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    Two Sisters
    Two Sisters
    Two Sisters
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    Two Sisters

    By Rabindranath Tagore

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    About this ebook

    The eternal conflict in the age-old ‘man-woman’ relationship, which typically arises when any one of the two partners seeks both solace and passion in a single partner and is often unable to savour the joys of both together, is the central theme of Two Sisters (Dui Bon by Rabindranath Tagore, 1933). The central character Shashanka, is torn between two women, undecided between his homemaker wife Sharmila and her younger sister, the vivacious and playful Urmimala, who abhors domesticaiton. The two women revolve round their common love interest and are overwhelmed by the intensity of desire, guilt and agony, in an endless cycle of happy conjugality giving way to the blinding intoxication of passion, finally leaving a toxic taste in the mouths of all the protagonists. The longing for a doting ‘mother’ to take care of all his needs often remains strong in a man smitten by a woman and desirous of her favours. Contemporary society is not devoid of this trait and this novella is thus universal and timeless in its approach.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNiyogi
    Release dateDec 28, 2018
    ISBN9789386906663
    Two Sisters
    Author

    Rabindranath Tagore

    Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Nobel Laureate in literature. (1913). He wrote successfully in all literary genres, but was, first and foremost, a poet, publishing more than fifty volumes of poetry. He wrote novels, plays, musical dramas, dance dramas, essays, travel diaries and two autobiographies. He also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself. He was the composer of the national anthem of independent India and Bangladesh. He was born in Calcutta, travelled around the world, and was knighted in 1915. He gave up his knighthood after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. Among his many works are Manasi (1890), Sonar Tari (1894), Gitanjali (1910), Gitimalya (1914), Balaka (1916), The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), The Fugitive (1921), Raja (1910), Dakghar (1912), Achalayatan (1912), Muktadhara (1922), Raktakaravi (1926), Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) and Yogayog (1929).

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      Book preview

      Two Sisters - Rabindranath Tagore

      INTRODUCTION

      If the manuscripts of Dui Bon (Two Sisters) preserved in the Rabindra Bhavan archive at Santiniketan are carefully scrutinised, one will realise that though Rabindranath made quite a few drafts of the novelette, he did not mention the date of composition anywhere. From the circumstantial evidences like a reference in the Rabindrajiboni by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay or in a letter written by Tagore to Nirmalkumari Mahalanobis, one can only assume that he prepared the first draft of the novelette by 23 October, 1932. It was first serialised in four consecutive issues of the magazine Bichitra , beginning from November, 1932 and was published in book form by March, 1933.

      Like John Donnes’ poetry, Two Sisters is a book of ‘fine onset’. At the very beginning, Tagore comes out with a statement about feminine nature and it seems the entire narrative is the fictionalisation of that idea. The first sentence of the novel says, ‘Women are of two types; that is what I have heard from some scholars. One is of mother category, the other is of lover’ and the story goes on to establish Sharmila and her sister Urmimala as the embodiments of these two types. However, for full blossoming of their characters they need a peg and Sharmila’s husband, Shashanka serves the purpose of that peg. The devoted husband and the successful businessman suddenly discovered his romantic side, coming in contact with the sprightly and playful Urmimala. Here Tagore does not fail to offer an antithesis of sorts in Nirod, the grim and presumptuous fiance of Urmimala. The authorial sympathy, however, seems to be with Sharmila, the propitious housewife, soft and affectionate, ready to take all the burden of her husband on her slender shoulders. The conflict in the story was resolved by Sharmila’s miraculous cure from a hopelessly sick condition, Shashanka’s sudden realisation of the importance of work and duty and Urmimala’s maturing into the belief that separation is still tolerable, but not complications in one’s own and near and dear one’s lives.

      It can be argued that along with Shesher Kabita (Farewell Song) and Malancha (Flower Garden), Dui Bon (Two Sisters) forms a trilogy where Tagore tried to depict the two dimensions of man’s love for woman. In one manifestation she is the wife, in another the beloved. There are both similarities and dissimilarities between the women of these two moods. It is neither improper nor unjust on the part of a man to love both the wife and the beloved together, because there is no contradiction in these two kinds of love for woman. In the above-mentioned three novels, written almost back to back, Tagore presented this theory in different forms. In Shesher Kabita (Farewell Song) it was done in lyrical form; in Dui Bon (Two Sisters) through the realistic complications in man’s life and easy solution from the woman’s side; in Malancha (Flower Garden) through conflict in the woman’s life and solution offered from the man’s side.

      In his biography of Rabindranath, Krishna Kripalani has briefly analysed the novel in these words, ‘ Two Sisters is a short novel, mainly psychological in interest, dealing with the usual triangle, in this case two sisters in love with the same man. It is as if the author is trying to show that a man seeks in woman both mother and sweetheart… Human nature and society being what they are, a man cannot always have both and love is at best only a partial fulfillment. A heart that is alive cannot escape frustration. The situation in this novella is further complicated by the two rivals being sisters, both equally admirable, each in her own fashion. Tagore has tried to face boldly the psychological triangle caused by a conflict of loyalties, loyalty to married love, and loyalty to love, free and unfettered—without sentimentalising and without moralising.’

      The structure and language of the novelette deserve a special mention. In the matter of construction what immediately attracts our attention is that Tagore here abandons the classical structure of the beginning, the middle and the end. Rather, he divides the book in four parts, a technique he first adopted in the Chaturanga (The Quartet). However, unlike in Chaturanga, the narration in Dui Bon is not from the angle of one observer. Here the omniscient author describes all the events under four chapters—Sharmila, Nirod, Urmimala and Shashanka. At the end of each chapter, the story-line changes course or a new formation is introduced. In the area of language also, Tagore totally forsakes the seriousness of expression and adopts an epigrammatic style. Whenever there arises a possibility of grave or sentimental situation, he drives it away by sharp epigrammatic comments or descriptions. The novel is thus totally steeped in the author’s sunny chuckling irony and humour. This made the task of the present translator quite arduous. How far he has succeeded will be decided by the judgement of the discerning reader.

      —Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee

      TWO SISTERS

      Women are of two types; that is what I’ve heard from some scholars.

      One is of the mother category, the other is of a lover.

      If a comparison with the seasons can be drawn, the mother is like the rainy season. She gives water, provides fruits, diffuses the heat, sends you cold showers from the high skies, removes dryness, fulfills your want.

      And the beloved is like spring. Deep is her mystery, sweet is her charm, her fickleness creates ripples in your blood. The ripples reach that treasure-trove of your mind where a secret string in the golden veena silently waits for resonance, the resonance that vibrates in your entire body and mind with the message of the infinite.

      Sharmila, the wife of Shashanka, is of the motherly type.

      She has large, calm eyes; a deep, steady look; a body like moisture-laden new-formed clouds, plump and cool; a sunny vermilion mark on her forehead; the black border of her sari is broad; two solid makar-faced gold bracelets adorn her wrists. The language of her ornaments is not that of make-up, but of grace and sobriety.

      There is not even a single nooky corner of her husband’s life where the writ of her empire is not effective. The husband’s mind has become careless due to this over-indulgence by the wife. It is the

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