Amitav Ghosh :
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian author. Born in 1956 in Calcutta, he has lived in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, and currently resides in New York. Ghosh began writing at an early age and studied at Delhi University and Oxford University. He has lectured at several prestigious colleges, in addition to contributing to various newspapers and journals. During his first job, he worked at the Indian Express newspaper and his debut novel, The Circle of Reason, was published in 1986. He has since written a number of fiction and non-fiction works, his most recent being Gun Island, which was published in 2019. His writing has earned him a number of accolades and widespread critical acclaim. These awards include the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Ananda Puraskar, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the International e-Book Award, the Crossword Book Prize, the India Plaza Golden Quill Award, the Prix Médicis, the Blue Metropolis Grand Prix, and the Utah Award for the Environmental Humanities, to name a few. Recently, Ghosh has used his writing to raise awareness about climate change and its impact. A notable example of Ghosh's critical work and climate activism can be found in The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable.
Gun Island :
Ghosh’s latest (after Flood of Fire) is an intellectual romp that traces Bengali folklore, modern human trafficking, and the devastating effects of climate change across generations and countries. Dinanath Datta, who goes by the more Americanized Deen, is an antiques and rare-books dealer in Brooklyn. While in Calcutta, Deen encounters the tale of the Bonduki Sadagar, or the gun merchant, a localized riff on the familiar Bengali tale of a merchant and Manasa Devi, the goddess of snakes and poisonous creatures. Intrigued, Deen pays a visit to the Sundarbans, the borderlands from which the myth originated. At the shrine said to be protected by Manasa Devi, Deen encounters a snake that bites one of the young men with him, with nonfatal but mystical consequences. Shaken, but convinced that it was just a freak coincidence, the rationalist Deen returns to America, where his trip still haunts him. A tumultuous year and a half later, under the patronage of his dear friend Cinta, a glamorous Italian academic, Deen arrives in Venice for the book’s second half, where he befriends the local Bengali community and further uncovers the tale of the Bonduki Sadagar as he is drawn into relief efforts for the refugee crisis. Ghosh writes with deep intelligence and illuminating clarity about complex issues. This ambitious novel memorably draws connections among history, politics, and mythology.
1] How does Amitav Ghosh use myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking?
Migration becomes a special thing in this novel. Using myths, we are told about the changes that have taken place in the atmosphere, and how it has caused migration among the people. Gives an overview of the changes that have taken place in the whole earth.
➡️ Myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar.
In this novel, I found its original meaning of words very difficult. Gun Word does not mean weapons in this novel,but Gun derived from Arabic words Bonduki. Bonduki means a foundry of Weapons deliver country. Bonduki means Venice -Venetian. so Gun is Venice city. The place where the Jews come and live is known as the Ghetto. This place looks like Venice.
In this novel Gun Merchant is connected in the myth story by Amitav Ghosh. Gun merchants drive from one place to another place.
➡️ Manasa Devi
Ma Manasa Devi, the snake goddess, is worshiped by Hindus, mainly for the prevention and cure of snakebites and infectious diseases like smallpox and chicken pox as well as for prosperity and fertility. She stands for both 'destruction' and 'regeneration', almost akin to a snake shedding its skin and being reborn.more...
➡️ Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking.
Humans have undergone many changes in the environment. By polluting the atmosphere we see a lot of problems in the atmosphere even in the present times. Which comes before us as the main part of this novel. Climate change has caused many problems in human life. Which has forced man to move from one place to another. Which is referred to in this novel as migration. Dinanath's story as well as other old stories are connected in this novel. Which migrates from one place to another due to climate change. We will realize from the following events. How events happen in the present and in the past due to changes in the environment, which causes people to move from one place to another.
2] How does Amitav Ghosh make use of 'etymology' of common words to sustain mystery and suspense in the narrative?
Amitabh Ghosh has used a lot of words here which we cannot easily understand. To understand it we have to go into its depths. The words are as follows.
1.Gun Island
Gun derived from Arabic words Bonduki. Bonduki means a foundry of Weapons delivery country. Bonduki means Venice -Venetian. so Gun is Venice city. The place where the Jews come and live is known as the Ghetto. This place looks like Venice.
Gun Island is 'Island within Island…' So the ultimate meaning of the title is - a merchant who visited Venice and who found ghetto-foundry.
2.Land of Palm Sugar Candy
The Bengali word for this is "taal-misrir-dish". Desh = country, taal= kind of palm tree that produces a sugar syrup, Bengali word for sugar candy is misri. Cinta said that the Arabic word "Misr" is used for Egypt. So this place is referred to as Egypt.
3.Land of Kerchieves
Cinta asked for the Bengali translation of this word. Deen told her it was called Rumaali-desh. In Bengali Rumaal is a handkerchief. Chinta said it is about Rumelia, and this Rumeli-Hisari is located in Turkey.
4.Island of Chains
The Bengali word for this is "shikol-dwip". And this is a reference to Sikelia and that is now Sicily. So the Island of Chains is used for Sicily.
3] What are your views on the use of myth and history in the novel Gun Island to draw attention of the reader towards contemporary issues like climate change and migration?
When a man is told a story, he quickly remembers it. Even in that, especially if it is said in conjunction with mythology, man is not a mistake. So here in this novel, Amitabh Ghosh also makes a similar attempt by describing the history which has become a real event due to the change in the atmosphere and linking it with a mythical event. In fact, we can assume that such a catastrophe happened by nature at that time. We are facing many such situations even in the present times. So in this novel we get a better idea of how climate change has caused a lot of problems in human life due to natural change. And man takes many different ways to escape from it. Nature has done a lot of damage to human beings.But what is important is Ghosh wants to draw attention to these serious problems of climate change and migration. Due to which changes are taking place in the natural environment at present and due to this many problems have to be faced. So not only the human community but every living thing in the universe suffers.
4] Is there any connection between 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'?
This novel seems to be related to some other work, so after reading this novel, if you look at the 'The Great Derangement' novels character, it seems that there is a connection between the two. So, this novel "Gun Island" is the answer to another novel "The Great Derangement" by Ghosh. Because this book asks the question, What is the role of literature in the context of climate change ? Why aren't authors talking about it in their works ? And how can they talk with the help of literature ? It argued that not enough contemporary novels were addressing climate change as a central issue of our time.
5] There are many Italian words in the novel. Have you tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of Google Translate App?If so, how is Machine Translation helping in proper translation of Italian words into English and Hindi.
This is how we can see the words and it's meanings. We can't easily understand the meaning of those words, which Ghosh used in the novel. Here is the spreadsheet of these words, click here.
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