begin.

Within two years Rebati manages to learn Odia alphabets and reading and
writing. Meanwhile Shyambandhu thinks of marring Rebati with Basudev. But soon
there follows the misfortune of Shyambandhu’s family. Shyambandhu and his wife
die of cholera one after another. Rebati and her grandmother have to sell the two
bullocks to meet the expenses of the funeral rites. The Zamindar takes back the land
given to them for cultivation. He also takes away the cows by force. The
grandmother sells the belongings one after another to meet the daily needs. Basudev
comes forward to help them in their distress. Earlier Rebati had a soft corner for
Basudev, but now Basudev too develops affection for Rebati. One day Basudev also
dies suddenly. Rebati becomes completely alone. The grandmother strongly believes
that all this happened due to Rebati’s education. She starts abusing Rebati. After the
death of Basudev, the completely broken Rebati falls ill. She gives up food and dies.
The old woman also meets her tragic death in the end. Thus there occurs a complete
destruction of the whole family.
4 B.3.2
Characters:
We come across some eight characters in the story. They are: Shyambandhu and
his wife, his mother, the Budhi and his daughter Rebati; Basudev; the Zamindar, Hari
Sa and the village dhobi Bana Sheti. However, some are round and some are flat.
Round characters are complex and undergo development while flat characters do not
change throughout the course of the story. Some characters do not appear directly
but they play important role in the sense that they help the reader understand the
socio-economic and cultural system of the time. Let’s study them:
1. Shyambandhu Mohanty:
Shyambandhu Mohanty lives in a village named Patpur. His family comprises of
four people: He and his wife, his mother and his daughter Rebti, aged ten. He owns a
big house. He works as a tax collector for the Zamindar. His salary is two rupees per
month. He gets a few extra rupees for doing some odd incidental work for the
tenants. Thus his monthly average income is not less than four rupees. Besides, the
three and half acres of land and two cows are more than enough for running his
household. He respects his mother, helps his wife and loves his only daughter,
Rebati. Thus he is a family man in the true sense of the word.

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 Shyambandhu is a simple and straightforward man. He is honest and dutiful.
The kind-hearted Shyambandhu is well liked by the tenants. He is a God-fearing
man. He teaches Rebati Odia bhajans and scriptures. He learns of a girl’s school in
Cuttack and requests Basudev to teach Rebati regularly. It symbolizes his awareness
and understanding of the fast-changing world. He is the supporter of modernity. He
is eager that his daughter should have education. He acts as an agent of change. He
engages a private tutor, Basudev, for Rebati’s teaching. As a good father he dreams
of marrying Rebati with Basudev. However, he falls a victim to cholera epidemic.
Before death he requests Basudev to look after his family after his demise.
Significantly enough, his untimely and tragic death affects the family adversely and
puts an end to Rebati’s education. Shyambandhu stands for the progressive and
modern outlook.
2. Rebati:
Rebati is the ten year old girl of Patpur village. She is the darling daughter of her
father. Like her father, she is fond of singing bhajans. She regularly sings before
Shyambandhu. She has a strong desire to seek education. In spite of the opposition of
her grandmother, her education begins at home. She progresses fast in her studies.
Within two years she could read fluently, without a pause. Shyambandhu raises a
subject of her marriage with Basudev and a noticeable change occurs in her behavior.
She develops a kind of affection for Basudev. Shyambandhu’s untimely death puts
an end to her education. Then the family is reduced to great a poverty. She suffers a
breakdown. She looses appetite, spends sleepless nights and reduces to skin and
bones. With the death of Basudev her life, as if, comes to an end. She gets
disappointed and stops going out and falls ill. The memories of her parents haunt her
all the time and her condition worsens day by day. She gets deeper into a state of
unconsciousness and dies a tragic death.
Rebati is the product of conservative and orthodox society. She represents the
womenfolk who stand for female education and emancipation. She is a girl caught
between traditional superstitions and modernity. The whole story revolves around
Rebati’s education.
3. The Grandmother:
Rebati’s grandmother is the custodian of a conservative social system. She is the
dominant female figure in the story. She supervises many things including the
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serving of food to Shyambandhu at the time of dinner. She plays a strong role at the
time of major family decisions. She believes that girls should never be educated,
instead, they should learn about household chores. She raises the age-old questions:
Study? What’s that? What will she do with studies? She opposes the very idea of
Rebati’s education. She feels contended on the issue of Rebati’s marriage with
Basudev. However, the cruel hand of Fate takes away both her son and daughter-in-
law through the agent of cholera and everything comes to an end. The miserable and
helpless grandmother sells pans and pots to meet the daily needs. She throws herself
on the floor and cries all day long. She looses her eyesight, and holds Rebati’s
studies responsible for it. The orthodox and superstitious minded grandmother
strongly believes that Rebati’s education is responsible for all the misfortunes. She
considers Basudev equally responsible for the tragedy. She begins to regard Rebati as
a girl of ill omen and evil ways, and treats her cruelly. But she tries to feed Rebati
during her illness. The miserable, helpless and the blind old woman meets her tragic
death in the end. The grandmother represents the social attitudes of the time.
4. Shyambandhu’s Wife:
Shyambandhu’s wife goes unnamed in the story. Like most of the Indian women
of her time she has no prominent role to play in the family decisions. She is a simple
housewife, a dutiful wife and a lovable mother. She looks after her husband, her
daughter and mother-in-law. She is a happy and contented woman. She is docile and
doesn’t have much say in the family matters. She likes the idea of Rebati’s
education. She feels sorry for Basudev being orphan. Hence, often on festive days
she invites him to her house. After her husband’s death, she also becomes the victim
of cholera epidemic and dies.
5. Basudev:
Basudev is a teacher in an Upper Primary School of Patpur. He has graduated
from the training school at Cuttack. He is a handsome and good-looking youth of
about twenty years. During his childhood, he had epileptic fits which left a
permanent scar on his forehead. But the scar adds a grace to his personality. He is
very simple and straightforward man. He is a sweet and gentle soul. Having lost
both his parents in childhood, he had been brought up by his maternal uncle.
He is a Karan by caste. He often visits Shyambandhu’s house. Shyambandhu’s
wife invites him on the festive days and serves him sweetmeats. These visits develop
109
a pleasant and affectionate relationship between them. He informs Shyambandhu
about a school for girls. He, thus, instills in him a desire to provide education to
Rebati. He tries to create a progressive awareness of value of education. He works as
a private tutor for Rebati. In the hours of crises, he rushes to Shyambandhu’s house
even at the risk of his life. He tries to help them in every possible way. After the
death of Shyambandhu and his wife, he looks after Rebati and her grandmother.
In the course of, he feels attracted towards Rebati. At one point of time their
eyes meet, however, the love story doesn’t flower as the love-birds fall victim to the
ways of Providence. He goes to Hariharpur and on his way back dies of cholera. His
untimely and tragic death affects Rebati very badly and soon she too meets her tragic
death.
He stands for the agent of change. He represents modern and progressive
attitude. He also represents hope. He wishes for emancipation and empowerment of
women.
Other Minor Characters:
The Zamindar, Hari Sa and the village dhobi Bana Sheti are flat characters of
the story. They stand for the well-established socio-economic system and culture of
the society. They exploit the poor and needy in their own way. They are opportunists.
They stand for the workings of social attitudes. These characters help the reader to
understand the socio-cultural-economic ethos of the time properly.

4 B.3.3
Theme:
Rebati’s plea for education is at the centre of the story. Female identity and
empowerment is the theme of the story. The story is about female education and the
superstitions concerning it prevalent in the then Odia society. Through the
grandmother’s blind and superstitious nature the writer has presented the traditional
biased approach. The main plot of the story revolves around Rebati’s education. The
story deals with the life and sufferings, and the tragic end of Rebati. The story also
presents the conflict between values: progressive verses orthodox. Fakir Mohan
expands the dimension of the conflict by highlighting four evils in the society. They
are – poverty, ignorance, exploitation and orthodoxy. The writer gives us a very grim
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picture of poverty prevalent in the rural parts of India. He describes the heart-rending
story of Rebati’s family after the death of both her parents. Ignorance has made their
lives miserable. Due to ignorance, they fall prey to superstitions and remain far away
from progress. Rebati’s grandmother takes education as an ill omen only because of
ignorance. She cannot think beyond the institution of patriarchy. In the story Rebati’s
mother and grandmother represent the womenfolk of the rural India. Thus, it is a
touching tale of the universal female condition. Senapati has also presented the cruel
workings of the feudal system in the story. The Karans like Shyambandhu have to
work, traditionally, for Zamindars as record-keepers and accountants. The
Zamindars exploit these poor people in their own way. While women are exploited
in their families, the poor people are exploited by the Zamindars. Both the women
and the poor people suffer their lot silently without voicing their sufferings. Rebate
has to suffer without her fault. The Zamindar takes away almost all the belongings of
Rebati’s family after her father’s death. Even Hari Sa and the village dhobi Bana
Sheti exploit the grandmother and Rebati in the times of their crises. This kind of
exploitation is but the natural consequence of poverty and lack of education on the
part of the sufferers. This is what Senapati tries to highlight through the question of
Rebati’s education. He just wants to eradicate all these evils by providing education
to women. Rebati is just a small part of his larger scheme. What he wants to focus is
that if women are educated most of the prevailing bad practices will come to an end.
With women’s education, orthodox beliefs and superstitions will come to an end. He
wants show us that education is a pious work; hence he engages Basudev and
Shyambandhu (Both are Lord Krishna’s names) to bring about a desirable change in
the society. Thus Senapati’s concerns are primarily with social reform and then with
the empowerment of women through education.
4 B.3.4
Setting of the Story:
Written in a colloquial style, the whole drama of the action of the story takes
place in village Patpur. The choice of both the setting and characters are significant.
1898 was the period when there was feudal system in Orissa and in Cuttack district a
few new schools for girls were established. The story written against this backdrop
has its own significance. Shyambandhu and Basudev are Karans by caste. Karans of
Odissa then worked for Zamindars as record- keepers and accountants; they also
served in the field of education as teachers. Thus the names of the places and
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