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A child widow who had seen two of her sisters die young due to cruelty at the hands of their respective husbands, struggled against the orthodoxy of her community in Mangalore, with only her mother and supportive in-laws by her side, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay rose to become a legend in her lifetime. She remarried, breaking the social taboos. She led an unusual life that saw her stride towards the forefront of the nation’s political and cultural scene. During her formative years
her meetings with Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins and Sarojini Naidu
shaped her outlook as did the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to her native
place. More importantly, her not-so-ideal marriage with Harindranath
Chattopadhyay only added new dimensions to her evolving personality.
Dhamija starts off by promising to lay less stress on Kamaladevi’s
political life and more on her progress to the iconic status of
Philosopher of Living Arts. We do get glimpses of her trailblazing
contributions in the fields of India’s arts and culture especially
handicrafts, but more space has been given in this slim volume to the
politics of her times. Perhaps that was inevitable given the environment
in which Kamaladevi lived and worked. An invaluable tome, nonetheless. The Book of Life LIFE has not ever been
defined comprehensively as there remain so many imponderables, for
example questions regarding rebirth and life after death. Similarly, one
has yet to come across a definitive answer to the poser, ‘what is the
purpose of life?’ In response philosophers have come up with profound
theories and theologians have given varied but usually cryptic answers.
At the mundane level Thakur feels that the purpose of life is survival
– be it through reproduction or adapting to changing environment.
Thence he goes on to tackle concepts like Ahimsa, God, Religion,
Science, Man etc to elucidate his contentions. One may not agree with
the author’s averments but certainly cannot ignore them. Mosh-Shi Poetry is invariably associated with profundity. For a layperson at least, this art form is about philosophising pain, solitude, and spiritualism among other issues. True, such earthly matters like love and romance too figure prominently. But Raina has come up with topics that are tactile and affect our daily concerns. And all these topics relate to ecology. She has written with verve and sensitivity and has used expressions that impel you to think, be it the touching The way to die, the satirical We’ll get the bull or the ironic The champions of green. The youth must read this collection.
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Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
