Anandamath A Political Myth

Anandamath: A Political Myth Meenakshi Mukherjee ANANDAMATH, a Bengali novel Written by Bankim Chandra Chattter- jee exactly a hundred yearg ago, could well be the first political novel written in India. This was not Bankim's first novel, nor by any means his best, but Anandamth was significant for many extra-literary reasons, specially for the tremendous impact it had on subsequent nationalist movements in Ben- gal and in some other parts of India. First serialised in the monthly Banga Darshan in 1981-82, Anandamath appeared in book form in 1882 and gained immediate popularity. Five editions appeared before the century was over, and by the early years of the next century, it got translated into the major languages of India, in some languages more than once.1 Some of the translations have appeared as late as the sixties of this century, testifying to the continuing popularity of the novel at a certain level.