Summary of Sunil Gangopadhyay's Novel Arjun PDF

**A Brief Summary of the Bengali Novel *Arjun* by Sunil Gangopadhyay** **About the author :** Sunil Gangopadhyay, one of the most eminent writers of India, was born on September 7, 1934 at Faridapur District, east Bengal. As a victim of partition, Gangopadhyay migrated to Calcutta at his childhood...

**A Brief Summary of the Bengali Novel *Arjun* by Sunil Gangopadhyay** **About the author :** Sunil Gangopadhyay, one of the most eminent writers of India, was born on September 7, 1934 at Faridapur District, east Bengal. As a victim of partition, Gangopadhyay migrated to Calcutta at his childhood. He obtained a degree in Master of Arts in Bengali language from the University of Calcutta in 1954. Gangopadhyay was the founder editor of the popular seminal poetry journal *Krittibas*. He received many literary awards including Ananda Puraskar, Bankim Puraskar and the Sahitya Academy Award in 1985. In 2008, Sunil Gangopadhyay was elected as the President of Sahitya academy. Being a very versatile writer of his generation, Sunil Gangopadhyay authored poetry, novels, short stories, plays and articles. He has published more than 250 volumes, which include more than 100 novels, 40 short story collection, 30 poetry collections, 20 children's literature, 10 travelogues and so on. He was known by pennames Nil Lohit , Sanatan Pathak and Nil Upadhyay. His major works include *seisomoy*, *PrathamAlo*, *Purbo* *Paschim* etc. The films like *Pratidwandi* and *Aranyer* *Din Ratri* directed by Satyajit Ray were based on novels written by Gangopadhyay. **Introduction** The novel *Arjun* was published in the year of Bangladeshi liberation, 1971. Arjun deals with the issues of partition of India happened in 1947 and the traumatic condition of the Bengali refugees thereafter. Unlike the epic hero, the protagonist of the novel named Arjun became the embodiment of modernity through education. **Summary** Set between the late 1940's and 1960's, this novel focuses on the life of title character Arjun. The novel begins at Deshapran colony, Calcutta where Labonya finds Arjun in an injured state. With the help of other colony members, Arjun gets admitted to the hospital. Abaneesh Mukherjee, his mentor took care of his hospital expenses. While at the hospital bed, Arjun tries to recollect his past. Born before 1947, Arjun spends his early childhood at native village in Faridapur District, East Pakistan. Their life at East Pakistan is no better than that of Calcutta. The Hindu families at East Bengal always warned their children not to get into trouble with muslim boys. Arjun remembers one incident related to his early childhood school days. Arjun had raised a complaint to school headmaster Amjad ali about the pencil stolen by his son Yaqub Amjad Ali makes Arjun to box the ears of yaqub as punishment. The whole village got shocked with the news. In 1955, it was a terrible matter for a Hindu boy to punish Muslim boy. The partition had seriously affected the lives of East Bengali Hindus. Due to the riots in other Villages, Hindu families one after another started to leave east Bengal. Amala, the daughter of Mr Dutta was cruelly murdered and everyone suspected the group of Bihari refugees for the cause. After fifteen days, Duttas left the village. Arjun's father strongly believed that India and Pakistan would get united again. The family of Arjun got affected with the death of his father. Several houses including his own got burned down. This communal violence had urged the family to move away from the village to a safer place. Beside the protest of headmaster Amjad Ali, the family decided to carry out the journey. It was the responsibility of young Arjun and his elder brother to protect the life of their widowed mother during migration. They then, joined other group of Hindu refugees who were migrating to India. Grand father Nishi was the acquaintance of Arjun's father, and this made the family more secure in the group. During the journey, some of them lost their lives due to outbreak of cholera. In Calcutta, they spend their initial weeks on the platform of Sealdah railway station. Biraj Thakur, the leader of refugee group had urged them to settle at Deshapram Colony as illegal inhabitants rather than depending on the charity of government. Like his father, Arjun's elder brother was always in expectation of returning back to native village. The mental stability of his brother got more worse and his mother was unable to meet the medical expenses. After the demise of his elder brother Somnath, Arjun gets adapted to his circumstances with his higher education. Some men of the colony started to do unskilled labour to support their family. Conflict intensifies in the colony when Kewal Singh, a Punjabi plywood factory owner strives to hire local unemployed youths to work under him. Kewal Singh succeeds in hiring Dihya and other unemployed colony youth to his company for some hidden purpose. Singh needs a portion of colony's land to extend his factory building. He can fulfil his business agenda by evacuating five to six families from the colony. When Arjun opposed the idea of expansion, Singh's men attacked him causing severe injury. Arjun recovers with the help of his research supervisor Abanesh Mukherjee and his family. Later on he realizes the government and law enforcement over colony issues ineffective. Like Kurukshetra, Dibya and some other colony youths from the side of Kewal Singh resist the protest of majority colony residents. The protest was made against the construction of factory wall as the factory people had set fire on five houses earlier for this purpose. It results in total violence. Arjun gets the attack again and he loses his deceased brother's pet dog Becharam forever. Arjun's guide Abaneesh Mukherjee intervenes to the matter by generating media attention on the current condition of colony. As a result, the government took the decision to provide the land on the name of colony residents. The narrative also hints at the possibility of Arjun leaving Deshapram Colony. The Occasional first person narration in the form of dramatic monologue by Arjun reflects the difference in his early life and present condition of his growing alienation with the community. The omniscient third person narration throughout the novel depicts the threats and other conditions of the residents of refugee colony. **Conclusion** *Arjun* as the literary text had succeeded in bringing forth the different challenges encountered by displaced migrant after the partition. This fictional work had captured the essence of struggle for survival against social exploitation and political depravity. As a partition Narrative, Arjun highlights the fact that the human spirit possesses the ability to survive and sustain even during the toughest times. **Works Cited** Gangopadhyay, Sunil..*Arjun*.Trans.Chitrita Banerjee Abdullah. Kolkata :ananda, 1998\. Print. Ghosh,Amitav. "Sunil Gangopadhyay and his legacy." Amitav.Ghosh.23Oct2012.Web.10.March2016 \ "The Man Who Carried the Modern Consiousness of Bengal." The Hindu.23 Oct 2012.Web.10March 2016 \.