debi chaudhurani or the wife who came home
this is the second in a trilogy of works by the famed bengali novelist bankimcandra chatterji 1838 1894 and the second to be translated by julius lipner . the first anandamath or the sacred brotherhood was published by oup in 2005 . bankim chatterji was perhaps the foremost novelist and intellectual mediating western ideas to india in the latter half of the 19th century . debi chaudhurani is a didactic work that champions a particular interpretation of hindu dharma and wifely duties reflective of the late 19th century calcutta context in which it was written . but the story is also compelling . written in a conversational style it features surprising plot twists and ideas that are even today revolutionary in their daring . most notably bankim makes a woman the embodiment of lord krishnas salvific message as originally enunciated in the bhagavad gita . the protagonist debi is a complex figure who is a rejected wife becomes a bandit queen represents a goddess figure and symbolizes the land of india . there is a creative tension between her strength as a leader and her correct role from the perspective of the author as a domestic wife . bankim also focuses on caste and what it means to be a genuine brahmin who is transformed by the author into a man who executes responsibilities instead of demanding privileges . within the context of the teachings of the gita the author shares his vision of social activism to improve india . lipners idiomatic translation is enhanced by his detailed commentary on the original bengali text and by a readable introduction that sets the novel and its ideas in context .