Written in 1863, when Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was only twenty-four years old, Sannyāsī is one of two narrative poems from his youthful literary output, the other being Vijana-grāma (The Deserted Village).
Set against the backdrop of British India and the age of steamship travel, it tells the story of a young renunciant who is abducted from Bengal, carried across the seas, and after many trials is finally returned to his homeland. Along the way, the poem traverses a remarkable range of settings and themes – from ocean voyages and foreign lands to the turmoil of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the solitude of the Himalayan mountains. Blending adventure, devotion, patriotism, and reflections on modern science and technology, the poem showcases Bhaktivinoda’s unique ability to weave spiritual themes into a contemporary historical setting.
In the Second Canto, Bhaktivinoda refers to a battle which was probably not a literal transcript of a specific historical incident. Rather, the episode appears to be a poetic reconstruction drawing on several well-known events from the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He mentions a number of persons, in particular, Nana Sahib – one of the principal leaders of the Rebellion, who lead rebel forces in and around Kanpur (Cawnpore) against British rule. He became one of the most controversial figures of the uprising due to his alleged involvement in the Cawnpore massacres, and after the rebellion’s collapse he disappeared, with his ultimate fate remaining unknown.
Why this is interesting is because the poem was written in 1863, only six years after the rebellion ended. That means Bhaktivinoda was writing about events that were still fresh in public memory. He was not treating them as distant history, but as contemporary events.
One of the most striking aspects of Sannyāsī is that it gives us a glimpse of the young Bhaktivinoda’s view of what had occurred in 1857:
- he strongly condemns violence against civilians,
- he presents the British-held side sympathetically,
- he interprets the outcome in moral terms,
- he frames the conflict within a broader spiritual narrative rather than a nationalist one.
For a literary historian, that makes the Second Canto of Sannyāsī especially valuable. It is one of the earliest Bengali poetic responses to the aftermath of the Rebellion, written by a figure who would later become one of the most influential thinkers of modern Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism.
When the Ṭhākura published Sannyāsī together with Vijana-grāma (The Deserted Village), the poems received a review in the Calcutta Review of 1864 (Vol. 39). While the reviewer praises the young Indian author for his efforts in English poetry and recognizes Sannyāsī as the stronger work, the article never quite escapes the condescending attitude characteristic of much colonial criticism. Such patronizing encouragement was a familiar feature of the literary culture of the time.
“We have glanced at this little volume of Bengali verse, which we have no hesitation in recommending as suitable especially for Hindu women. We do not expect that such will read the Calcutta Review, but many, we trust, of our readers will be interested in knowing what books may be safely recommended as good in style and unexceptionable in moral tone, and with that object we intend, if duly assisted, to take an occasional survey of the field of vernacular literature.
“The Vijanagrama, the first poem in this book, is an account of the desolation of the once populous village of Ula, near Rana Ghata, in consequence of the ravages of the late epidemic. It is pleasing in style, and evidently on model of Goldsmith; and we would rather see a Bengali using his English studies to purify and improve the style of vernacular verse than find him composing imitation English epics about Porus and Alexander.
“The Sannyasi in two chapters is an abler production, and reflects much credit on the author. Of the minor poems, the description of spring, and the translation from Carlyle are very fair specimens. We hope the author will continue to give his countrymen the benefit of his elegant and unassuming pen, which is quite free from those objectionable licenses of thought and expression which abound in many dramas recently published, the want of the day is the creation of a literature for Hindu ladies; and we trust that many more educated natives will have the good sense to devote their time and abilities to the attainment of this most desirable end.”
In attempting to translate Sannyāsī into English, we have used the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet that Bhaktivinoda himself appreciated during his English education, particularly for his narrative clarity, measured rhythm, and moral seriousness, which parallel the didactic and story-driven qualities of nineteenth-century Bengali verse.
Although a strictly word-for-word translation might seem desirable, it cannot faithfully convey the poem’s meaning because Bengali poetic expression relies heavily on compact compounds, implied subjects, and culturally loaded terms that do not have direct equivalents in English.
