BY JAYANTA KUMAR DASGUPTA, M.A., PH. D (LONDON)

It was in 1871 that a distinguished writer observed in the Calcutta Review: ‘The Bengalis–the Italians of Asia, as the Spectator has called them–are now doing a great work by, so to speak, acclimatising European ideas and fitting them for reception hereafter by the hardier and more original races of Northern India.’ More than half a century has elapsed since these words were written and the Bengalis have amply fulfilled the expectations cherished by that writer. Under the influence of the West they have not merely built up an entirely new literature but also carried to other provinces the message of the West. In the last century the largest number of good writers in Bengali belonged to that class which had most been influenced by the West. Michael Madhusudan Datta, Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Romeshchandra Datta, Hemchandra Banerjee, Nabinchandra Sen looked up to the West for inspiration. As things then stood it was natural and in fact inevitable that they should be influenced by Western literature and thought, but their works do not lose in quality on this account.

Apart from the debt that individual Bengali writers owe to the West, there have been influences of various natures on the general development of Bengali literature. These influences have appeared in different ways. There has been similarity of characters. There has been indebtedness for themes. There has been suggestion or hint towards characterisation. Some writers have borrowed not only thoughts and method of expression but even the language. Similarity of ideas in the poems of Tagore and D. L. Roy led the poet Satyendranath Datta to launch a severe tirade against Dwijendralal. But the answer to the charge of plagiarism was furnished in a way by Satyendranath himself in the words of Shelley: ‘It is impossible that any one who inhabits the same age with such writers as those who stand in the foremost ranks of our own., can conscientiously assure himself that his language and tone of thought may not have been modified by the study of the production of those extraordinary intellects.’ Literary influence does not end with mere similarity of situations, language, and imagery. It furnishes new types of literary work. It opens up new lines of thought and brings in new currents and tendencies in literature. It replaces older conceptions by entirely new ideas and gives a new orientation to conventional modes of thinking. Aspects of literature hitherto neglected or ignored receive a new light after contact with newer influences.

One of the greatest boons that the West has conferred on India is the printing press, due to which there has been such a rapid expansion of literature. Towards the propagation of literature there is no greater impetus than the Press. It makes it possible even for the man of moderate means to be in touch with all that the best thinkers of the world think. Literature today has not to be handed down from one generation to another in manuscripts laboriously written on bark or palm-leaf, or on paper which cannot stand the ravages of time. It is no longer a matter of memory and improvisation. People do not depend upon memory or hearsay for the authenticity of what others say and think. Literary treasures which had been scattered at different places or buried in moth-eaten manuscripts have been recovered and printed by enterprising individuals or learned bodies. The Eastern Bengal Ballads, poems about Gopichandra and Maynamati, songs of the Vaishnava poets and Sakta writers, would have been irretrievably lost but for the enthusiasm and patient labour of a few devoted students of literature.

A distinctively literary class today occupies in Bengal a prominent position in national life and commands admiration and respect. This literary class comprises within itself various smaller groups and sections with definite literary creeds and ideals. Though they approach literature from different angles of vision, they certainly have no quarrel as to the ultimate goal of literature and its chief function. If literature instead of belonging to the masses has become the concern of the intelligentsia, if instead of being in touch with the classes which do not fall within the category of the intellectuals it has become largely a matter for the educated people, if instead of reflecting the feelings and sentiments of people of humble extraction it speaks for members of the advanced communities, it has, on the other hand, gained in tone, general outlook, ideas and manner of expression, though losing something of its homeliness and native simplicity.

With more Western influence on our life, women are taking a keener interest in literature and a greater share in literary work. Not that we did not have learned women before the period of Western influence, but with the progress of education more women are coming to the forefront in life and taking greater burdens and responsibilities upon themselves. Women poets, novelists, and story-writers are making their mark in literature, and in their writings their own ideas about men, society, and life in general are finding adequate expression. Side by side with what men write there is also the feminine standpoint. To some extent a clash between the two sexes has been showing itself in Bengali literature, and already there are exponents of the militant mood who would not brook any more the masculine domination. But this spirit of revolt is still in a nascent stage.

With the development of literary creeds and ideals the critical spirit has grown up. Criticism, as a rule, was rare in older Bengali literature. The few works that existed, were based upon Sanskrit texts on poetics. Against the rigidities of Sanskritic codes Madhusudan Datta revolted and he used rather disparaging language about writers like the author of the Sahitya Darpana. The rigours placed upon dramatic construction chafed Datta and he wrote dramas basing them on the critical canons of the West. It cannot be said that the genuine critical spirit is always to be met with among Bengali critics. Still whatever critical spirit is in evidence in our literature is the outcome mainly of Western influence. Modern criticism does not mean the annotation of texts, or the bringing out of hidden meanings which the writers themselves perhaps never intended, nor is it concerned primarily with rules of grammar, rhetoric, or prosody. It is the function of criticism to appreciate all that is good, beautiful and true in literature. It sets values upon eternal verities amidst temporary fluctuations of taste and opinion. Modern criticism devotes itself more to the inner aspect of literature than to its mere outward form.

With the growth of the spirit of criticism men have come to realise that the world does not consist of themselves alone, nor does man live by himself alone. The external world around man arouses feelings in the human heart. Feeling for Nature was almost entirely absent in older Bengali literature. Nature, whenever it was described, was described in a formal and stereotyped way. The outer world made little appeal in literature, so much engrossed it was with the inner aspect of life. The soul was so much steeped in the problems concerning itself that it had no time to think of the outer world. Even if a few imageries were borrowed in poetry from the world of Nature, they were of a rather commonplace type. Bengali poets were fond of speaking about the Kadamba tree, the river Jamuna, the groves on the banks of that river, but beyond these little was mentioned. It was not blindness to the beauties of Nature, but it was failure to understand that Nature had any life. Nature was not understood in the sense in which Shelley or Wordsworth understood it or Tagore understands it. Its ‘transcendental’ meaning was totally unknown in Bengali literature before the nineteenth century. Today Nature is not merely described. Its beauties are idealised. It appeals to men and women in their joys and sorrows. It responds to their feelings. Its harmonies and dissonances echo the varying moods of humanity.

Likewise the feeling for Man has undergone a change. No doubt in all Indian literature the sanctity of human life has always been upheld. Yet it so happened that birth in a particular caste or community gave a person superiority over another. Such distinctions did much to widen the gulf between man and man, so much so that millions of human beings are still regarded as untouchables for no fault of their own. For a time Vaishnavism cemented differences of birth. But again things became as they were before. That men belong to one vast fraternity, that there is no fundamental difference between men of different races, that the stamp of rank does not give a person precedence over others–these ideas are partially the effects of Western culture. Of course, in ancient India, mere wealth did not give a person a high place in society. The emperor in purple bowed before the ascetic in loin-cloth. Plain living and high thinking characterised older Indian life. The greatest minds lived far away from the busy haunts of men or the hum of cities. Modern industrial life has placed money-value upon man, though equality and fraternity are preached by political thinkers. Herein lies the paradox of modern life.

The sentiment of patriotism and nationalism in Bengali literature is one of the effects of Western influence. Except on rare occasions, in older Bengali writers there is not the slightest trace of the feeling of nationalism or love for one’s own country. It is in the literature of the British period that these sentiments are being expressed strongly. One reason of the silence of older Bengali writers on questions of patriotism seems to lie in the fact that, in the period previous to that of Western influence, the people of Bengal did not regard their rulers as aliens. Therefore they were untouched by anything akin to nationalism or patriotism. Political consciousness has grown up with the march of time. Politics as enunciated in theoretical works and politics as practised by men of affairs in real life, may be two different things. But in the domain of literature the ideas and aspirations that take shape in the brain of the poet and dramatist are embodied in marvelous works conveying to all ages a message. The Prometheus Unbound of shelley may be cumbrous as a stage performance but the feelings that it evokes are irrepressible. The golden days dreamt of by the poet have yet to come, but that the poem has added to human hopes is beyond dispute. In practical political matters dreamers and visionaries have little place. But men of letters are after all human beings. Their ideas, feelings and sentiments cannot be anything other than human. Literature as an expression of life must, therefore, include that which poets and men of letters think about life and death, nature and man, government and the people. In the march towards political progress literature is playing a valuable part and thus its share in constructive work is by no means insignificant.

Western influence has widened the subject-matter of modern Bengali literature. In the past Bengali literature was concerned mostly with some religious cults which advocated the worship of particular deities. The main theme of literary works was the worship of a god or goddess, and interwoven with it was the story of devotees receiving boons and favours. In Kavi Kankan’s Chandi, Srimanta’s fortunes rise and fall as the favours of the goddess increase or decrease. In the Manasamangal all misfortunes of the merchant Chand disappear when he begins the worship of the goddess Manasa. In Bharatchandra’s Annadamangal the goddess has her own favourites and the whole poem has a religious background. The religious element plays a more important part in these poems than the human interest, and the human characters are wholly subordinated to the divine beings. Their lives and actions are regulated by divine wrath and pleasure. In such an atmosphere, naturally, character creation because a subsidiary affair. No varied treatment of character was possible and nothing very original could be depicted. In many poems the characters were similarly drawn. Imitativeness introduced monotony and most writers were content to restrict themselves to what their predecessors had done and to get the materials from some common source. Boldness of conception, originality in outlook, novelty in characterisation, skilful handling of complex situations were rate literary qualities among older writers. The standard of taste of the public was not always high and a poor standard often produced mediocre literature. The vastness of the subject-matter of literature has introduced exuberance of fancy, complexity of emotions, and heightened imaginativeness. Technique has become simplified. The highest thoughts are clothed in lucid language. There is no over-ornamentation. Variety has replaced uniformity. The personality of the writer for which there was so little place in older Bengali literature, finds today an adequate expression. The note of subjectivity which is a marked feature of the literature of the West has led to the replacement of the classic strains of older Indian literature by personal lyrics in modern Bengali.

Notable among the various types of literary composition introduced under the influence of the West are the novel, the short story as distinguished from the fairy or folk-tale, the sonnet, the ode, the elegy, the parody, the satire, the essay, etc. But most important of all has been the foundation of a prose literature. The Bengali prose that existed before the period of Western influence, was a conglomeration of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu words and it had no proper style worth the name. The making of Bengali prose has mainly been the work of writers nurtured in the school of Western thought. Indeed it is sometimes complained of that much of modern Bengali prose reads like translation of English. ‘English-smacking Bengali’ is often a term of reproach. Towards the simplicity of style and raising it to purity, sweetness, suggestiveness, force, and precision, and purging it of obscurity, heaviness and all unnecessary rhetorical flourishes, Western influence has done much.

There is a spirit of progress and advancement. Writers in previous ages did not have the courage to rise above certain conventions and certain hackneyed situations. It would have been unseemly, had a writer of the Vaishnava period thought of Radha in the same light as Bankimchandra could think of his heroines, because Radha was the symbol of something divine. An eighteenth-century Bengali writer could not have the faintest idea that there could be women as we find in the novels of Rabindranath or Saratchandra. A love intrigue like the Vidyasundar story in the hands of Bharatchandra could not rise above the vulgar description of a court-scandal. Many of our modern heroines would be shameless hussies according to the literary tenets of the past. Vaishnava writers could not think of love as anything more than the yearning of the human soul for the divine. But love as the affection of one human soul for another, love as the call of one spirit to another kindred spirit, love as the means of uniting human hearts were ideas somewhat foreign to older Bengali writers. The Sakta conception of love as found in the songs of men like Ramprasad was love as maternal solicitude for her children. The treatment of human love is to some extent noticed in the songs of Sridhar Kathak, Ram Basu, and Nidhu Babu. But beyond certain aspects of love such as ‘separation’ (viraha) and ‘union’ (milan) the imagination of these poets did not soar. There is no place in their love-poems for those complex emotions which characterise the love-poems of Tagore.

Critics of the most advanced school in the last century were of opinion that Bengali literature has been partially denationalized in the course of its contact with the West. That such a situation should arise was inevitable. A discrimination was not always possible. Under the pressure of circumstances limits are sometimes forgotten; there is an encroachment on forbidden ground, and the sense of balance is lost. The westernisation of Bengali literature could not be avoided during times when influences were so strongly working and impressions were so vivid. To rise above the tide of Westernism was well nigh an impossibility. Occidentalism in thought led to an occidentalism in literature. With the marvelous spirit of adaptability that is a characteristic gift of the people of Bengal, they have assimilated Western influence in a manner which has led to the steady development of Bengali literature.

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