Taranath Tantrik


Taranath Tantrik is a fictional character of Bengali literature created by Bengali novelist Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay.

Character

Taranath Tantrik is a mystic figure and practitioner of the occult. He lives with his daughter Chari in a house in central Kolkata after having lost his supernatural powers because of malpractices of Tantra. The person looking like a man in his mid fifties. He is an astrologer by profession and had many encounters with the supernatural forces in his extensive travels throughout the Bengal. He shares those experiences with few friends in his Mott lane house over cups of tea and cigarettes. It is stated that the writer is a regular visitor at Taranath’s house, sometimes with his friends, sometimes alone.

Stories

In 1940, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay created the character Taranath but he wrote only two short stories featuring this character and much of Taranath’s life is displayed prominently through these stories. Rest of six stories featuring Taranath Tantrik is written by his son Taradas Bandyopadhyay in two acclaimed books named Taranath Tantrik and Olatchokro. All the stories are supernatural and paranormal, based on dark arts, mystery and magic realism.

Adaptations

Stories of Taranath was broadcast in Sunday Suspense at Kolkata Radio Mirchi. Bengali filmmaker Q alias Qaushiq Mukherjee has made Hoichoi web series named Taranath Tantrik based on the stories of Taranath Tantrik. Koushik Roy and Jayanta Kripalni played the title role. The character was reimagined as TNT for a series of graphic novels by Shamik Dasgupta and in another Tele serial of Colors Bangla, actor Tota Roy Chowdhury played as Taranath.