Banalata Sen - Choosing The Name

Choosing The Name

Banalata is a feminine name in the Bengali language that would have been fashionable in the Bengali middle class Bhadralok community of Jibanananda's parents' generation. The surname "Sen" ordinarily denotes the vaidya caste to which Jibanananda's own family belonged before they became Brahmo. Natore is a small mofussil town, now in Bangladesh, that developed during the Colonial era at a time that a number of towns developed throughout Bengal, spurred by the colonial economy and social changes. That places her as a contemporary woman, but Jibanananda describes her in terms of forgotten and classical locations, essentially portraying her as 'timeless'. Other female names that occur in the poetry of Jibanananda are 'Suronjana', 'Sorojini', 'Sabita', 'Shefalika Bose', 'Sujata' and 'Amita Sen', among others. She is as much as a spirit as a woman. Popularly, she is an emblem of beauty. Famous Indian painters who have tried to capture Banalata Sen in their works include Ganesh Paine and Jogen Chaudhuri.

Banalata Sen is a recurrent theme in Jibanananda's work. Jibanananda's poetry, with his characteristic rich tapestry of imagery, repeatedly portrays the image of human fulfillment personified by a woman—in this poem Banalata Sen. For a long time it has been held that no-one like Banalata Sen actually existed in Jibanananda’s life. However, Jibanananda first used this name in Karubasona, by and large an autobiographical novel he wrote in 1932 which was never discussed. The novel was first published in 1986 many years after his death in 1954. There Banalata, a young maiden, happens to be the neighbour of the protagonist. Banalata Sen also occurs in three other poems of Jibanananda Das: Playing for a thousand years, An old poem and Bangalee, Punjabee, Marathee, Gujrati.