Description
The story of Chhiattorer Monnontor (the Bengal famine of 1769-70) is based on academic sources and research which was discussed with the artists. On that basis, Dukhushyam Chitrakar first composed a poem and set it to music. This poem narrates the historical details of the famine, with an emphasis on the vivid descriptions of William Hunter and contemporary poetry - particularly, a Bengali song popular at the time and the eyewitness account in John Shore's moving poem about the famine. Dukhushyam incorporates these different voices into his own poem.
Creator
Chitrakar, Dukhushyam
Source
William Hunter, The Annals of Rural Bengal (New York: 1868), chapters 2 and 5, appendices A and B.
Hunter, Famine Aspects of Bengal Districts, p.26 (cost of 1770 famine).
John Shore, "Still fresh in memory's eye the scene I view", in Hunter, Annals, p.28, and Memoir of the Life and Correspondence of John Lord Teignmouth, by his Son (London, 1843), Vol. i. pp. 25, 26.
Anonymous, "Nad nadi khal bil shob shukailo", in Suprasanna Bandopadhyay (ed), Itihasashrito Bangla Kobita, 1751-1855 (Calcutta: 1954). Famine and Dearth in India and Britain, 1550-1800.
The Famine and Dearth in India and Britain, 1550-1800 database.
Publisher
University of Exeter
Date
2019-11
Contributor
Dutta, Shrutakirti
Holding, Richard
Mondal, Sujit
Mukherjee, Ayesha
Tupman, Charlotte
Rights
CC BY-NC
Format
Handwritten by Dukhushyam Chitrakar, pen on paper
Language
Bengali
Type
Poem
Coverage
Bengal, India; 1769-70
Original Format
Handwritten by Dukhushyam Chitrakar, pen on paper