JORHAT, Sept 24 - Well-known writer Manikuntala Bhattacharya yesterday at a solemn function organised at the Jorhat Planetarium and Science Centre released the Assamese version of Jana Aranya, a novel penned by one of West Bengal�s greatest writers Mani Shankar Mukherjee.
Jana Aranya, which has been critically acclaimed as one of Mukherjee�s greatest novels and later made into a movie, has been translated into Assamese by Jorhat-based writer Chandraprabha Bhattacharjya.
Chandraprabha Bhattacharjya, an octogenarian, is a State awardee school teacher and retired Headmistress of Joymati Balika Bidyalaya at Baligaon here.
Manikuntala Bhattacharya in her address said the translation of the Bengali novel was �very absorbing� and the book has succeeded in keeping the flavour alive of the original novel.
�She (Chandraprabha Bhattacharjya) has retained the essence of the original work in her translation work to a level that there seems to be no differentiation found between the translated and original one. This is probably because she was very much inspired to write,� said Manikuntala Bhattacharya.
Manikuntala further said that earlier translations of Bengali books by Chandraprabha Bhattacharjya � Parinita, Chowringhee and Koto Ajanere � were as good as the original novels that Chandraprabha had written like Aparajita Annada and Baligaonor Baranya in Assamese, and she deserved a Sahitya Akademi award.
The novel Jana Aranya is about an unemployed educated youth who runs from pillar to post in search of a job but ultimately enters the cut-throat world of business as a middleman and stamps out his own ideals. The tale ends with a twist.
It may be mentioned here that in 2016, Mukherjee himself had responded to Chandraprabha Bhattacharjya�s request to release the Assamese translation of Chowringhee and had come here to do the honours.
Mukherjee had then praised her for taking his book, which had already been translated into English and several other languages, to the Assamese readers.
Journalist and former president of Jorhat Press Club Prafulla Rajguru presided over the function. Educationist Binita Dutta also spoke on the ocassion. �Translations can be difficult and can be of different types like literal, interpretative and paraphrased, but to retain the essence counts and the writer (Chandraprabha) has done her job in an artistic manner,� Binita Dutta said.
Earlier, Tarun Chandra Saikia, who spoke on behalf of Biplab Baruah, publisher of Ved Kanta Prakashan, spoke on how the rich literary output from neighbouring West Bengal had inspired a large number of writers in Assam.
