Mrityuksudha
Mrityuksudha an enduring novel of Kazi Nazrul Islam. It was written during the period 1927-1930 and published serially in the periodical saogat (Agrahayan 1334-Falgun 1336). The novel was based on Nazrul's real-life experiences. Nazrul used to live at Krishnanagar between 1926 and 1929. He used to stay at a Bungalow-style one-storey house having a large compound beside the Chand-sarak road of the town. This residence coupled with the Oman-kathali and Kaltala neighbourhoods served as the setting for this novel. Nazrul's day to day living at Krishnanagar was marked by intense sorrows and sufferings and a very difficult austere living. The pictures of poverty, equality and revolutionary ideals were therefore closely intertwined with the vision of this novel. His widely read poem 'Daridra' (poverty) was also written during this period.
The story of the novel revolves around the pottery centre 'Chand-sarak' of Krishnagar. A poor Muslim family lives in the slum-area of this road. There is a sick mother, widows of 3 sons and the brother-in-law Pankale. The responsibility of feeding around a dozen children of the family rested on Pankale's shoulders. Although a Christian, Kurshi was eager to win the love of Pankaley. Consequently, the matrimonial proposal of his second brother's wife 'Mejo-bou' mattered little to Pankale. He converted into Christianity in order to get Kurshi.
The theme of Ansar and Ruby is mentioned in the second part of the novel. A social worker, patriot, self-sacrificing and ascetic, Ansar took refuge at the residence of Latifa alias Buchi. Latifa's husband is a Nazir (clerk) of the local court. Later, Ansar remembers his love-affair with Ruby, the freshly-widowed young daughter of the district magistrate of Krishanagar. Ruby and Ansar meets once again in the last part of the novel. The two could not see each other in between for a few years. That was because, Ruby was married off to a youth, who was greedy for money, against her will. Their marriage lasted for only one month. Although in the outside Ruby's dresses and behaviour were like a widow, inside she considered Ansar as her husband.
Ansar was sent to Rangoon as a political prisoner. After being infected by tuberculosis there, he moves to Waltare with the hope of getting cured. After hearing this news, Ruby does not hesitate to move towards an uncertain future by shifting there. Ruby works tirelessly to cure Ansar, but ultimately she fails to do so and Ansar dies. Ruby also dies soon afterwards due to the same disease after catching it while taking care of Ansar. On the other side, Mejo-bou becomes a Christian because of poverty and plans to spend the rest of her life in Barisal. But her children opposes this. Her son dies, and Mejo-bou is compelled to return to slum-life. She does not go back despite numerous requests from the missionary ladies, neither does she become a Muslim once more by seeking God's forgiveness. After Pankale is given a job of taka 20 per month by the Khan Bahadur, Pankale marries Kurshi by converting her into a Muslim. The story ends here.
Mrityuksudha was a composition of post-first-world-war era. For this reason, it depicted the financial crisis of post-war period, class-discrimination, and expressions of urban consciousness cum realization quite successfully. The dual personality of Nazrul was at work side by side here. On the one hand, he was a musician full of life, and on the other hand he was meditative, an artiste, lover, ascetic, reformist and ready to sacrifice everything for the country and the nation. This dual personality was expressed through the characters Pankale and Ansar. The characters, plot and language of this novel bears resemblance to real life. The language of the novel is characterized by Nazrul's very own speciality. For the sake of maintaining a natural flow, he strove to put appropriate dialogues into the mouths of the characters. The uniqueness of Nazrul's prose was its paronomasia, sarcasm and ornamentations. The acceptability of the novel was enhanced by adding newer connotations to everyday language as well as phonetics. Overall, the novel can be termed as an enduring creation of Nazrul. [Shamima Akther]
