First Promise (Pratham Pratisruti)

Set in the late 18th and 19th centuries, this widely acclaimed novel, published in the original Bangla as Pratham Pratisruti, attempts to commemorate the struggles and efforts of women, of the mute domestic space, starkly neglected by history. This book, about one of the many unknown women from the ignored interiors of Bengal, also captures the larger social and cultural transformations of the colonial era. Indira Chowdhury's confident translation, with its conscious choice of Indian English equivalents over British and American colloquilisms, carries across the language divide, the flavour of Ashapurna's unique idiomatic style.