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Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s Devdas was published in Bengali in 1917.
The ‘Devdas metaphor’, a time-honoured, enduring tragic symbol of unfulfilled love, has captivated readers and film-going 
audiences for the better part of a century now. But interest in the original Devdas, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s piece de resistance, has been rekindled recently in the wake of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, which is and adaptation of the Bengali novel. This is good time to take a fresh look at the novel in translation, and to look at the specific ways in which the Devdas metaphor has engaged our imagination over several generations.
It was almost one o’clock at night. A faint moonshine clung to the sky. Parvati wrapped herself in swathes of bed sheets and came down the stairs very softly. She looked around-not a soul was awake. She opened the door and walked into the street quietly. On the village roads there wasn’t a soul around, nothing stirred and she had hardly a chance of running into someone. She came and stood before the gate of the zamindar’s house. On the threshold the old guard Krishan Singh, lay on his chairpoy reading the Ramayan. He spotted Parvati and without looking up he asked, “Who is that?”
“It’s me.”
The guard could tell it was a woman. He thought it was a maid and went back to reading his book. Parvati went on her way. It was summer and some servants were lying in the courtyard. Some were asleep and some were half awake. In that state even if they saw her, they came to the same conclusion as the guard and didn’t say anything. With nothing to stop her, Parvati entered the house and took the stairs. She knew each room, every corridor of this house. She had no problems finding Devdas’s room. The door was open and a lamp burned within. Parvati entered the room and found Devdas fast asleep. In his hands a book lay open. It looked as if he had just fallen asleep. She stoked the lamp and sat down at his feet. The wall clock ticked away noisily. Besides that, all else was silent, fast asleep.
Parvati touched Devdas’s feet and softly called, “Dev-da.”
Devdas heard someone calling him in his sleep. He didn’t open his eyes, but he answered, “Hmm?”
“O Dev-da.”
This time Devdas rubbed his eyes and sat up straight. Parvati’s face was uncovered and the lamp burned brightly; he had no trouble recognizing her. But at first he couldn’t believe his eyes. Then he said, “Who is that—Paro, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Devdas asked, “Have you come here all alone, so late in the night?”
Parvati said, “Yes.”
Devdas shuddered with apprehension, “Weren’t you scared?”
Parvati smiled shortly and replied, “I have never really been afraid of ghosts.”
“Maybe not ghosts, but you should certainly fear people. Why are you here?”
“Right now, I don’t fear people either,” Parvati thought to herself.
“How did you come inside? Has someone seen you?”
“The guard saw me.”
Devdas’s eyes widened, “The guard? Anyone else?”
“The servants are sleeping outside. Some of them may have seen me too.”
Devdas jumped out of bed and shut the door. “Did someone recognize you?”
Parvati showed the least concern as she said, “They all know me sight. Perhaps some of them did.”
“What? Why did you do this, Paro?”
Parvati thought, “How would you know that?” But she didn’t say a word and just sat there, a little embarrassed.
“So late….. shame on you. How will you face everyone tomorrow?”
Parvati kept her head bent low and she replied,” I have the strength for that.”
Devdas wasn’t angry, but he was very upset as he said, “ Oh, the shame of it—are you still a child? Didn’t you feel any shame coming here like this?”
Parvati shook her head and said, “No.”
“Tomorrow won’t you feel very ashamed?”
At this question Parvati shot him a sharp yet sorrowful glance and then replied quite easily, “I would have felt ashamed if I wasn’t sure that you would do everything to shield me from it.”
Devdas was stunned. “I? But I would be equally ashamed.”
Parvati replied in the same unwavering tone as before, “You? But how does it affect you, dev-da?” After a slight pause, she said, “You are a man. Sooner or later they’d all forget about your disgrace, very soon no one would care to remember when and how the unfortunate Parvati had cast away her shame and come to rest head at your feet.”
“What is this, Paro?”
“And I---”
