Rajmoan’s Wife was the first novella written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee that was published in 1864. It was the first Indian English novella that was edited by Ishwar Chandra Gupta and published in a periodical named Indian Field. Bankim Chandra was born on 27 June 1838 and he died on 8th April 1894. He got his postgraduate degree in Law from the University of Calcutta in the year in 1869. He joined British Indian Government as a Deputy Magistrate in 1858 and retired as a Deputy Collector in 1891. Despite his job, he was a staunch Hindu nationalist who through his literary works, continued to strengthen the Indian struggle for independence against the foreign rule. Rajmohan’s Wife was a romantic, suspenseful thriller that was followed by Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali novel published in 1865. Rajsimha was his first historical fiction novel that was published in 1881 and was later translated into Hindi by Bhartendu Harishchandra. In 1882, Chaterjee’s Anandmath was published which was a fictional novel loosely based on the historical Sanyasi Revolt of India against the British East India Company in which he depicted untrained Sanyasi soldiers fighting and defeating the East India Company. Anandmath became hugely popular and the poetic song ‘Vandemataram’ written in highly Sanskritised Bengali touched the nerves of the Indian masses. Later on, this song was adopted as the National Song in 1937.
Characters of Rajmohan’s Wife :
Matangini is the protagonist of the story. She is the eponymous wife of Rajmohan. She belonged to a poor family and her father married her to Rajmohan in haste. She is 18 years old young woman with a strong will and a confident attitude. Rajmohan is the abusive husband of Matangini. He is involved in some nefarious activities as he wants to make some fast money. He is an unscrupulous, cruel, and corrupt man filled with false pride. Matangini asks for a job for her husband but when Rajmohan is offered the job, he gets furious and rejects it. Though he accepts the job later with a nefarious plan. Hemangini is the younger sister of Matangini. She is married to Madhav. Madhav’s father Ramkanhai wished him to marry the poor girl Hemangini who is a good-natured submissive girl who dares not talk to her own sister in front of her husband. Madhav is an educated wise man full of patience. He is a just man. When he visits to see and marry Hemangini as his father wishes, Matangini sees him and finds herself in love with him. However, he is going to be her brother-in-law. Ramkanhai’s father had distributed his estate equally to his three sons. The eldest son was Ramakanta whose son is Mathur. Ramakanta manages his part of the estate well and taught Mathur how to manage land and servants. However, Mathur is not well-educated. Ramkanhai failed to manage his part of the estate and wasted most of his money on gambling and alcohol. However, he made sure that his son Madhav attains the best education and he arranged the marriage of Madhav to Hemangini, believing that the couple will remain happy throughout their life. Ramakanta and Ramkanhai’s third brother Ramgopal remained childless. Before he died, he transferred his share of the estate to Madhav as he considered him just and goodhearted on the condition that Madhav will take proper care of his wife after his death. Tara is the second protagonist, the first wife of Mathur who is a childhood friend of Madhav. She has a soft corner for Madhav as she knows he is the better and a principled man. Mathur remarries Champak and takes her as his second wife. Mathur is jealous of Madhav and wishes to grab the estate he got through the will of their uncle Ramgopal. Sardar is the leader of a dacoit gang who is trying to steal the will of Ramgopal from Madhav so that Mathur may claim his right to that part of the estate. Bhiku is an allias of Sardar. Kanakmayee is a 30-year-old unmarried woman who befriends Matangini. Karuna is a servant of Mathur’s house who helps Tara.
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