Byomkesh Bakshi
Byomkesh Bakshi
Byomkesh Bakshi (or Byomkesh Baksi) (Bengali:
) is a fictional detective in Ben
re created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. He is one of the most successful detecti
ve characters in Bengali literature. Bandyopadhyay once said that these stories
can be thought as and read as social novels only. In Bengali, Byomkesh means "th
e sky".
Overview
The advocate-turned-littrateur Bandyopadhyay was deeply influenced by Sherlock Ho
lmes[1] of Arthur Conan Doyle, Hercule Poirot of Agatha Christie and Father Brow
n of G.K.Chesterton as well as the "tales of ratiocination" involving C. Auguste
Dupin produced by Edgar Allan Poe. He was, however, concerned with how the Indi
an and Bengali fictional detectives created between 1890 and 1930 had failed to
exist as something other than mere copies of the Western (and particularly Engli
sh) fictional detectives. The stories of Dinendra Kumar Ray's Robert Blake, Panc
hkari Dey's Debendra Bijoy Mitra or Swapan Kumar's Deepak Chatterjee were almost
always set in London or in Kolkata which was identifiably the British metropoli
s. It was almost as a postcolonial response that Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay introd
uced the Bengali "Bhadrolok" (gentleman) sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi and Ajit Bandyop
adhyay (Byomkesh's associate and narrator) in Pather Kanta in 1932. He began to
write of them as investigating in an Indian metropolisthe capital of British Indi
a until 1911that has had been thoroughly Indianised. Apart from Byomkesh, there a
re only two other detective characters who can be thought as purely Bengali of t
hat time: Hemendra Kumar Roy's Jayanta [
] and Nihar Ranjan Guptas Kiriti Roy [
iew point of complexity and importance of crimes, Byomkesh is much more ahead. I
nitially serialized in the literary magazine Basumati, the stories and novels we
re all eventually published in hardcover editions, the first being Byomkesher Di
ary. In all, Sharadindu wrote 33 stories featuring Byomkesh, one of which remain
ed incomplete due to his death. At first, he wrote in Sadhu Bhasha, but later he
preferred Chalit Bhasha while writing Byomkesh. Byomkesh is one of the most pop
ular characters in Bengali literature, along with Feluda of Satyajit Ray, Kakaba
bu of Sunil Gangopadhyay, Parashor Barma and Ghanada of Premendra Mitra and Teni
da of Narayan Gangopadhyay.
Development
Although the story Satyanweshi, in which Byomkesh and Ajit meet for the first ti
me, is often the first story in most Byomkesh anthologies, the first Byomkesh st
ory written was Pother Kanta in 1932, followed by Seemanto-Heera in the same yea
r. Sharadindu started writing the stories regularly. By 1936 he had written ten
stories, all of which were published by Calcutta publishers Gurudas Chatterjee a
nd Sons in three collections. Sharadindu stopped writing Byomkesh stories for 15
years, during which time he lived and worked in Bombay, writing screenplays for
Bollywood films, including Durga, Kangan and Navjeevan (all 1939). On returning
to Calcutta in 1951, Sharadindu began writing Byomkesh stories again after frie
nds asked why he had stopped and published Chitrochor in the same year. He wrote
a further 21 stories, including one, Bishupal Bodh, left incomplete by his deat
h in 1970.
Meeting with Ajit
Byomkesh meets Ajit for the first time in the story Satyanweshi. He initially in
troduces himself as Atul Mitra to prevent others from knowing his actual motives
there. Through a series of complicated events, one of which resulted in him bei
ng accidentally arrested by the police on charge of murder, he ultimately unmask
s the criminal, which turns out to be the mess owner himself. As a result the me
ss members are forced to vacate the mess, while Byomkesh takes Ajit to his own m
ess in Harrison Road, where he entreats him to stay there with him, saying that
after living
Byomkesh Bakshi with him for the last two weeks he would find it difficult to li
ve alone. Ajit consents, and since then they live there along with their devoted
servant Puntiram [
], until in Arthonamortham Byomkesh gets married to Satyaboti who
ceforth lives there too.
2
Early life
Not much is known about Byomkesh s background and early life. Ajit mentions in A
dim Ripu that his father used to be a mathematics teacher in a local school, whi
le his mother busied herself in reading scriptures. Both died of tuberculosis wh
en he was very young. His relatives never cared to look after him, leaving him t
o fend for himself. He earned scholarships from universities which enabled him t
o complete his studies. Though his relatives are still living, Byomkesh isn t in
terested in keeping any contact with them.
Relationship with Ajit
Ajit narrates all but five of the thirty-three cases which feature Byomkesh. In
all these stories he assists and accompanies Byomkesh in his escapades. Most of
the stories are centered on Kolkata, except a few like in Byomkesh O Baroda, whe
re they go to Munger in Bihar, or Amriter Mrityu, where they go to Baghmari. Sha
radinduBabu had intended to portray Ajit as a stereotype foil to a super-sleuth.
Indeed, in all the stories the readers find that Byomkesh single-handedly solve
s the mysteries, while Ajit s narration, punctuated by his own interpretations o
f events, offers interesting insight into the story. Byomkesh s opinion about Aj
it s intelligence and acumen is somewhat underwhelming, in Durgo Rohosyo, when A
jit throws some intelligent light on the mystery, he is very surprised, which pr
ompts him to concede "Can it be that at last you have really developed your facu
lties!" However, he let Ajit try to solve the case in his lieu in Makorsar Ros,
though admittedly it was more due to circumstances precluding him from engaging
himself in the case than due to his trust in Ajit s abilities; inasmuch as he wa
s busy solving another case concerning some large scale forgery of notes. Ajit h
owever is unable to solve the case, and even naively suggests at one point that
the only explanation of NandadulalBabu still managing to intoxicate himself with
Tarantula extract is that he devours those roaming on his room-walls. This prep
osterous idea compels a hearty laugh from Byomkesh, much to his chagrin; however
after he had solved it out himself, Byomkesh tells the family that it was Ajit
who had solved it, with only a minor assistance from him. Occasionally Byomkesh
assigns Ajit some role in solving the mystery: in Pother Kanta he lets Ajit go t
o New Market incognito to procure a letter from an unknown person, though later
we find that he followed Ajit close at heels all the time. In Amriter Mrityu he
asks Ajit to interrogate a suspect while he busied himself in some other affairs
.
Personality and Traits
In Pother Kanta, Ajit writes that Byomkesh, for all his astuteness and intellige
nce, is a bit queer. For example, he opines that the most spectacular pieces of
news in a newspaper lay hidden not under the headlines, but in the advertisement
s. Though Ajit refuses to buy this, and can t control an urge to chaff him too,
it later turns out that what Byomkesh had told was true, at least for that story
. Ajit also writes that the outer appearance of Byomkesh won t do much to sugges
t anything out of the ordinary, but if he is cornered, he comes out of his shell
and then his words and actions become something to be reckoned with. He calls h
imself a Satyanweshi (the truth-seeker), and dislikes it when people call him a detec
e, perhaps to avoid the negative connotations of professionalism likely to be as
sociated with the term private detective. However Ajit insists that even though
Byomkesh dislikes the moniker, he knows very well that he is indeed one. He ofte
n quotes Tagore to explain a certain situation to Ajit; in the later stories we
find that the nonsense poems of Abol Tabol by Sukumar Ray too had attracted his
interest. He is an avid reader of Mahabharata which we discover in The Will That
Vanished. He never discloses the actual specifics of an ongoing case to Ajit un
til the very end (Amriter Mrityu being one exception), but occasionally drops su
btle hints, which however fail to satisfy the curiosity
Byomkesh Bakshi of the latter in most cases. Since Byomkesh isn t interested in
cases involving petty thefts or murders as they don t provide much space to exer
cise his intelligence, most of the times he remains at home idling away his time
in newspapers and his personal library. He ascribes this to brilliant criminals
being few and far between. He often paces his room relentlessly while cogitatin
g on a mystery, consuming endless number of cigarettes. He knows that sound cont
ribution from the police is essential to solving any case, and hence maintains a
cordial relation with most police officers. When this doesn t work out, for exa
mple in Arthonamortham, finding that the officer in charge is adverse to him, By
omkesh blandishes him to elicit a thorough description of the entire event. Alth
ough he is supposed to determine the culprit and hand him (or her) to the police
, Byomkesh refrains from doing so on more than one occasion. In Adim Ripu, he le
ts the murderer go scot-free, stating that even criminals have a right to freedo
m on the auspicious day of their nation s freedom (the timeline of the said stor
y coincides with the last phase of Indian independence movement) and concluding
that the knowledge of his parentage obviates having him to go through any furthe
r punishment. In Rokter Dag, he lets the murderer off on moral grounds, arguing
that the act, while not acceptable in the eyes of the law, works for the greater
well and hence he is worthy of pardon. He repeats this act in Hneyalir Chhondo
and Achin Pakhi.
3
Methods of detection
In most of the story we find that Byomkesh banks more on instinct and intuition
when concrete proof is unavailable. Sharadindu never expresses it explicitly thr
ough Ajit; however in Seemonto-Heera the boastful and condescending Sir Digindra
narayan Roy mentions it while he pretends to make an analysis of Byomkesh s facu
lties from his appearance only. Ajit visibly is unable to agree with the fact th
at intuition can supplant material proof, though he acquiesces after Byomkesh do
es solve the case. In Bahnni-Patanga we see that Byomkesh is somewhat perplexed
by the seemingly trivial fact that in a painting depicting Dushmanta stealing a
glance at Shakuntala, the artist had chosen to paint the iris of the latter in b
lue. Based on this fact alone, he constructs the entire case, which we later we
find accurate. Achin Pakhi perhaps provides the best example of his intuitive sk
ills, here just in the act listening to an unsolved case as recounted by a retir
ed police officer, he realises that the perpetrator of the crime in question is
none other than the person recounting it. Byomkesh keenly focuses on the most qu
otidian events and facts, and many a time we find that such a fact proves all im
portant in the solution of the mystery. He encourages his clients to state every
thing they can remember while they recount their experiences, insisting that not
hing is unimportant to him. In Pother Kanta, this leads to the client stating th
at just prior to his being attacked; he heard the ringing of a bicycle bell. Lat
er this turned out to be the most crucial piece of clue in deciphering the myste
ry. In "Arthonamortham", he correctly guesses that Sukumar returned from cinema
at exactly 12 am. In fact there are very few stories where concrete proof does m
aterialise to help him solve the case; for example in Chiriyakhana and Benisangh
ar he gets substantial help from the police. Many times we see that even though
he already knows who the culprit is, he waits for an opportune moment to catch h
im flagrante delicto, such as in Pather Kanta, Lohar Biscuit and Shojarur Kanta.
Byomkesh Bakshi
4
Trivia
The customs and manners of Calcutta during the British Raj are very well portray
ed in the earlier books, from street names to the names of the shops. Interestin
gly, the bridge spanning the Hooghly river, was a pontoon bridge as mentioned by
Byomkesh twice in Pother kanta. This was prior to the current Howrah Bridge, co
nstruction of which began three years after the publication of the first edition
of the novel. In the foreword to the first anthologized edition of stories feat
uring Byomkesh, Byomkesher diary, published by Gurudas Harrison Road and Strand
Road intersection c. Chottopadhyay & Sons, which contained Pother Kanta, 1945. B
yomkesh and Ajit spent most of the years Satyanweshi, Seemanto-Heera and Makorsh
ar Ros, Sharadindu in an apartment not far from here. Bandyopadhyay wrote: "Many
will be anxious to know whether these are original stories or merely transcreat
ed from foreign novels. For the interest of the general reader, I d like to make
it known that these are completely my own creations" Although Pother Kanta was
the first novel featuring Byomkesh that Sharadindu wrote, since Satyanweshi is t
he novel in which the character of Byomkesh Bakshi is established, it is conside
red by readers to be the first in the series. Byomkesh received M.Sc. in Physics
from Calcutta University. Byomkesh learned to play chess from Ajit. Byomkesh le
arns to love poetry on reading Sukumar Ray s Abol Tabol, a book presented to his
son by Ajit. Byomkesh s father was a mathematics teacher by profession. Byomkes
h reads the personal advertisements in a newspaper as if they were the real news
. In stories like Pather Kanta, cases are partially introduced through the perso
nal advertisement section of the newspaper. Although most stories are penned by
Ajit, somewhere through the second book of Byomkesh stories, he gives up writing
Byomkesh s accounts. Though, in a few of the last stories, the narrator is the
author himself, i.e., these stories are written in a third person speech.
Stories
The following list is arranged chronologically of publishing. 1. Satyanweshi (
) 2.
anta (
) 3. Seemonto-Heera (
) 4. Makorshar Ros (
) 5. Arthonamo
sh O Boroda (
) 11. Chitrochor (
) (later translated as Picture Imperfec
a (
) 14. Adim Ripu (
) 15. Banhi-Patanga (
) 16. Rokter Dag (
Byomkesh Bakshi 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.
33. Monimondon (
) Amriter Mrityu (
) Shailo Rahosyo (
) Achin Pak
kro (
) Hneyalir Chhondo (
) Room Nombor 2 (
) Chholonar Chhon
5
The last one, i.e., Bishupal Bodh is incomplete. Narayan Sanyal once wrote Bishu
pal Bodh: Uposonghar [
:
], which is basically a completion of this novel. Sa
terms given by Pratul Chandra Gupta, who edited Bandyopadhyay s collected works
. Samaresh Basu, as the editor of Mahanagar, a magazine, published it in a Puja
issue.[2]
Regular characters
Recurring characters in the Byomkesh series include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Ajit B
andyopadhyay [
]: Byomkesh s close friend and narrator of most of his stor
fe. The two first meet in Arthonamortham. Khoka [
]: Nicknames of Byomkesh s son. His
original name is nowhere mentioned. Sukumar [
]: Satyaboti s elder brother. Byomkesh s
ves him from a murder charge in Arthonamortham. Puntiram [
]: Home servant. He is seen
every story which takes place in Calcutta. Rakhal [
]: Policeman. AnukulBabu [
en as doctor as well as the landlord in Satyanweshi, later he is found in Uposon
ghar. 8. Tridibendra Narayan Roy [
]: Jamindar of a certain territor
-Heera & then in Chorabali. 9. Ashwini Ghatak [
]: This doctor is found in Chitroch
rgo Rohosyo.
English rendering of Byomkesh
Picture Imperfect and Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries (Penguin Books) 1. 2. 3. 4
. 5. 6. 7. The Inquisitor The Gramophone Pin Mystery The Venom of the Tarantula
Where There s Will Calamity Strikes An Encore for Byomkesh Picture Imperfect
Byomkesh Bakshi Byomkesh Bakshi Stories (Rupa & Co.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Raktom
ukhi Neela (The Deadly Diamond) Seemonto-Heera (The Hidden Heirloom) Achin Pakhi
(The Avenger) Shaila Rahasya (The Phantom Client) Chholonar Chhondo (The Man In
The Red Coat) Chorabali (Quick Sand) Room Nombor 2 (Room Number 2)
6
The Menagerie and Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries (Penguin Books) 1. 2. 3. 4. Th
e The The The Menagerie Jewel Case Will that Vanished Quills of the Porcupine
The Mystery of the Fortress & Other Stories (New Age Publishers) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The invisible Triangle Iron Biscuits The Crooked Circle Thus Spoke Kavi Kalidasa
The Mystery of the Fortress
Film and TV adaptations
1. Chiriyakhana a.k.a. The Zoo (1967) directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by H
arendranath Bhattacharjya of Star Productions was the first screen adaptation of
the sleuth s cases. Uttam Kumar had played the role of Byomkesh Bakshi while Sh
ailen Mukherjee played the character of Ajit. The film boasted an ensemble cast
of contemporary actors. The film was a huge success with Uttam Kumar as Bakshi b
agging his first National Award for the role and director Satyajit Ray receiving
a National Award for best direction. 2. Shajarur Kanta (1974) directed by actre
ss-turned-director Manju Dey and produced by Star Productions was the second fil
m of the Bakshi series. Satindra Bhattacharya replaced Uttam Kumar as Bakshi whi
le Shailen Mukherjee reprised his role as Ajit. The film was a moderate success,
not being able to attract as large an audience as the first film. 3. In the ear
ly 80s Kolkata Doordarshan produced several episodes of Byomkesh Bakshi where Aj
oy Ganguly acted as Byomkesh. 4. Byomkesh Bakshi (1993) directed by Basu Chatter
jee was the critically acclaimed television adaptation of the series. Actor Raji
t Kapur played the role of Byomkesh Bakshi, for which he was highly praised. Aji
t was played by K.K. Raina and Satyaboti was played by Sukanya Kulkarni who was
the first actress to play the character. The series lasted for 33 episodes. 5. B
yomkesh Bakshi (2004) directed by Swapan Ghoshal was the second television adapt
ation of the series also aired on Doordarshan. This series was a success. Actor
Sudip Mukherjee debuted with the role of Byomkesh Bakshi and got a grand success
following Rajit Kapur. Debdut Ghosh have played the role of Ajit and also accep
ted by audience. Satyaboti was played by Maitreyi Mitra. Like the Hindi series,
this series also had some of ensemble cast of that time. 6. Byomkesh (2007) dire
cted by Swapan Ghosal who also directed the previous series for Doordarshan that
time he collaborated with Tara Muzik (a private Bengali T. V. channel). Actor S
aptarshi Roy has played Bakshi while Ajit and Satyaboti were played by two other
lesser-known actors. This version of series is a bit low-profile unlike
Byomkesh Bakshi its predecedors. The series did not get the success. The DVDs of
the series was released by Mosearbear again. 7. Magna-Mainak (2009) directed by
Swapan Ghosal again who also directed the two Bengali TV series on the sleuth.
The film is featuring several TV actors. TV actor Shuvrajit Dutta is playing Bak
shi. The film did not run fare. Though the director-producer have announced that
they will make at least a trilogy on Byomkesh with stories such Bonhi-Potongo a
nd Rokter Dag. 8. Byomkesh Bakshi is first installment of another Byomkesh-filmtrilogy directed by singer-songwriter-actor-director Anjan Dutta and produced by
R P Techvision Pvt Ltd. The film was released on 13 August 2010 and turned out
to be quite popular with the audience. This movie is scheduled be followed by th
e other two film-adaptations of Chitrochor and Kohen Kobi Kalidas. The second fi
lm adaption is titled "Abar Byomkesh". Like several successful films of Dutta, t
his trilogy is also expected to be enacted by some young and relatively lesser-k
nown actors. In the first film, Abir Chatterjee plays Bakshi while Ushoshi Chakr
abarty plays Satyboti. The character of Ajit is played by the veteran actor Sasw
ata Chatterjee. Three of them are going to reprise their roles in the second fil
m. Coincidentally, Chatterjee also played the role of Topse - the juvenile assis
tant of another Bengali private investigator, Feluda (played by Sabyasachi Chakr
aborty) in Baksho Rahashya (film) in 1996 and a T.V. miniseries Feluda 30 (199720
01). 9. Director Shaibal Mitra had approached the experienced Hindi film actor N
aseeruddin Shah for the role of Bakshi in his 60s for a Hindi film adaptation of
Shajarur Kanta. 10. Prabir Chakroborty, a Mumbai-based film director, has had n
egotiated for the Hindi rights of six Byomkesh Bakshi stories, including that of
Arthonamortham. This information was supplied by Malabika Chakroborty, the dire
ctor s wife who has the power of attorney for dealing with Bandopadhyays works, t
o The Times of India, 21 February 2009. 11. Director Rituporno Ghosh announced h
is intention to make a film-trilogy on Byomkesh, starting with Arthamanartham, u
nder the productions of Rose Valleys Motion Pictures. It was decided that the Be
ngali film-actor, Prosenjit Chatterjee would enact Bakshi, Tapas Paul as Ajit, a
nd Paoli Dam as Satyaboti. The project was, however, shelved. Besides, many smal
l scale productions have been made by drama organizations throughout West Bengal
and Bangladesh.
7
Byomkesh Bakshi episodes (Hindi)
The episodes of the TV series which aired on DD 1 Byomkesh Bakshi Season 1 in 19
93 and Season 2 in 1997, directed by Basu Chatterjee are: 1. Satyanveshi 2. Raas
te ki kanta 3. Seemant heera 4. Wasiyat 5. Reth ka daldal 6. Makdi Ka Ras 7. Lal
neelam 8. Bhoot 9. Agnivaan 10. Upsanhaar 11. Tasveer Chor 12. Kile ka Rahasya
13. Chiriyaghar A 14. Chiriyaghar B 15. Aadim Shatru A 16. Aadim Shatru B
Byomkesh Bakshi 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.
33. Aag Aur Patanga Vansh Ka Khoon Necklace Amrit Ki Maut Pahadi Rahasya Anjaan
Khooni Kahin Kave Kalidas Adrishya Trikon Wasiyat Ka Rahasya Bemisal Balak Jasoo
s Chakrant Paheli Gatha Kamra No 102 Dhokhadhadi Sahi Ka Kanta Veni Sanhar
8
34. Lohe Ka Biscuit
References
[1] http:/ / byomkesh. com/ 2010/ 01/ 17/ byomkesh-v-sherlock/ [2] From the intr
oduction of Kantay Kantay 1 by Sanyal himself.
External links
For a complete critical overview of the Byomkesh Bakshi stories, with special re
ference to their postcolonial aspects, see the Maldah College-Assistant Professo
r Pinaki Roy s The Manichean Investigators: A Postcolonial and Cultural Rereadin
g of the Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi Stories, published by the New Delhi
-based Swarup Book Publishers in 2008 (ISBN 978-81-7625-849-4). Byomkesh.com - a
fan-site (http://byomkesh.com/) An outline of Bengali fictional detectives (htt
p://www.banglalive.com/ipatrikaa/sanglap/ SanglapDetail16_8_2004.asp) An English
translation of a few stories (http://www.parabaas.com/bookstore/bookpage/sreeja
ta_picture.html) (ISBN 0-14-028710-8) Byomekesh Bakshi (http://www.imdb.com/titl
e/tt0157217/) at the Internet Movie Database
Article Sources and Contributors
9
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