Prajapati (novel)

Prajapati

Cover page of the second edition
Author	Samaresh Basu
Country	West Bengal, India'
Language	Bengali
Publisher	Ananda Publishers

Prajapati(প্রজাপতি), a novel by Bengali author Samaresh Basu caused sensation with its publication. It was first published in 1967 (1374 Bengali Era) in the Sharodiyo Desh special (page no 174-226), a well known Bengali monthly magazine, a presentation of the Ananda Publishers. This novel is about a young boy who is used as the premises to understand not only his background but of the society at large. Samaresh Basu narrates the novel in first person and uses flashback technique to articulate and stir events of protagonist's life within a short time limit of 24 hours or a day. The methodology of the novel reminds one of the famous Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. It was a young lawyer named Amal Mitra who first filed a charge of obscenity against the author Samaresh Basu and the publisher Shitangsukumar Dasgupta on 2 February 1968 for the novel Prajaproti. Later the Government of West Bengal supported Amal Mitra and spoke against Prajapoti. The Lower Court gave the verdict that the book was indeed obscene and had no literary value whatsoever. The High Court went on to uphold the just mentioned verdict. After a long time of almost seventeen years, Prajapoti got rid of the stigma ‘banned’ after a verdict given by Supreme Court of India in its favour. Reportedly, Prajapati had been published by Ananda Publishers as a hard cover book before the charge of obscenity had been made against it. In its second edition in 1985 soon after the verdict had been overturned it made record sales. The 11th edition of Projapoti states that the first edition had printed 8800 copies but from the second through the tenth edition (from 1985–2003), the sales went up to 48,000 copies!

The novel opens with Sukhen, the protagonist, trying to capture a butterfly. Sukhen goes over to his lover’s house early in the morning. Even as he tries to catch a butterfly, he is simultaneously taking with his lover and analysing his own life as he recollects the past. Sukhen had been brought up in a family where he had found no love or affection. His mother died leaving behind her husband and three sons- Keshob, Purnendu, Sukhendu. Both of his elder brothers are politicians and according to Sukhen mere opportunists. The brothers used people for their own benefit and cheat them without remorse. He remembers his mother as an extremely flirtatious woman. Sukhen’s father is also devoid of any moral depth and realisation. He was a mean money minded man. Sukhen had grown up with in these circumstances. He became venturous and had no respect for elders and women. The neighbours especially the rich ones feared him. Mr. Chopra, manager of neighbouring industry and Mr. Mittir, the labour advisor, always flattered Sukhen out of fear. Sukhen remembers Jina, the daughter of Mr. Mittir who had been seduced by her kaku (uncle), Mr. Chatterjee, a colleague of her father. Sukhen also had seduced Jina. Sukhen had become addicted to women and alcohol at a very early age, soon after having entered college. Subsequently, he got attracted to a girl named Shikha. Sukhen fell in love with Shikha when he was taking in a hunger strike conducted on the demand to rehabilitate a teacher of his college who had recently been fired by the college authority and to stop the rising of a multi-storeyed building close to the college gate.