Epic
Chandravati
চন্দ্রাবতী
Quraishi Magan Thakur · 1645
Synopsis
Birbhan, prince of the city of Bhadravati, is consumed with love for Chandravati, princess of Sarandwip, a woman of matchless beauty; he wonders who will show him the way to her city and who will quench in him the fire of separation. With the help of Sut, the minister's son, he sets out to win her, through marvellous kingdoms where the characters keep lively, human traits.
Context
The author took as his material a popular tale of his own country and not, like the other poets of the Arakan court, a tale from northern India, and critics see in this the mark of an original talent. He was held to be learned in music and in the art of poetry. It was at his instigation that Alaol composed his Padmavati, then Saifulmuluk Badiuzzamal. The date of the poem is not fixed; it is placed around 1645.
Who it is for
A narrative poem of the seventeenth century, in Old Bengali; the story belongs to the marvellous, with its distant kingdoms and its trials.
Prizes and reception
Critics praise its lifelike, human characters, and an original talent in putting a local tale into verse.