Purna Shashi

The Bengal Famine of 1943-44 was a man-made disaster that caused the deaths of millions of Indians who resided in the eastern regions of the country, especially in Bengal and what is today Bangladesh. Chittaprosad—one of India’s most important artists and a committed member of the Communist Party of India- was known for his records of pivotal political and social upheavals in the country. He travelled to the famine-stricken regions and made heart-rending sketches and drawings of the people’s conditions. The desolation caused by the famine was not only physical sickness and death, but exhaustive psychological trauma amongst the survivors. In this work, Purna Shashi, a female figure can be seen sitting hunched over and bearing visible marks of starvation. The artist portrays her trauma through her solemn, almost hazed expression. Dated to mid-1944, this picture is from a period when the food shortage had ended but diseases such as malaria continued to thrive. Chittaprosad made many such sketches, some of which were published by the Communist Party of India in their magazine, the People’s War, and some others were published by the artist in 1943 in a book titled Hungry Bengal. The book, however, was seized and burnt by the British who were still the colonial rulers of India. Only one copy survived, and it is now a part of the DAG collection.