->Gazal world: +Category:Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

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+Category:Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

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[[File:পথের দাবী নাটক Cover.jpg|thumb|''Pather Dabi'' by [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]].]]
'''''Pather Dabi''''' (''The Right of Way''; or ''Demands of the Road'') is a Bengali novel written by [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]. It was first published as a novel in 1926, after having been initially serialized in the journal ''Bangabani''. The book is set in [[British Raj|British-occupied India]].<ref name="Bengal Divided">{{cite book|title=Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947|author= Joya Chatterji|pages = vii–viii|publisher=Cambridge South Asian Studies|year=2002}}</ref><ref name="Pather Dabi">{{cite book|title=Pather Dabi The Right of Way|authors= Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and (tr.) Prasenjit Mukherjee|publisher=Rupa & Co.|year=2011}}</ref><ref name="Express November 2015"/>

==Content==
The book is about a secret society named ''Pather Dabi'' whose goal is to free India from British rule.And Sarat Chandra chattopadhyay played a great role for making a Revolutionary mind in young Indians,which gives an effort to the Indians to free from this Torture by British.Sharat Chandra chattopadhyay helped to create an independent consciousness among the Indians.And he also mentioned that independence is the only way to save Indians and also mentioned that proper relationship is not only family relations but also a relation with anyone who is struggling to save India from the British rule, through the words of his novel.The leader of the organization is Sabyasachi Mallick, who is described as being highly educated, having studied medicine, engineering, and law in Europe and America.<ref name="Express November 2015"/><ref name="Bengal Divided 164">{{cite book|title=Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947|author= Joya Chatterji|page = 164|publisher=Cambridge South Asian Studies|year=2002}}</ref> Sabyasachi is also endowed with physical strength and courage which enable him to elude British intelligence. His physical feats include swimming across a torrential river, and traversing the Eastern Himalayas on foot.<ref name="Bengal Divided 164"/>

Another major character, Apurba , a member of Pather Dabi, described as a contemptible figure. Emotional and impressionable, Apurba grieves at the colonial rule. He is, however, also weak, timid, and venal. A scene in the book depicts him being humiliated at a railway station by white youth. His obsession with caste purity even during illness and danger is depicted with contempt. Eventually, Apurba becomes a police informer. The main narrative in the book follows Apurba with Sabyasachi appearing unexpectedly, and disappearing as mysteriously.<ref name="Bengal Divided 164-5">{{cite book|title=Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947|author= Joya Chatterji|pages = 164–5|publisher=Cambridge South Asian Studies|year=2002}}</ref>

Sabyasachi does not believe in the caste system, and towards the end of the book pleads for the destruction of "all that is eternal (''sanatan''), ancient, and decaying--[in] religion, society, tradition" on the ground that these are "enemies of the nation."<ref name="Bengal Divided 165">{{cite book|title=Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947|author= Joya Chatterji|page = 165|publisher=Cambridge South Asian Studies|year=2002}}</ref>

Other important characters in the novel are Sumitra and Bharati, who work alongside men in defiance of the traditional social conventions of the day. Sumitra is described as being beautiful and intelligent, besides being a nationalist. In the book, Sumitra makes an impassioned argument for why it is appropriate for a woman to leave a loveless marriage.<ref name="Bengal Divided 164-5"/>

According to a review of the book in the ''[[Indian Express]]'': {{Quote|The story touches upon contemporary issues ranging from untouchability, orthodoxy and faith to rich-poor divide and the status of women in the society, criticising the British policies and also India’s inherent customs of religion and social structure with the same intensity.<ref name="Express November 2015">{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/remembering-sarat-chandra-chattopadhyay-the-awara-masiha-on-his-139th-birth-anniversary/|title=Remembering Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the ‘Awara Masiha’|newspaper=Indian Express |date=15 September 2015 |accessdate=2 November 2016}}</ref>}}

==Reception==
*The first edition of the book, comprising 5,000 copies, was sold out within a week. Subsequent to this, the book was banned on 4 January 1921 by British Government after due consultation of the then Advocate General of West Bengal.<ref name="Express November 2015"/><ref name="Pather Dabi ix-xii">{{cite book|title=Pather Dabi The Right of Way|authors= Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and (tr.) Prasenjit Mukherjee|pages=vii–ix|publisher=Rupa & Co.|year=2011}}</ref>
*[[Tanika Sarkar]], while analyzing the character of Sabyasachi, has observed: "Capable, literally of everything, [Sabyasachi] is the first superman in serious Bengali fiction, always a million times larger than life.<ref name="Sarkar 24">{{cite book|title=Bengal 1928-1934: The Politics of Protest|author= Tanika Sarkar|page = 24|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1987}}</ref>
*It has been suggested that Sabyasachi's usage of various disguises to escape police detection have conspicuous parallels with the modus operandi of [[Surya Sen]].<ref name="Morton 80-1">{{cite book|title=States of Emergency: Colonialism, Literature and Law|author= Stephen Morton|pages = 80–1|publisher=Liverpool University Press|year=2013}}</ref>

==Sarat Chandra and Tagore==
A correspondence between Sarat Chandra and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] took place after the ban imposed on the book.<ref name="Pather Dabi ix-xii"/> Tagore justified the ban on the book, on the ground that it was a seditious book, while Sarat justified his book on the ground that "throughout India, large numbers of people are being imprisoned or externed by the government on flimsy grounds without trial or in flagrant miscarriage of justice."<ref name="Pather Dabi x-xii">{{cite book|title=Pather Dabi The Right of Way|authors= Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and (tr.) Prasenjit Mukherjee|pages=x–xii|publisher=Rupa & Co.|year=2011}}</ref><ref name="Hindu December 2011">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/a-human-being-rather-than-a-flawless-god/article2692007.ece|title=A human being rather than a flawless god|publisher=The Hindu |date=6 December 2011 |accessdate=2 November 2016}}</ref> Sarat agreed with Tagore's assessment that the book caused the reader to become disenchanted with the British government, stating that this indeed was his intention in writing it.<ref name="Pather Dabi xii">{{cite book|title=Pather Dabi The Right of Way|authors= Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and (tr.) Prasenjit Mukherjee|pages=xii|publisher=Rupa & Co.|year=2011}}</ref>

==Film==
The 1977 film ''[[Sabyasachi (film)]]'', starring [[Uttam Kumar]], is based on this book. The co starrer were [[Tarun Kumar Chatterjee|Tarun Kumar]], [[Bikash Roy]], [[Supriya Choudhury]].<ref name="Express November 2015"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]
[[Category:Bengali-language literature]]
[[Category:Indian Bengali-language novels]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novels]]

Pather Dabi - Revision history

->Gazal world: +Category:Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay