A few days ago, we all entered the month of Muharram, the first and divine month of the Arabic Hijri calendar. A notable event of this month is the heartbreaking incident of Karbala. So, as a Muslim, I thought that I should know something about this tragic incident. Finally, I picked up the book “Bishad Sindhu” (Ocean of Sorrow) by Mir Mosharraf Hossain from the library. But after reading it, I felt that a review is absolutely necessary. However, I am not an expert criticiser in literary criticism, and I have no anger or jealousy towards authors, readers, critics, or whoever they are. But I think my attempt to review the book with this little knowledge will not fail or be rejected, but will be beneficial and helpful to the new readers, the real truth will be revealed. I am compelled to write this review with this hope in mind.
Short Note about the Author:
Mir Mosharraf Hossain, A leading Muslim writer of the Nineteenth century’s Bengali literature, was born on 13th November 1847 in Lahinipara village of Kushtia Mahukumar in Nadia district (now in Kushtia district of Bangladesh) in a noble zamindar family. He is the first Muslim novelist, prose writer and playwright in the Bengali language. He even published a monthly magazine called 'Azijan Nehar' (1874) was the first Muslim-edited Bengali literary magazine in the world of periodicals. He wrote 35 books in total. He gained fame in essays, novels, farces, dramas, biographies, etc. Among them, his most popular and greatest work is the novel 'Bishad Sindhu'. Moreover, his first novel 'Ratnabarti' (1869), first plays 'Basantakumari' (1873), 'Zamindar Darpan' (Mirror of Zamindar) play 1873, 'Gojivan' (life of cow) 1889 essay, ' Er upai ki? (What is the Way) 1876 Comedy is also quite outdated. Finally, on December 19 of 1912, he passed away from this world forever from Nawabpur, Baliakandi, Rajbari, and he was buried in Padmadi.
Nomenclature:
The title of a story, a poem, a novel or another work of writing plays an important role. As the main theme of the novel is revealed through the title name the main point of attraction for the readers is established too through it. The name itself tells the story inside. Whether the author has focused on inner content rather than outer content. The name is really sufficient and attractive because this story is just an anecdote of sadness, heartache, and heartbreak.
Bishad Sindhu are two different words. The word Bishad means sadness, depression, etc and the word Sindhu means ocean or sea. Bishad Sindhu simply means the sea of sorrow or the ocean of sorrow. In the other hand, several ulama and scholars have interpreted Bishad Sindhu in a slightly different way. They said: The word Bishad means full of poison and Sindhu is the name of the river. In other words, the Indus river fullfill of poison, is called the Bishad Sindhu.
The book summary:
This ancient and popular novel is divided into three parts.
- Muharram episode. There are a total of 26 chapters in this episode. In this episode, the author gives a complete account of the brutality and cruelty of Yazid, the death of Imam Hasan and the heartbreaking incident of Karbala in the month of Muharram in the year 61st Hijri and the survival of Zainal Abedin.
- Rescue phase. There are a total of 30 chapters. After the battle of Karbala, they kept all the women of the Imam family, including Zainal, under house arrest. It is mentioned in the rescue episode, Mohammad Hanifa will come and rescue all the Imam clan, who were imprisoned in Yazid's house.
- Ejid-slaughter episode. This is the last episode. There are a total of 6 episodes in this part, including a conclusion. In this episode, the death of Yazid, Zainal Abedin's acquisition of the Damascus throne are described very well.
These were published in three parts in 1885, 1887 and 1891, respectively. Later, these came out in the form of a complete book in the name of Bishad Sindhu. It was first translated into English by Bangla Academy in 2016 under the title “Ocean of Sorrow” by Professor Fakrul Alam. At the time of writing, Bengali novels were rarely published and Mosharraf Hossain was part of a community of writers who pioneered a new tradition of Bengali novels.
Features of writing:
Indeed, this tragic novel is written in pure Bengali. A delightful epic! A happy ending. Excellent writing. An immortal book from the point of view of Bengali literature. This book is a combination of history-based romantic and prose poetry. The entire novel is written in sadhu language but in a way of simple language. However, the author's writing style should be appreciated. But some of the linguistic aspects of the book do not go with the Islamic creed. As the novel is easily comprehensible, especially to the Hindu readers, the author has written the novel using their common words. The author repeatedly refers to Allah as Ishwar or Vagoban (God), the Prophet as probhu (Lord), Sahabi (companion) as sisso (disciple), Imam or Maulvi as prohit (priest), Namaz or prayer as Aradhona (Adoration) or upasona (worship) or dhormalochona (religious rituals), Salam as nomoskar (Salutations) or pronipat (obeisances), mosque as a mondir (temple) and Muawiya (R.A.) as Mawiya. Besides, he has used words which are not in Muslim culture very well. For example: Karojore prarthona (prayer), Bhagwaner Prasad (god’s propitiousness), podochumbon (Kissing feet), pododhuli grohon (taking foot dust), Sandhyadevi (evening goddess), Suryadev (sun god) and so on. Many people believe that it is a conversion of Janganama and other such (puthi) manuscripts into Sadhubhasha.
In fact, when the book was published, the Muslim community was far behind the Hindus in terms of education and the rest of the Muslims, except the lower class Muslims, hardly don’t practiced Bengali. Arabic, Persian, and Urdu were their daily language. So, the author concentrated on the composition, keeping that aspect in mind. The writer has made the work art based on the understanding and language taste of the reader. This intention of the author is to be welcomed.
Content:
The novel portrays a historical background of various characters, pain and suffering of human life; jealousy and hatred towards people and also the clash of thrones, struggle, bloodbath, murder, political unchained, the will of freedom in life and so on. The practical aspects in the context of women, wives, and polygamy are well mentioned. In addition, this book also highlights the principles and strategies of war, and in some cases, the various customs of Islamic Shari'a. In short, the author has depicted the political situation of that time in the novel.
The author has advanced the story from the beginning to the end of the novel. He explained all the stories gradually in a very beautiful way. From the literary point of view, Zainab can be compared to the poem or character of 'Meghnad Badh' of Michael Madhusudan Dutta. Others have compared it to the character of Helen in the Iliad poem.
Historical and Pious Perspective:
The book contains some anecdotes which are not historical in nature. The names of its main characters are historical, but fictional in character and other details. Although it is said to be written in historical context, this novel contains many incredible stories that have arisen too. The novel also presents numerous confusing histories which are unimaginable. It can be seen in the novel, the head of Imam Hussain after cutting it, when the Simar reached the court of Yazid, the Imam's head automatically rose above and suddenly it disappeared. The novel also shows his parents burying the Imam in the desert of Karbala comes down from heaven. Along comes numerous prophets and angels. Pagan Azar, who killed his three sons with his own hands – where did the writer find this incident? What is the historical basis of the killing of Yazid by Mohammad Hanifa? The shrine of Prophet Muhammad (Rowza Sharif), seven times to do Tawaf? I saw it for the first time, even in this novel! …
Also, Muawiya (R.A.) was poisoned by penis while urinating; how much true is the incident described in terms of this? What is the basis? In fact, the incident of Karbala begins with Imam Hasan and Husain for the violent attitude of Yazid towards the throne of Damascus. But the novel ignores the political context and gives prominence to Zaynab (Imam Hasan's third wife). The author completely skips the fact that the main motive behind the conspiracy was a political attempt to prolong Yazid's ruling by increasing his power. He was addicted to Zainab's beauty and did every misdeed in the hope of getting her has been mixed with literature in the novel rather than a religious interpretation. In other hand, the controversial history of the killing of Imam Hasan (R.A.) by Zayda is presented as fact without taking into consideration. The conversation situations of Prophet, Jibraeel, Fatima (R.A) and others are also doubtful and it is difficult to read if you know the correct history. Even the distorted story of Karbala and excessive exaggeration of the side characters, misrepresentation of historical facts; in some cases, the presentation that Islam accepts bad culture; ignorance in word choice, and the description of minor issues are completely unacceptable.
In fact, the whole novel seems to have been developed and disseminated according to the folk talk. It is not written with any definite history. Although the author himself claims that the book deals with the essence of Persian and Arabic texts. That no matter where he collects the materials, his achievements revealed in this book are unique.
In the end, you may ask, "Does the novel really have to remove all the historical mistakes?"
No, I don't think so. History and literature are two different disciplines, in order to maintain continuity, some fictional things may be added to reality in such historical novels. In history, there are some big events but in novels, there is whole life, emotions and many more things. So the novel must resort to imagination. But in my opinion, when someone writes a novel with material from history, then the author can leave the reality, but it is not right to write a distorted history. At least from a religious point of view, one should never create a story using the real characters of great personalities like Hasan-Husain (R.A.) or any other Muslim Prophet, Sahabi, which leads the readers away from the real truth.
Assessment:
I think "Bishad Sindhu" is an immortal creation of Bengali literature. But the book is best taken as a novel in don’t be regarded as a religious scripture by any means. Many scholars think so too. Although its plot is not as bad as a historical novel. But to write on such a religious historical event, it was necessary to take the real facts from pure sources. But instead of doing that, he has filled most of the fake, fabricated and exaggerated stories. From pure and impure sources, he formulated the gist of the incident with it the stroke of his pen following the Shia dogma. The author should not resort imaginative emotions in this regard.
On closer analysis, many more such questions arise. Despite all the obstacles, Yet the novel of almost 140 years ago still has the same appeal as before. So, it clearly shows how beautiful and sweet the literature of this novel is. Therefore, I would request Bengali literature lovers to read the book definitely but don't think the story is genuine. So, I would request all the interested readers or those who have read it to know the complete true history of Karbala and must read the books on authentic and reliable history of Karbala. For example, read the book “Karbala: Kolpokatha Bonoam Bastobota” (Karbala: Fiction vs. Reality) by Farid Al-Bahraini. But preferably read in Arabic or Urdu language. However, he forgets about this futile destiny worship in order to develop his literary power naturally It is his duty to follow the gain.