An Illustration from the Tak Duma Dum Series (Jackal and Bride)

PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY OF NANDALAL BOSE

Ink and watercolour on paper
6 7/8 × 5 1/8 in. (17.5 × 12.8 cm.)

EXHIBITED:
Postcards by Nandalal Bose, Akar Prakar, Kolkata, 5 - 24 December, 2011.

LITERATURE:
Debdutta Gupta, Postcards by Nandalal Bose, exhibition catalogue, Akar Prakar, Kolkata, 2011, unpaginated, illustrated.

The following two lots are original illustrations to a children’s play, Tak Duma Dum, written by Jnanadanandini Tagore, who was married to Satyendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore’s eldest brother. The author is best known as a social reformer, who influenced the earliest phase of women’s empowerment in 19th Century Bengal, and she also participated in the rich literary traditions of the Tagore family, writing articles for the Bengali journal Bharati. In 1885, Jnanadanandini Devi established Balak, the first children’s literary magazine in Bengali, to which Rabindranath contributed a number of poems, plays, and short stories. Jnanadanandini also wrote for the publication; notably, two plays, Tak Duma Dum and Sat Bhai Champa, both of which were highly regarded in literary circles at the time.

Tak Duma Dum revolves around a jackal who gets thorns stuck in his whiskers when trying to steal aubergines from the village barber’s vegetable patch. The jackal approaches the barber to ask for his assistance in getting the thorns out, but as the barber uses his tweezers, he hurts the jackal. As compensation for his discomfort, the barber gives the jackal the tweezers. Later, the jackal sees a potter in his garden trying to dig up the soil with his bare hands. The jackal, in an attempt to help, offers him his newly acquired tweezers, which promptly break, and the potter offers him a pot as compensation for his loss. Moving on, the jackal meets a gardener trying to water his plants with his hands, so yet again, to be helpful, he offers him the use of his pot, but alas, the gardener breaks the pot. In exchange for the broken pot, he gives the jackal a Bengali groom’s wedding hat called a Topor. Later that day, the jackal spots a wedding procession led by a groom going to fetch his bride, but the groom has no hat, so the jackal loans the groom his hat. The following day, the jackal lies in wait for the wedding party to return, and sees that his hat has been ruined during the wedding celebrations. As compensation for this latest loss, he demands the bride! The jackal’s final barter, then, is to the drummer in the wedding party. To him, he offers to give the bride in exchange for a drum. The finale of the play shows the jackal singing a song explaining his trials and travails, to the beat of his newly acquired drum!

Tweezers for a Nose,
Tak Duma Dum,
A Pot for the Tweezers,
Tak Duma Dum Dum,
A Wedding Hat for a Pot,
Tak Duma Dum Dum,
A Bride for a Wedding Hat,
Tak Duma Dum Dum,
A Drum for a Bride,
Tak Duma Dum Dum !!

*NATIONAL ART TREASURE – NON-EXPORTABLE ITEM (Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of Sale at the back of the catalogue)
Condition: The colours of the original appear less saturated than the catalogue illustration, especially within the blue tones of the sky. A vertical crease with associated cracking to pigment is visible within the trunk of the palm tree in the upper right corner. Scattered spots of foxing and staining are visible throughout, as seen in the catalogue illustration. Two pinholes to the paper are visible in the skyline behind the central figures. Not examined out of frame. Overall good condition.