Poetry
Rhymes Without Reason
আবোল তাবোল
Sukumar Ray · 1923
Synopsis
Forty-six titled nursery rhymes and seven untitled quatrains fill an upside-down world: a lemon-cow that can be seen at Haru's office, a singer, Bhishmalochan Sharma, whose voice carries from Delhi to Burma, a suitor, Gangaram, who failed the exam nineteen times, a king who howls like a jackal beside a throne where broken bottles hang. Words are invented, sounds answer one another, beasts are made of pieces of other beasts, and beneath the laughter the satire of colonial Bengal shows through.
Context
The collection appeared on 19 September 1923 with U. Ray and Sons, the house founded by the author's father, nine days after the latter's death; the poems had first appeared in the magazine Sandesh. The author drew the illustrations and revised the text on his deathbed. It has often been compared to Lewis Carroll. Satyajit Ray translated part of it into English in 1970, Sukanta Chaudhuri forty-four pieces in 1987, with a preface by Satyajit, and Sampurna Chattarji a selection in 2004.
Who it is for
Short rhymed poems meant to be read aloud, whose play on sounds only partly survives translation. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
The most famous collection of absurd nursery rhymes in India, which has marked generations of Bengali children.
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