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Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
Written in a compelling story-telling style, ‘Raja, Jungle and Black Moon’ is the translation of a well-known Hindi novel, ‘Raja, Jangle aur Kala Chand’. This tale of Bastar is an old story that begins in the 13th Century. The Raja who reached Bastar, one of the most secluded jungles, an abode of the primitive tribes of our time, had to become the king of that area – a place wherein the local dialect didn’t even have the word ‘king’ in it. The small, princely kingdom of Bastar was destined to have a dramatic end due to its endless desires and greed for power and wealth. It was the threshold for the beginning of a new era of the uprising of the people of Bastar against the British rule, against injustice and the acceptance of their King or Raja as the ruler of Bastar. Rendered in English by a well-known translator, Naresh ‘Nadeem’, this novel is a long saga of many small intertwined interesting stories of Bastar. This story presents the sufferings, pain, simplicity and happenings in the world of the Bastar tribes, using short affluent sentences combined with the flair of pure story-telling, to make their life, values and their way of living understandable to a common reader.
Tarun Bhatnagar
Tarun Bhatnagar is a short story writer, novelist, poet and translator. His work includes four collections of short stories in Hindi, ‘Gulmehndi Ki Jhadiyan’, published in 2008 by Bhartiya Gyanpith; ‘Bhogol Ke Darwaze Par’, published in 2014 by Rajkamal Publication’; ‘Jangal Mein Darpan’, published in 2016 by Adhar Publication; and ‘Pralay Mein Naav’, published in 2021 by Adhar Publication, and other short stories, taken in collections of some selective works, which contribute to more than thirty short stories. His first novel ‘Lautati Nahin Jo Hansi’ was published in 2014. Then, one of his works based on Bastar, ‘Raja, Jangal aur Kala Chand’ was released in 2019, and the latest one ‘Bedava: ek prem katha’, came out in 2020. Some short stories written by him were translated into English and published in a collection titled, ‘The Doomsday Boat and other short stories’. His works have been recognized and endorsed by many prestigious literary awards, which include Spandan Kriti Samman, Vanmali Award, Vageshwari Award, etc. He lives in Madhya Pradesh, India. The proposed novel, ‘Raja, Jungle and Black Moon’ was originally written by him in Hindi.
Translator : Naresh ‘Nadeem’
The novel presented here for consideration, is a translation of the Hindi novel ‘Raja, Jangle aur Kala Chaand’. It has been rendered into English by Mr. Naresh ‘Nadeem’, a writer and freelance journalist, who has so far translated about 250 books covering the Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and English languages. Two of his translations have been published by Penguin India Ltd. He is well known for his translation of ‘Kai chaand the sare aasman’ of Shamsur Rahman Farukhi in Hindi, published by Penguin India Ltd.
