An epic lives on

Humra Quraishi 

At last, we have a book that relays details of the events that led to the historic battle of Karbala and the connected tragedies. Though centuries have passed by — after all, the battle of Karbala was fought on October 10, 680 — but immense mourning and laments continue to this day. In the extraordinary battle, the two grandsons of Prophet Mohammad, Hassan and Hussain, were brutally and treacherously attacked by Yazid, son of the king of Damascus.

Hassan and Hussain and their small band of loyalists took on the enemy with an unrelenting valour. That explains why Mahatma Gandhi also once alluded to the tale, “I learnt from Hussain how to attain victory while being oppressed.”

Mir Mosharraf Hossain wrote the novel in 1885. Titled Bishad Sindhu then, it is still a popular classic of the Bengali literature. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that within a year of its first publication, it was re-printed five times. 

Critics assert that Mir’s style of writing was unique and it established an immediate connect with the reader. To quote Alo Shome, who has translated it from Bengali to English, “Mir employs a highly Sanskritised Bengali to tell us a splendid story of the Middle East.” Bharti, a magazine published by Rabindra Nath Tagore, wrote in its issue of 1886, ‘The  novel is  outstanding not only for its clear and exquisite language and vivid description of events, but also for its fine  depiction of characters.’ If one were to ask why Mir chose to amalgamate two languages, then the logical answer would be that he was fortunate to have lived and written in an era where languages were not slotted by religion. 

Shome also said, “Mir’s use of language explains his ease with both communities. His titles Eslamer Joy (The Victory of Islam) and Moslem-Birotta (Valour of the Muslims) prove that he was a devout Muslim. However, he has also written Gojibon (The Life Of a Cow), to save the cows.” 

He proves that the language in which the book is written matters little. It is the story that makes a book relevant, even after a century.