The Bankim Period

In a century since 'Vidyasundar' was written by Bharatchandra quite a lot of stories were written - notable of which were Chandrakanta and Kaminikumar. Most, however, resembled Vidyasundar and were reminiscent of the Loric style. These stories were written in verses and provided romantic setting for instructive materials for readers. A new era dawned with Pyarichand Mitra's trend-setting prose-based novel Alaler Gharer Dulal. Many criticised Mitra, however, for committing the same error, of not writing for entertainment value only. He too erred in making value judgements. It was claimed that he could not escape from the Loric past. It is Bankim Chandra Chatterjee who finally dropped curtain on the Loric period by publishing his masterpiece Durgeshnandini. Bankim's novels can be classified into three groups: the first is full of English style romanticism; the second is modelled on Pyarichand Mitra (such as Vishbriksha, Krishnakanter Will) and finally those novels that were based on historical events (such as Mrinalini, Rajshingha and Sitaram).