Kadambari Devi's Suicide Note

19 April, 1884. Kadambari Devi takes a massive dose of opium to end her life. She is Jyotirindranath Tagore’s wife, Rabindranath Tagore’s sister-in-law, his beloved Notun Bouthan. She died two days later, on 21st April. Almost immediately after Kadambari’s death, Satyendranath Tagore’s wife, Mejo Bouthakurun Jnanadanandini Devi and Jyotirindranath left on a sea voyage. They even take Rabindranath along. Why does Kadambari end her life? What led her to take such a step? Does she tell her story in her suicide note? The suicide note has been lost for 127 years! Let us think that it has been chanced upon only recently. No, it’s not exactly a suicide note. It’s a long epistle. Burnt pieces of paper, almost difficult to read. Who was it to save the remaining letter from the scorching fire? Rabindranath? Did he then defy his father?

Let us suppose that after a long and painstaking effort, it is finally possible to decipher the near-burnt last letter of Kadambari Devi. And now it is for the world to listen.

Vertaling: Jhimli Mookherjee

Publicatiedatum

Luisterboek: 19 april 2021