The Hindu on Books newsletter: Chapal’s jatra legacy

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Dear reader,

Jatra, a form of folk theatre popular across West Bengal and Odisha, dates back to the rise of Vaishnavism and the Bhakti movement during the 16th century. The followers of the movement would sing and perform devotional songs and dances and enact plays on mythology. Slowly, they began focusing on social issues. Today, jatra has taken on a more cinematic and dramatic form. Now, it also incorporates exaggerated or extreme elements to suit the evolving tastes of audiences. As Sandip Roy writes in Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal (Seagull Books), “Now jatra feels like an old mansion, ruined but with a tacky coat of new paint, clinging to the memory of glory days.”

Chapal Bhaduri in ‘Performing the Goddess’ series, 1999.
| Photo Credit:
Swati K S

Chapal Rani or Chapal Bhaduri was a doyen of jatra for decades. In an old interview, quoted in the BBC, he said that women would rarely step into theatre or jatra in the 1950s and 1960s. And so, male performers would enact female characters as well. “With time I got used to it and I also realised that mentally and psychologically, I was more woman than man,” Bhadhuri said. With women entering jatra performances, the availability of those roles for men began to diminish by the late 1960s.

In his book, Roy explores the life and times of Chapal Bhaduri, who was the last great female impersonator of Bengali jatra. In his review of the book, Vikram Phukan writes that Roy’s book “builds this world incrementally with archival discipline” and is a “compelling account”. 

“What distinguishes the biography is Roy’s refusal to freeze Chapal Rani at the point of legend,” writes Phukan. Roy’s book traces not just Bhaduri’s performances, his complex identity, and his subtle queerness, but also “pays homage to a form [jatra] often derided with casual contempt.”

Books of the week

Shahrnush Parsipur (left) and Faridoun Farrokh (right). File.
| Photo Credit:
Julie Merin Varughese

Women Without Men (Penguin International Writers), written by Shahrnush Parsipur in Farsi and translated into English by Faridoun Farrokh, has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026. The novel traces the interwoven destinies of five women and imagines a future without men. First published in 1989, after Iran became an Islamic Republic, the book was banned and Parsipur, jailed. In this interview with Kanika Sharma, Parsipur, now 80 and living in exile in the U.S., reflects on magic realism and the future of women in Iran. Challenging the notion that women in Iran lack liberty, she says, “Of course, at present their freedoms have been severely curtailed. But intellectually, Iranian women enjoy considerable freedom. That is why there are so many female writers in Iran.”

In Called By The Hills: A Home in the Himalaya (John Murray/Hachette India), Anuradha Roy writes her first non-fiction book, a memoir on her life in the Himalaya. Since 2000, Roy and her husband [Rukun Advani, who founded the imprint Permanent Black and who was the subject of Ramachandra Guha’s book The Cooking of Books] have been living in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand. Roy writes about her charming home, her wilful garden, the blooming flowers (with beautiful illustrations), and the mighty mountains with “affection, but not sentimentality,” writes Neha Sinha in her review. 

We as a society are preoccupied with our national symbols. They evoke patriotism and passion, love and anger. They demand veneration, and its absence leads to national anxiety. When Hardik Pandya wrapped the national flag around his body, a complaint was filed against him. To mark the 150^th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Parliament earmarked time to discuss the national song. In this essay, Ziya Us Salam writes about two recent books that focus on the history of these symbols: Navtej Sarna’s A Flag to Live and Die For — A Short History of India’s Tricolour (Aleph) and T.M. Krishna’s We the People of India: Decoding a Nation’s Symbols (Context, Westland).

Spotlight 

Rajagopal Parthasarathy. File.

Rajagopal Parthasarathy, Indian poet in English, passed away last week in the U.S. Jerry Pinto writes a tribute to the poet, who unlike his contemporaries such as Adil Jussawalla and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, “flattened early into literary history”.

Nightstand

Author Asako Yuzuki at ALF Bangalore Special Arrangement
| Photo Credit:
Ruth Dhanaraj

Asako Yuzuki’s 2023 novel, Butter, inspired by a real-life murder case, was a bestseller. She is now out with her new book, Hooked, about two women, Shoko and Eriko, living in Tokyo. If you love books on female friendships, well, this could be for you. But keep in mind that it is mostly about obsession and loneliness and can be pretty intense, especially for a bedtime read.

Reading matters

I am not a fan of airport bookshops in India — in general, they are generally poorly stocked and staffed by bored-looking people. But it was nice to see a post on X by senior journalist Rammanohar Reddy about a cool initiative at Coimbatore airport. At the departure waiting hall, a small library has been set up where you can pick up a book, read before you board a flight instead of listlessly scrolling on your phone, and leave it behind before walking into the aircraft. Check it out next time you’re in Coimbatore and tell me about it.

Do write to me with suggestions, comments, and feedback to radhika.s@thehindu.co.in. Have a happy reading week!

Published – March 24, 2026 03:43 pm IST