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Apurba Jahangir The Daily Star On Banalata Sen
Apurba Jahangir The Daily Star On Banalata Sen
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TRIBUTE
Apurba Jahangir
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Jibanananda's Banalata Sen can be considered to be one of the most eternal poems of Bangla
literature— as the character herself can be ordained with fictional personalities such as Lucy, Maria
or Helen. She portrays hope—a ray of light among darkness, a speck of merriment in the pool of
bareness. By creating Banalata Sen, Jibanananda gave us our own element of love that resides in the
romanticism of the ages.
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The poem starts with the verse Hajar Bochor Ami Poth Hatitechi Prithibir Pothe. Jibanananda himself
caters as the narrator, describing him as a lone traveler who is travelling through time and various
cities for thousand years. Despite roaming through Sinhala (Srilanka) or the sea of Malay (Indian
Ocean) and emerging through the dark ages of Bimbisara and Ashoka, the traveler is yet to find
peace. As this tired soul embarks upon Natore— the cultural and heritage hub of ancient Bengal, he
finds what he was craving for all this time and writes Amay Dudonto Shanti Diyechilo, natorer
Banalata Sen.
The poem continues; Chul Tar Kobekar Ondhokar Bidishar Disha, Mukh Tar Srabostir Karukarjo—
describing the beauty of Banalata Sen. For over decades, these two verses have been the most
subsequent of words to portray the perfect Bangali women. Jibanananda compares Banalata to the
engravings of Swaraswati and establishes a direct relation between the two— making Banalata
somewhat divine. When the narrator encounters her, she replies, “Eto Din Kothay Chilen”- as she was
also waiting for the poet for all these years. Through this poem, Jibanananda has successfully
established the eternal love which we fantasise about. We see him go through all struggles which
finally leads to the perfect woman— something we all wait for.
In the last couple of stanzas of the poem we see the narrator again indulging into his struggles as the
darkness descends on earth again— as he writes Shob Pakhi Ghore Ashe, Shob Nodi Furay, Ei Jiboner
Shob Lenden. One of the interpretations of this verse can lead to death itself. But this time, we see
him in peace as he has finally found a refuge for all his pain and sorrows. He ends the poem by
writing, Thake Sudhu Ondhokar Mukhomukhi Boshibar Banalata Sen. As melancholia pervades in
the end, the narrator finally faces death by reminiscing Banalata in the eternal darkness.
The actual question still remains—was there a Banalata Sen? Some say it was the poet's neighbour,
while others say she was actually a sex-worker, but there's no evidence to prove either. Real or not,
Banalata Sen has played a very important role in Bangla literature. For decades, she has been
signified as our symbol of beauty and gave us the hope of eternal love—which as the poet wrote,
lives on even after the darkness descends.