Volume II,Special Issue, April 10, 2026
Volume-II, Special Issue, April, 2026 |
Received: 02.04.2026 | Accepted: 06.04.2026 | ||
Published Online: 10.04.2026 | Page No: | ||
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.2.specialissue.W. | |||
অমর
মিত্রের ‘ডাইন': একটি বাস্তব ভূমিজীবনের আর্থ-সামাজিক ও রাজনৈতিক দস্তাবেজ
মহেন্দ্রনাথ পাল, গবেষক,
বঙ্গভাষা ও সাহিত্য বিভাগ, কলিকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ,
ভারত |
Amar Mitra’s ‘Daain’: A Socio-economic and Political Document of Real-life Rural Existence Mahendra Nath Paul, Research Scholar, Department of Bengali Language and Literature, University Of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
The struggle of the indigenous people—the ‘sons of the soil’—for land rights is an eternal one. Power-hungry Jotdars (large landholders), moneylenders, and landlords have perpetually sought to strip the indigenous people of their land rights, thereby reducing them to mere agricultural laborers. By keeping the indigenous population under their absolute dominion, these landlords aim to perpetuate their imperialistic hegemony forever. At times, a blind and sordid brand of politics emerges surrounding the rights to land possession and utilization. It is precisely from the precarious socio-economic existence of those deprived of their rightful land claims that a leader eventually rises. Amar Mitra’s short story, ‘Daain’, serves as just such a socio-economic and political chronicle of this marginalized agrarian life. The narrative is set against the backdrop of the land-rich region along the banks of the Subarnarekha River, near the West Bengal–Bihar border, amidst the turbulent Naxalite upheaval of the 1970s. The story’s protagonist, Hari Nayek, fought like a ‘Son of Fire’ against the moneylenders, landlords, usurers, and Jotdars who had usurped the rights of the entire agrarian community. His very presence kept figures like Dataram Singh and Mahapatra Satapathi in a state of constant terror for a long time. Ultimately, wielding the Naxalite ideology of destroying ‘class enemies’ as their weapon, the peasant masses of the Kirtaniyashol region united under Hari Nayek’s leadership. In Hari Nayek’s voice, they discovered their dream of liberation. However, Hari Nayek’s tragic death—cut down by a bullet from Dataram Singh’s gun—threatened to plunge the lives of the local peasantry back into the jaws of terrifying uncertainty. Such an event would have allowed the domineering forces—with their menacing glares and predatory fangs—to rear their heads once again. Consequently, Hari Nayek’s wife took charge of the situation; having advised that her husband’s body be buried secretly on the banks of the Subarnarekha, she spearheaded the dissemination of a rumor: that Hari Nayek had merely gone into hiding. This stratagem ensured that the moneylenders and the power-wielding classes would, at the very least, be denied the luxury of undisturbed slumber; just as before, they would remain perpetually on edge, haunted by the apprehension of Hari Nayek’s sudden return. Standing amidst the social milieu of the 1970s, a rural woman—defying the societal norms surrounding widowhood—shouldered the responsibility of safeguarding the land and the peasantry, much like an exemplary public leader. Consequently, when she went to light a lamp at her husband’s grave on the banks of the Subarnarekha, society branded her as immoral and smeared her with the stigma of being a ‘witch’. Yet, such ignominy remained trivial to her; for, in exchange, she had at least succeeded in saving an entire class from the clutches of aggression and terror. Amidst the Naxalite turbulence of the 1970s, author Amar Mitra’s short story ‘Daain’ stands as a living testament to the socioeconomic and political realities of rural life. | ||
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