged he was having affairs with all and sundry.

Very tragic story.

Incidentally, I read that Meena Kumari, the great actress was also from the Pir Ali Tagore family-

' One tradition connects her to the Tagore family. Meena Kumari's grandmother, Hem Sundari Thakur (Tagore) was married into the Tagore family but after her husband, Rev Bill's death, she was compelled to give up the use of the family name by the powerful Tagore clan. Her daughter, Prabhawati Devi was a stage actress and dancer with the stage name Kamini before meeting Ali Bux. After their marriage, Prabhawati converted to Islam and changed her name to Iqbal Begum.'

It seems, life for the women in the grand zamindar havelis had its dark side- like in Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam.

thanks windwheel..

one thing is clear, the thakurs were strong willed and even though the tagore women were firsts in many things, some things were not meant for home consumption...

Strange that kadambari is still an enigma...

thanks HK..

i understood the situation very well and i understood the consequences too after having watched other instances.. so the way the matters unravelled is not surprising in any way i.e.if the border had been crossed by these two young people..but then who knows??

Excellent post, Maddy!

I have seen "Charulatha" when I was young and I was totally moved by the story and the way it was pitcurized by master craftsman, Mr. Ray. I never knew it was based on a true personal story of Tagore. Your post brings out the depth and the unique nature of the love between the two souls and the torment they go through for not being able to take it to the level they might have wished for.

I enjoy all your posts and I sincerely thank you for all the hard work that you putforth to bring out these gems!

Best wishes,

Chandrakumar

Enjoyed reading this. Very sensitive protrayal of a delicate relationship. Incidentally, the aside about Tagore hating the opium trade and sympathising with the Chinese is quite revealing. His patronage of Chinese culture and language in Shantiniketan may have had a lot to do with his reaction to the family trading in opium!

Thanks CHF..

Yes, his family fortune was created from that trade, and he wrote against the practice. I think a lot of Bengalis at that time (if you recall orwell's father was one of the persons involved with administering the opium cultivation) hated the practiuce and also believed the soil was spoiled by the growing of these weeds.

Very captivating read. Your posts are engrossing and introspective.

I have successfully managed to read the posts without being judgemental about the characters involved.

In today's writing world the reader is cornered to bring out specific emotions and label the characters good or bad.

There is always an unknown aspect to every story told. None other than the characters involved will ever know the truth. Your posts let us dwell on that note, leaving us pondering over life as such.

Its a long time since I enjoyed reading. Thanks.

Regret I am discovering them today.

thanks kadambari..

nice to hear that you enjoyed the post, this one is a personal favorite of mine.

please do try and cover some of the others, it is not always that I get a discerning reader spending time on the reams (or should i say millions of 0's and 1's of digital code) I have posted over the years

I am glad that there is enigma around. Most of my friends go to an extent of typing Rabindranath+Kadambai on Google, or the filthy mocking. I feel pity for them but let the essence of this relationship remain esoteric.

I found your article while searching books that Rabi Thakur dedicated to his Notun-bouthan... I really feel something very differnt whenever I go thorugh any articles relating this mysterious relation... Her death was a big blow in Robi's life... You are right.. Seriously it takes a very developed mind to understand their relationship and the actual reasons of such a painful destiny of Kadambari.. The more curious thing is why Thakurbari is always silent about her death?? there are left no notes.. no letters.. no signs of her.. After reading a lot blogs n book regarding this relation now I think that was there really no suicide note?? Was it really a suicide of a extremely lonely and depressed women?? I know there are no answers for these.. I am ever sad for this mysterious Lady..

Hi....Today I went to Jorasanko to find Kadambari and her belongings but find nothing so...not even the room where she died nor the Nandankanan,,the garden built by both Tagore and Kadambari...Even I was looking for the Suicide Note written by Kadambari where we find the Pathitic Life of her.....Did you have any Idea why it is still hidden ????

I appreciate your research on Kadambarii...Keep Up....!!!!

Thanks Maddy for writing an unbiased post on this lady.

Unlike what is generally presumed, Robindranath's wedding was not the reason that drove Kadambori to end her life. It was perhaps one among many...Robi's wedding, she assumed, and correctly so, would shift his attention towards his new bride (that was the intention when he was married off in such a hurry)...apparently he had written somewhere "Step aside old one...it is time for new to step in" (roughly translated)...something Kadambori perhaps could not accept. After all, Robi was her oldest companion and perhaps the only one in the household who did not pass a judgement about her being infertile and therefore unable to hold her husband back to her.

Now coming over the husband...Jyotirindranath Tagore, a very talented writer and musician shared almost a similar relationship (like the one between Robindranath and Kadambori) with his sister-in-law Jnyanadanandini Devi, the wife of Satyendranath Tagore. Why nobody ever questioned it perhaps was because she was a mother to two children, and perhaps one more who died in infancy and one more who died in the womb...implying however she controlled Jyoti, she also got the attention of her husband and being the polished, educated, practical, and intelligent lady never really moved away from her husband. Something Kadambori did, and perhaps circumstantially...with Jyoti being busy with either theatre, theatre actresses, or his own "Bouthan"...who kept him busy and away from Kadambori strategically. The final nail in the coffin was hit when he failed to turn up to pick up Kadambori for the launch function of his new steamer. A well decked Kadambori sat waiting and incidentally discovered letter written to Jyoti by one of the theatre actresses, stating she was carrying Jyoti's child in her womb (the truth of this is however not confirmed)...having lost the child she held dear (her sister-in-law Swarnakumari's daughter, Urmila) in a freak accident, caused very minimally by her own momentary lapse, Kadambori, already issue-less was chided tremendously by all the women in the family.

It was perhaps all of these together that drove her to the extent of desperation where she did not want to live any more. Or maybe she wanted to prove a point in her death. She was ignored in her life, but her death shook the entire family who went out of their way to hush up the entire incident. Kadambori, hushed out of family and public memory, however, remained and haunted the family forever...

What an enigma!

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