A Study on the Quest of Space and Identity in Bani Basu’s Gandharvi: Life of a Musician

Abstract

Culture means ‘Sanskriti’ or ‘savyata’ of an individual society and cultural studies explore what the societal structure of a society is and how it influences human life and the world: “…the “theory of culture” is defined as “the study of relationships between elements in a whole way of life” (Hall, Stuart. Essential Essays: Foundations of Cultural Studies, vol.1, p. 51). Culture is a way of life, and it is one’s culture that denotes the impact of society on someone: “A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; the new observations and meanings which are offered and tested” (Williams, Raymond. Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism. p. 4).  Foregrounding the above-mentioned tropes of culture and the concomitant formations of identity, this paper will explore the conflict between a woman’s creative impulse and her domestic obligations vividly seen in Bani Basu’s novel Gandharvi (which was originally translated from Bengali novel Gandharvi by Jayita Sengupta in 2017). It is significant to note that the entire novel revolves around the cultural practice of Hindustani classical music, and it is interesting to see the novel itself as a musical one and the entire movement of music ends at the end of the novel with the end of its protagonist’s (Apala) life. Literally, ‘Gandharvi’ is someone who comes from Gandharva-lok and is an artiste from top to bottom. This endeavour will explore the cultural practices of contemporary society by taking into consideration the fact that the novel is also a celebration of the indomitable spirit of music. At the same time, it will also highlight how Indian art and culture has always been influenced by music and has found its roots in thousands of years old mystery, where spirituality, science and myths go hand-in-hand.