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Harvard University Press Bharatchandra Ray In Praise of Annada Volume 1 by France Bhattacharya
In Praise of Annada, Bharatchandra Ray’s long narrativepoem dedicated to the glory of Annada, translated here intoEnglish for the first time, is a major achievement and atreasure of Bengali literature. This volume describes theorigins of the goddess, the building of her city and temple,and the spread of her worship.In 1752, the Bengali poet Bharatchandra Ray completed along narrative poem dedicated to the glory of Annada, Shiva’sconsort and the divinity who, as her name proclaims,“bestows the bounty of rice.”A poet well versed in Sanskrit, Persian and Hindi―all ofwhich enrich his work―Bharatchandra took up the literaryperformance genre maṅgalkāvya and thoroughlytransformed it, addressing the aesthetic tastes of the courtrather than of the traditional village audience. He addeddepth and sensitivity to well-known legends, along withallusions to his own experiences of poverty and more than adash of mischievous wit. The first volume narrates Annada’sorigins, including the building of her city and temple underShiva’s direction and the spread of her worship, andincorporates praise of the poet's patron, the Nadia royalfamily.This translation, the first into English, accompanies theoriginal text in the Bangla script. Lively and entertaining,In Praise of Annada was regarded as a major achievement inits own time and remains a treasure of Bengali literature.