'The hero of our story, Dewana, appears in the very first episode.' 'What does dewna mean?' 'Someone who's mad.' The image of this love-crazed hero haunts Khoimala, the gentle Brahman girl, and her low-caste sweetheart, the young boatman, Golak, as they live out their doomed love story: doomed because social and religious taboos damn their forbidden love. On the one hand, eighteenth century rural Bengal, quickening to the pace of urban development, undergoes ...
A beautiful young man condemned to death for a crime of passion; his lover, the beautiful courtesan whom he kills but continues to mourn and yearn for; and a lonely young widow burning with unrequited desire. This love triangle set in twelfth century Bengal, moving between the royal city of Gaur and forests and rivers of rural Bengal, centers on the fate of the romtha, the branded criminal who awaits his own death. Ironically named Sharan—‘refuge’—there ...