'Darkening Days': Zainul Abedin, Ela Sen and the Bengal famine

5/6/2016

What a powerful book this is! Published in May 1944, Ela Sen's short stories - 'all culled from real life' - represent the profound tragedy and misery of the famine which ravaged Bengal in 1943 and claimed up to three million lives. The text is overshadowed, however, by the deeply shocking and emotive images of Zainul Abedin. 'Drawings from life', the book asserted. He used Chinese ink and paper made from rags to capture these desperate depictions of the human impact of famine. They are both the starkest images of the famine, and the defining work of one of Bangladesh's most highly regarded artists.

Zainul Abedin was still in his twenties when he made these drawings - some of the originals are in the British Museum, whose website records that Ela Sen's book was banned by the British authorities, presumably because of its impact on wartime morale. There is no doubt that British alarm about the prospect of a Japanese invasion of Bengal from Burma - and so their determination to ensure that stocks of grain and boats for river transport couldn't fall into the enemy's hands - contributed to the scale of the tragedy.

There are about a dozen Zainul Abedin drawings in the book, most of them spread over a double page. This image of a young child seeking sustenance from an emaciated and dying mother bring to mind the similar - and similarly unsettling - artwork of Sobha Singh.

This image - which I have blogged about before - was also published to accompany a first-hand account of the famine ... in this case the journalism of Freda Bedi for 'The Tribune', which was published as Bengal Lamenting. And in this book too, the image is more haunting than the words.

In the 1940s, both Zainul Abedin and Sobha Singh had links to the progressive writers' movement, and were clearly on the left. Abedin has come to be regarded as the founding father of modern art in Bangladesh. He died in May 1976.

I've been able to find out much less about Ela Sen - if you can help, do get in touch.

9 Comments

andrew

6/6/2016 09:12:16

Posting here some the Facebook discussion prompted by this blog:

Ruchira Gupta This shows how deep the inequality left behind by colonialism was. Also all the things achieved in the last sixty years. We have never been visited by famine again. Our food production and food distribution is so much better than under the Mughals or the British. How easily we forget when we say nothing has been achieved in sixty years. They should study what was going on before Independence.

Bisakha Ghose
Bisakha Ghose I've heard such vivid eyewitness accounts of the famine from my family. When I look out of the window I can still visualise the desperate malnourished dying in the street as residents offered them bowls of rice which they could no longer eat.

Subir Bhaumik
Subir Bhaumik We Bengalis lost 3 million people in the famine and as many in the 1971 Liberation War and another million or so in between in communal violence. But we have an independent nation which is standing proud and tall , growing at 6 percent plus , and despite all the problems it faces , it has a future. This is the time West Bengal and other Bengali predominant regions in Northeast get their act together with Bangladesh for growth and prosperity. A French traveller had said during Mughal days that Bengal was the richest province he ever visited where merchants eat from plates of gold. We need to psychologically undo the Partition and grow together in an era when connectivity is the buzzword and nobody needs better connectivity than we Bengalis.

Nazes Afroz
Nazes Afroz Yes, those were really powerful sketches. Similar and possibly more powerful sketches were done by another artist Chittoprasad, who was sent to 'cover' the famine for 'Janajuddho' or the 'People's War' by P C Joshi, the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI). 'People's War' was the organ of the CPI in which the most influential post-Tagore poet in Bengal Subhas Mukhopadhyay reported the famine. He too was involved with the CPI. Joshi sent another person to document the famine -- photographer Sunil Jana who lived in London and the USA in the later part of his life. I had seen most of the sketches (I think they are lost now!) done by Chittoprasad and had interviewed Subash Mukhpadhyay while doing research for a documentary that Channel 4 did in 1997. Abedin was a budding artist based in Calcutta then and had done these haunting sketches. I also met and interviewed famine survivors. Linlithgow who was the Viceroy of India at the time when the famine started and Leo Amery who was the then India Secretary, kept a lid on the news. It was largely due to the coverage by the CPI, which even though was supporting Britain in the war efforts, didn't shy away from documenting and publishing the extent of the famine. The Statesman newspaper of Calcutta played a crucial role in bringing the news of the famine public. It dedicated its last last page to photos of emaciated bodies of the Bengal peasants who had flocked every bit of open space in Calcutta looking for some food. They didn't even know how to beg as they were proud and hardworking peasants. They simply sat on pavements and parks and died without food. When I went through its entire archives of 1943-45, I saw, it published a daily box item in the front page with three numbers- Death toll yesterday, Death toll last week, Death toll last month. The numbers were jumping by thousand every day! Then suddenly the box appeared box empty with no text or number in it for a few weeks before reappearing with the numbers. I could guess it was the war time censorship that stopped the paper from publishing the figures. Finally it was Field Marshal Wavell who replaced Linlithgow as the Viceroy, acknowledged that a famine of that scale was going on and he even deployed the army medical crops in the famine relief. The famine was man-made due to British policy to stockpile food to feed the army in the Middle-East, and by destroying all boats in East Bengal fearing the Indian National Army led by Subhas Bose coming in with the Japanese army would overrun Bengal in matter of weeks. When I lived in the UK, I was amazed to see how my British friends who were otherwise knowledgable, and would know so much about the Black Hole of Calcutta, in which a few hundred white people died, knew nothing about the Bengal famine! It was estimated that three million people starved to death in 18 months (though the Famine Commission set up by the British gave a figures of 1.9 million), the actual number would be close to five million if one takes into account people dying of various illnesses and all that happened in a span of 18 months. One must say that this time that the British hero Churchill had a great responsibility in making policies that set off the famine. My dear and close friend Madhusree Mukerjee has written a most startling book called Churchill's Secret War, published a few years ago. I suppose it's time we seek an apology from the British go

Dr Pinaki Sengupta

26/2/2017 12:29:13

I had an aunt called Ela Sen born approximately around 1907 and died around 1984. She was a Professor of English in a Calcutta college and was married to Narendranath Sengupta who was the Principal of the Calcutta Technical School. I wonder if she was the author of this book. I know that she was a freedom fighter as was her uncle Makhan lal Sen. Would be glad to have any information. Thanks.

Andrew

2/3/2017 02:23:50

It could be though this site suggests Ela Sen the author was born in 1899 - though that could be an estimate http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n89271911/

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

22/4/2020 11:19:12

Ela Sen was the daughter of Mrigendralal Mitter. Sen was her first husband. She married again a British journalist called Alec Reid, News Editor of The Statesman, Calcutta, and both of them later moved to London where she died in (I think) the 1970s. I doubt if she was a freedom fighter but I do know she was friendly with Manikuntala Sen (no relation), Jolly Kaul's wife, both of the CPI. Ela was convenor of the Mahila Atnorakhya Samity.

Lila Das Gupta

16/11/2018 15:20:38

Andy, Darkening Days was published by my father 1944.

Ela Sen was a writer/journalist. She later wrote a biography of Mahatma Gandhi which was also published by my father. There is little reference to her on the internet. From what I could dig up, she married Alec Reid who ran the newsroom of that great Calcutta newspaper The Statesman. Philip Crossman describes him as 'a dour, kind-hearted Scot' in Khushwant Singh's 'Sahibs Who Loved India'. Ela Sen also became friendly with Indira Gandhi which later resulted in a biography.
In the book 'Calcutta: The Stormy Decades', writer Tanika Sarkar quotes the memoirs of women's activist and communist party member Manikuntala Sen, saying that Ela Sen facilitated a group of left leaning/ reforming women who would meet at her apartment above The Statesman offices.

There are a few obituaries I wanted to look up in the Statesman archives when I go to Kolkata in January. I will add Ela Sen to the list. I remember you and Anu fondly from World Service days. Hope you and your family are all well.

22/4/2020 11:24:37

Are you Susil Gupta's daughter? I never met him but one of the first novels I read as a child was Marriage of Chiffon. My parents knew Susil Gupta, Pratap Bonnerjee was a family friend, and his brother Ajoy married my first cousin, Neela.

Partho Bhattacharya

6/7/2019 12:19:54

I am pleased to inform you that I made a documentary film 'Bengal Shadows' with Joy Banerjee. An investigation on the 1943 Bengal Famine. Please post your comments on Facebook of the film. Many thanks. Partho

samir sardana

19/3/2021 14:32:58

The Grand Plan for Greater Bangla-desh !

The beauty of Bangladesh,is that,unlike Pakistan,it does not have Afghanistan and Persia,as neighbours - so it is NOT a proxy battleground,for superpowers.

Its borders with India are an ADVANTAGE,as the North East,is the weakest link in the Indian Military defense and economic deveiopment,and the North East Indians,DO NOT have Indian DNA.

PLA sponsored freedom struggles,in the North East,can be operated from Myanmar and Bangladesh, with complete deniability,and strategic ambiguity.

With the Chinese Hydel dam on the Brahmaputra,Bangladesh can be flooded with power at less than 1 cent/kwh - and that will doom all manufacturing in North East India and the Export manufacturing of East India.

This destruction will bring out the stark disparities between North East India and the Bangla race,across the border,in education,inflation,infra,health care etc. - and will start an insurgency in the North East - for secession from India.

With the Hydro and Renewable Power from China and Dhaka,and raw materials imported via Chittagong - North East India as a SOVERIGN NATION ,will enjoy LDC status,for exports to the US/EU - besides bringing an inflow,of US/EU Tourists,via the Bangkok-Dhaka Leg and PRC.

In addition,higher cost manufacturing,can migrate from Dhaka to North East India (as a soverign nation) and thus,qualify FOR LDC status (as the Bangla will lose the LDC status)

A simple Statistic - if Made in Bangla items flood North East India - the cost of living in North East India will fall by 50%,and all farmers and residences in North East India,can be supplied free power,for at least 50 years,from the Hydel power in PRC,and Renewable and Gas power in Bangla.The writing is on the wall !

The Impotent Indian Military CANNOT defend North East India and the Indian cannot develop North East India - as there is no Infra in the North East. Everything moves from Kolkata.It is time to liberate North East India - and it is also time for the Bangla race to populate the North East states

The Indian BSF is a race of corrupt and impotent cowards - and the BDR can easily provide cover for Bangla and North East Freedom Fighters !

The People of West Bengal have to see the writing on the wall.They have a port at the tip of the Bay of Bengal.It is time to secede from India.The People of West Bengal are not with Indian DNA

What does the Hindoo shastra think of Easterners ?

The Hindoo scriptures think of "Easterners", as devil worshippers and the lowest of the low, and as "Easterners follow the practices of the Shudras"- as stated below

The Mahabharata,Book 8:Karna Parva,Section 45

The Pancalas observe the duties enjoined in the Vedas ....... the Easterners follow the practices of the Shudras;

With the formation of Greater Bangladesh and Soverign United States of North East,and a new race in Dhaka who were born a decade after 1971 - you will have a natural integration with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan - Inshallah !

It is as inevitable as the Sunrise ! dindooohindoo

Simon O’Hagan

7/5/2024 20:24:07

Hello Andrew

I’m a friend of Ela Sen’s son Srikumar. Sri and I were colleagues on The Times in the 1980s. He’s learnt about your post about his mother and is interested to make contact with you. Sri is now 93, rather poor of eyesight and hearing, and he’s asked me to message you on his behalf. Might you get back to me?

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