The ‘Imaginary’ World of the Afterlife: Parallel World in Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s Debjan
Incursiuni în imaginar November 2, 2024 Ayusman Chakraborty
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's novel Debjan (1946) depicts an afterlife where dead protagonists travel through multiple parallel worlds. Although Bandyopadhyay is often seen as a realist writer, this novel reveals his imaginative power by blending orthodox Hindu beliefs with Theosophy, a Western occult movement that claimed roots in Eastern religions. The article highlights how Bandyopadhyay uses Theosophical concepts like "thought form" and "tulpa"—the idea that mental constructs can be made real through spiritual training—to show spirits creating imaginary worlds. This mingling of Eastern and Western spiritualism makes Debjan a unique literary site of cultural encounter, a point previously overlooked by critics.