Pratibeshi by Gour Kishor Ghosh [Hardcover]

It all began in 1959. "Jol Pore Pata Nore," Gaurkishore Ghosh’s first novel, was published in three installments in Desh magazine. It was also the first volume of his planned epic trilogy. The second volume of this trilogy, Prem Nei, was honored with the Bankim Award. The subject of both volumes is the Hindu-Muslim relationship, with rural settings and depictions of political changes as the backdrop.

This third and final volume, Pratibeshi, is the culmination of the trilogy. Its subject is the relationship between people, with the backdrop being the human psyche. The novel addresses the devastating isolation when people distance themselves from each other, when they move away from nature, and even from themselves. Standing face to face with this catastrophic alienation, the novel conveys the message of love: Love, love, love thy neighbor. Pratibeshi is a novel about faith and love for humanity.

It can be said that in this great epic trilogy, Desh Mati Manush, the author did not aim to provide a continuous narrative of the same story. Instead, he intended to highlight the historical consequences of the same theme through various events. Through the struggles of the characters, the novel presents a living map of recent history. That map is of the Hindu-Muslim relationship in Bengal.

The timeframe of this trilogy is 1922-46. Over these crucial and significant twenty-five years, it shows how the Hindu-Muslim relationship evolved, how individual conflicts gradually turned into group conflicts, and ultimately how communal violence tore the nation apart. On one hand, this trilogy paints a remarkable picture of that time, and on the other, it skillfully blends the personal tragedies of the characters with the historical tragedies of India.