The Poison Tree (1873) is a novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Originally serialized in Bangadarshan, a popular literary magazine founded by Chatterjee in 1872 and later edited by Rabindranath Tagore, The Poison Tree is a story that engages with the subject of widow remarriage. “The river flowed smoothly on―leaped, danced, cried out, restless, unending, playful. On shore, herdsmen were grazing their oxen―one sitting under a tree singing, another smoking, some fighting, others eating. Inland, husbandmen were driving the plough, beating the oxen, lavishing abuse upon them, in which the owner shared.” With his wife’s blessing, Nagendra sets out on a journey by boat down the river. When a sudden storm forces him to leave his boat for safety, he comes across the ruined home of Kundanandini, a young widow caring for her father in his final days. When the old man dies, Kundanandini begs him to take her to Calcutta. As he begins to fall for the beautiful woman, he struggles with the demands of family, religion, and tradition, knowing that love wields power over them all. Tragic and timeless, The Poison Tree is a brilliant romance from a legendary figure in Bengali literature.
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Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894) was an Indian novelist, poet, and journalist. Born into a Bengali Brahmin family, he was highly educated from a young age, graduating from Presidency College, Kolkata with an Arts degree in 1858. He later became one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta before obtaining a Law degree in 1869. Throughout his academic career, he published numerous poems and stories in weekly newspapers and other publications. His first novel, Rajmohan’s Wife (1864), is his only work in English. Between 1863 and 1891, he worked for the government of Jessore, eventually reaching the positions of Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector. Anandamath (1828), a novel based on the Sannyasi Rebellion against British forces, served as powerful inspiration for the emerging Indian nationalist movement. Chatterjee is also known as the author of Vande Mataram, a Bengali and Sanskrit poem set to music by Bengali polymath and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
