Chatterjee, following the model of
Ishwarchandra Gupta, began his literary career as a writer of verse. He soon realized, however, that his talents lay in other directions, and turned to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize. He did not win the prize, and the
novelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print was
Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English and was probably a translation of the novelette submitted for the prize.
Durgeshnondini, his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in
1865.
Kapalkundala (1866) is Chatterjee's first major publication. The heroine of this novel, named after the
mendicant woman in Bhavabhuti's
Malatimadhava, is modelled partly after
Kalidasa's Shakuntala and partly after
Shakespeare's Miranda. He had chosen Dariapur in
Contai Subdivision as the background of this famous novel.
His next romance,
Mrinalini (1869), marks his first attempt to set his story against a larger historical context. This book marks the shift from Chatterjee's early career, in which he was strictly a writer of romances, to a later period in which he aimed to simulate the intellect of the Bengali speaking people and bring about a cultural revival through a campaign to improve Bengali literature. He began publishing a monthly literary magazine
Bangodarshan in April 1872, the first edition of which was filled almost entirely with his own work. The magazine carried serialized novels, stories, humorous sketches, historical and miscellaneous essays, informative articles, religious discourses, literary criticisms and reviews.
Vishabriksha (The Poison Tree, 1873) the first novel of Chatterjee's to appear serially in
Bangodarshan.
Bangodarshan went out of circulation after 4 years. It was later revived by his brother, Sanjeeb Chandra Chatterjee.
Chatterjee's next major novel was
Chandrasekhar (1877), which contains two largely unrelated parallel plots. Although the scene is once shifted back to eighteenth century, the novel is not historical. His next novel,
Rajani(1877), followed the autobiographical technique of
Wilkie Collins' "A Woman in White". The title role, a blind girl, was modelled after
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Nydia in "The Last Days of Pompeii". In
Krishnakanter Uil (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878) Chatterjee produced the work of his that comes closest to resembling a western novel. The plot is somewhat akin to that of Poison Tree.
The only novel of Chatterjee's that can truly be considered historical fiction is
Rajsimha (1881, rewritten and enlarged 1893).
Anandamath (The mission house of Felicity, 1882) is a political novel which depicts a Sannyasi (Brahmin ascetic) army fighting Indian muslims who are in the employ of the
East India Company. The book calls for the rise of Brahmin/Hindu nationalism but, ironically, concludes with a character accepting British Empire as a necessity. The novel was also the source of the song "Vande Mataram" (I worship the Mother) which, set to music by
Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many secular nationalists. The novel is loosely based on the time of the
Sannyasi Rebellion, however in the actual rebellion, Hindus
sannyasis and Muslim
fakirs both rebelled against the British East India Company. The novel first appeared in serial form in
Bangadarshan.
Chatterjee's next novel,
Devi Chaudhurani, was published in 1884. His final novel,
Sitaram (1886), tells the story of a Hindu chief rebelling against Muslim rule.
Chatterjee's humorous sketches are his best known works other than his novels.
Kamalakanter Daptar (From the Desk of Kamalakanta, 1875; enlarged as
Kamalakanta, 1885) contains half humorous and half serious sketches, somewhat on the model of De Quincey's
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
Some critics, like Pramathnath Bishi, consider Chatterjee as the best novelist in Bangla literature. They believe that few writers in world literature have excelled in both philosophy and art as Bankim has done. They argue that in a colonised nation Bankim could not overlook politics. He was one of the first intellectuals who wrote in a British colony, accepting and rejecting the status at the same time. Bishi also rejects the division of Bankim in `Bankim the artist' and `Bankim the moralist' - for Bankim must be read as a whole. The artist in Bankim cannot be understood unless you understand him as a moralist and vice versa.
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