The Idle Visionary: Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s Kamalakanta (1875)

Presenter:

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Abstract

Few heroes of Bengali literature appear more idle and parasitic than Kamalakanta, protagonist of the eponymous collection of satirical essays (1875) by famous 19th century writer Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay (1838-94). An opium-eater and a drifter, Kamalakanta is a complete failure in terms of the utilitarian model set up under British colonialism. Yet, it is Kamalakanta’s utterly marginal social position that author Bankimchandra uses to voice his most fundamental critique of the colonial order of things.

Taking up threads from former work on the topic, particularly Sudipta Kaviraj’s analysis of this text as ‘Bankimchandra’s secret autobiography’, the present paper focuses on idleness and its ambivalences in Kamalakanta and other texts. It will situate the protagonist in his wider context and hopefully yield some clues to the conceptualization of regimes of work and leisure in nineteenth century South Asia.