Subject
Mundy Shaheb-er Golpo [The Tale of Mundy Sahib]
Description
The images show Dukhushyam Chitrakar's first drafts of the poem he composed, and the transcribed version on the Famine and Dearth database, linked here, is the final iteration, which he set to music. The poem narrates Mundy's early years as a fisherman in Penryn, Cornwall, and moves on to describe his experiences in India during the notorious Gujarat famine in the 1630s. Dukhushyam's re-narration identifies with Mundy's desire to sketch and tell the story of what he sees around him in India. He also imagines Mundy's local experience of growing up in a fisherman's home in Penryn. The original poem, in Bengali, is in rhyming couplets, with a highly condensed metrical structure and few rhetorical flourishes, characteristic of Dukhushyam's style. The English translation attempts to maintain, as best it can, the rhyme scheme and directness of tone.
Creator
Chitrakar, Dukhushyam
Source
Richard Carnac Temple (ed), The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, Vol.2: Travels in Asia 1628-34 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1914)
Publisher
University of Exeter
Date
2019-12
Contributor
Dutta, Shrutakirti
Mondal, Sujit
Mukherjee, Ayesha
Rights
CC BY-NC
Language
Bengali
Type
Poem
Coverage
Gujarat, India; 1630-32
Penryn, Cornwall, UK; c.1600-1630
Original Format
Handwritten by Dukhushyam Chitrakar, pen on paper