from Bishnupur-Arambag region. According to the legend, the Pathans attacked the fort of the local feudal lord and took him and his wife and daughter to Orissa as prisoners and when Jagat Singh was sent to rescue them, he was also imprisoned. Bankim Chandra heard the story when he was 19 years old and after a few years he wrote Durgeshnandini. Bankim Chandra himself dismissed any presumption of whether his novel was influenced by Ivanhoe, stating he never read Scott’s romance before writing Durgeshnandini. Asit Kumar Bandyopadhyay also wrote that apart from the love-triangle between Jagat Singh, Ayesha and Tilottama which closely resembles that of Ivanhoe, Rebecca and Rowena in Ivanhoe, there is not much similarity between the two novels. He thus concluded that Durgeshnandini is Bankim Chandra’s original work. Date and text 13 editions of the novel were published during the lifetime of Bankim Chandra, the last being in 1893. It was translated into English (1882), Hindustani (1876), Hindi (1882) and Kannada (1885). It was first adopted for stage in 1873. Reception Durgeshnandini received mixed response from contemporary critics. While the Sanskrit scholars of Bhatpara appreciated the novel, scholars of Calcutta did not. Dwarakanath Vidyabhushan, the editor of Somprakash mocked Bankim Chandra’s lucid language and unconventional style; although Sambad Prabhakar and some other contemporary newspapers highly praised the novel. Sukumar Sen wrote, “…the tale was something that was wholly new and entirely delightful. The pseudo-historical background was a justification for a pure love romance intended for readers who knew only married love.” In adaptation Films Bengali 1927: Durgesh Nandini, starring Durgadas Bannerjee, Kanu Bannerjee, Ahindra Choudhury, Indira Devi, Sita Devi, directed by Priyanath N. Ganguly. 1951: Durgesh Nandini, starring Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Chhabi Biswas, Bharati Devi, Chandrabati Devi, Kamal Mitra, directed by Amar Mullick. Hindi 1956: Durgesh Nandini, starring Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai, Ajit, Nalini Jaywant directed by B. Mitra. Television 2007: Durgesh Nandinii, starring Rinku Ghosh and Gurpreet Singh, aired on Sony TV. Other It was adapted as a comic by Debrani Mitra in the 824th issue of the Indian comic book series, Amar Chitra Katha. References External links (English translation) 1865 novels Novels by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian historical novels Indian novels adapted into films Indian historical novels in Bengali Indian Bengali-language novels Indian novels adapted into television shows Novels adapted into comics 19th-century Indian novels