Satyanweshi (novel)
| Author | Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay |
|---|---|
| Original title | (সত্যান্বেষী)Satyanweshi or Satyanveshi' |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
| Series | Byomkesh Bakshi |
| Genre | Detective, Crime, Mystery |
| Publisher | P.C. Sorkar and Sons also anthologized by Ananda Publishers |
Publication date | 1934 in hardcover Byomkesher diary and in the Sharadindu Omnibus in 1972 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 182 pp |
| Preceded by | none |
| Followed by | Pother Kanta |
Satyanweshi (Bengali: সত্যান্বেষী) also spelled Satyanveshi, (Lit: The Truth Seeker) is a detective story written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay featuring the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi and his friend, assistant, and narrator Ajit Bandyopadhyay. It is the first Byomkesh adventure written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.[1]
Characters
- Byomkesh Bakshi
- Ajit Bandyopadhyay
- Punti Ram
- Anukul Babu
- Ashwini Babu
- Ghanshyam Babu
- Police Commissioner
Plot
Ajit Bandyopadhyay lives in a hostel, along with some other people. Ashwini Babu and Ghanshyam Babu are two of the hostel inmates; they live next to Ajit. The hostel is run by a philanthropic homeopathic doctor, Anukul Babu. Ajit has recently become aware of some murders that have happened in their locality. They seemed to have been done by the same person, possibly a serial killer.
One morning a young man named Pratul Chandra Mitra comes to Anukul Babu, looking for a vacant room in the hostel. Anukul Babu informs him that there is no vacant room currently available in the hostel. Pratul Chandra Mitra sees Ajit sitting nearby and requests the latter to allow Pratul to share his room with him. Pratul even offers to pay the entire rent, if allowed to do so. Ajit accepts.
One night Ashwini Babu is murdered and Pratul gets arrested. But after sometime he is released, without any explanation. That night the murderer of Ashwini Babu tries to kill Pratul and Ajit, but he fails. The real killer gets arrested, who is Anukul Babu. He has been doing the business of cocaine behind homeopathy. Ashwini Babu came upon the secret and thus had to be killed.
After that, it is revealed to Ajit that Pratul Chandra Mitra is really Byomkesh Bakshi who has assumed an alias to know the truth behind the chain of murders. Byomkesh takes Ajit to his home and they begin living together in the former's house with a servant, Punti Ram.
Adaptations
Radio
- The Sunday Suspense series of 98.3 Radio Mirchi (Kolkata) adapted this novel as radio drama, voiced by Mir Afsar Ali, RJ Deep and Richard.
Television
- This was one of the stories of 1993 TV series Byomkesh Bakshi, that were recreated for broadcasting on Doordarshan, the Indian National Network, by Basu Chatterjee, and immediately went on to become one of the most memorable episodes.
- The story adapted into another TV series in 2014 named Byomkesh, which aired on Bengali channel ETV Bangla.
Film
- 2015 Hindi language film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is mainly based on this story.[2][3][4]