"Why is life so short?" - An anthropological interpretation of the literary work of tarasankar brandyopadhyay

As mirror for man anthropology is closely linked with literature which is p ledged to explore the interlacing facets of human life and thinking pattern s. Literary works of the different countries record variegated social force s in action which are required to be assessed for the proper perception of the society or societies concerned. Anthropological interpretation of liter ary data is highly effective in focusing the working pattern of the society concerned through time and space. Literature presents broad-based perspect ive of social thought and peoples' philosophy and, therefore, the literary works done by different writers demand methodological analysis to have the time-based and culture-oriented understanding of the functioning social sys tem. A specific attempt has been made here to make an anthropological analy sis of the works of Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, an eminent Bengali litterateu r, who dedicated his life to the cause of the people and used to collect li vely materials from the working social phenomena to draw the portrait of hi s literary appeal. Anthropological analysis of such an animated portrait un folds a unique domain of human science. Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay was not simply an unparalleled personality in the domain of Bengali literature but a broad-hearted man who was very close to the down-trodden communities in the rural setting. He is the architect of s uch a literature which always pleads for the values and sentiments of the p eople and thus to him the people are devta - the god. Through his multidime nsional writings he used to pay respectful homage to the people-god, the ga nadevta, and this specific feeling has given him a high esteem in the minds of the people living closed to him. This paper is dedicated to him on the occasion of his birth centennary.