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{{short description|1917 novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay}}
{{about|the Bengali novel|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = Devdas
| translator    =
| image         = Devdas Bengali book front cover.jpg
| alt           = Front cover of the Bengali novel Devdas
| caption = ''Devdas'' – front cover
| author        = [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = India
| language      = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| series        =
| genre         = [[Novel]]
| publisher     = GCS
| release_date  = 30 June 1917
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover|hardback]] and [[paperback]])
| pages         =
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}
'''''Devdas''''' ({{langx|bn|দেবদাস}}, transliterated as ''Dēbôdās'') is a [[Bengali novels|Bengali]] [[romance novel]] written by [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidden childhood love; and [[Chandramukhi (character)|Chandramukhi]], a reformed [[courtesan]] ([[tawaif]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uiowa.edu/indiancinema/devdas|title=The DEVDAS Phenomenon|website=The University of Iowa|access-date=2018-12-24}}</ref> Devdas has been adapted on screen 20 times for film and 5 times for single song.

The character of Parvati was based on a real life second wife of [[zamindar]] Bhuvan Mohan Chowdhury,<ref>[[Sukumar Sen (linguist)|Sen, Sukumar]] (1353 Bengali Year). ''Bangla Sahityer Itihas'' বাঙ্গালা সাহিত্যের ইতিহাস [History of Bengali Literature]. V:3. Calcutta: Modern Book Agency. p. 552.</ref> It was said that the writer had even visited that village.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.prothomalo.com/onnoalo/article/1352486/%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8|title=শতবর্ষে দেবদাস|website=[[Prothom Alo]]|date=27 October 2017 |language=bn|access-date=2018-12-23}}</ref> According to sources, the original village was called Hatipota.<ref name=":0" />

==Plot==
Devdas is a young man from a wealthy [[Bengali people|Bengali]] family in the [[British Raj]] in the early 1900s. Parvati (Paro) is a young woman from a middle-class Bengali Brahmin family. The two families live in a village called Taalshonapur in Bengal, and Devdas and Parvati are childhood friends.

Devdas goes away for a couple of years to live and study in [[Calcutta]] (now Kolkata). During vacations, he returns to his village. Suddenly, both realise that their easy comfort in each other's innocent comradeship has changed to something deeper. Devdas sees that Parvati is no longer the small girl he knew. Parvati looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into a happy lifelong journey in marriage. According to prevailing social custom, Parvati's parents would have to approach Devdas's parents and propose marriage of Parvati to Devdas as Parvati longs for.

Parvati's mother approaches Devdas's mother, Harimati, with a marriage proposal. Although Devdas's mother loves Parvati very much, she isn't so keen on forming an alliance with the family next door. Besides, Parvati's family has a long-standing tradition of accepting dowry from the groom's family for marriage rather than sending dowry with the bride. The alternative family tradition of Parvati's family influences Devdas's mother's decision not to consider Parvati as Devdas' bride, especially as Parvati belongs to a trading (''becha-kena chottoghor'') lower family. The "trading" label is applied in context of the marriage custom followed by Parvati's family. Devdas's father, Narayan Mukherjee, who also loves Parvati, does not want Devdas to get married so early in life and isn't keen on the alliance. Parvati's father, Nilkantha Chakravarti, feeling insulted at the rejection, finds an even richer husband for Parvati.

When Parvati learns of her planned marriage, she stealthily meets Devdas at night, desperately believing that he will accept her hand in marriage. Devdas has never previously considered Parvati as his would-be wife. Surprised by Parvati's boldly visiting him alone at night, he also feels pained for her. Making up his mind, he tells his father he wants to marry Parvati. Devdas's father disagrees.

In a confused state, Devdas flees to Calcutta. From there, he writes a letter to Parvati, saying that they should simply continue only as friends. Within days, however, he realises that he should have been bolder. He goes back to his village and tells Parvati that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love.

By now, Parvati's marriage plans are in an advanced stage. She refuses to go back to Devdas and chides him for his cowardice and vacillation. She, however, requests Devdas to come and see her before he dies. He vows to do so.

Devdas goes back to Calcutta and Parvati is married off to the widower, Bhuvan Choudhuri, who has three children. An elderly gentleman and [[zamindar]] of Hatipota he had found his house and home so empty and lustreless after his wife's death, that he decided to marry again. After marrying Parvati, he spent most of his day in Pujas and looking after the zamindari.

In Calcutta, Devdas's carousing friend, Chunni Lal, introduces him to a [[tawaif]] (courtesan) named [[Chandramukhi (character)|Chandramukhi]]. Devdas takes to heavy drinking at the courtesan's place; she falls in love with him, and looks after him. His health deteriorates through excessive drinking and despair – a drawn-out form of suicide. In his mind, he frequently compares Parvati and Chandramukhi. Strangely he feels betrayed by Parvati, though it was she who had loved him first, and confessed her love for him. Chandramukhi knows and tells him how things had really happened. This makes Devdas, when sober, hate and loathe her very presence. He drinks more and more to forget his plight. Chandramukhi sees it all happen, suffering silently. She senses the real man behind the fallen, aimless Devdas he has become, and can't help but love him.

Knowing death approaches him fast, Devdas goes to Hatipota to meet Parvati to fulfill his vow. He dies at her doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of his death, Parvati runs towards the door, but her family members prevent her from stepping out of the house.

The novella powerfully depicts the customs of society that prevailed in Bengal in the early 1900s, which largely prevented a happy ending to a true and tender love story.

==Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations==
[[File:Devdas 1936.webm|thumb|right|Kundal Lal Saigal and Jamuna in ''Devdas'', Barua's 1936 Hindustani version|thumbtime=6:02]]

The novel has been made into films in many South Asian languages languages, including [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], [[Hindi]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Assamese language|Assamese]] and [[Malayalam]].<ref name="LM">{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/05234329/Multiple-takes.html|title=Multiple Takes: Devdas's journey in Indian cinema – from the silent era of the 1920s to the opulent Hindi blockbuster of 2002|last=Sharma|first=Sanjukta|date=7 June 2008|publisher=Livemint|access-date=2009-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2002/05/31/stories/2002053100950300.htm |title=The Hindu : The immortal lover<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809095254/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2002/05/31/stories/2002053100950300.htm |archive-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>[http://www.uiowa.edu/~incinema/DEVDAS.html Devdas phenomenon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113071438/http://www.uiowa.edu/~incinema/DEVDAS.html |date=13 January 2012 }}</ref> It is the most filmed non-epic story in India.

Notable film versions of the novella include:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! rowspan=2|Year !! rowspan=2|Title !! rowspan=2|Language !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"|Director !! colspan=3 class="unsortable" | Cast !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
! Devdas !! Parvati!! [[Chandramukhi (character)|Chandramukhi]]
|-
| 1928 || ''[[Devdas (1928 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Silent film]] || [[Naresh Mitra]] || Phani Burma || Tarakbala || Niharbala/Miss Parul ||
|-
| 1935 || ''[[Devdas (1935 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] || [[P.C. Barua|P. C. Barua]] || [[P.C. Barua]] || [[Jamuna Barua]] || [[Chandrabati Devi]] ||
|-
| 1936 || ''[[Devdas (1936 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]|| [[Pramathesh Barua|P. C. Barua]]|| [[K.L. Saigal]] || [[Jamuna Barua]] || Rajkumari ||
|-
| 1937 || ''[[Devdas (1937 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Assamese language|Assamese]] || [[Pramathesh Barua|P. C. Barua]]|| [[Phani Sarma]] || [[Zubeida]] || [[Mohini (Assamese actress)|Mohini]] ||
|-
| rowspan=2|1953 || ''[[Devadasu (1953 film)|Devadasu]]'' || [[Telugu language|Telugu]] || [[Vedantam Raghavayya]]|| [[Akkineni Nageswara Rao]] || [[Savitri (actress)|Savitri]] || [[Lalitha (actress)|Lalitha]] ||
|-
|''[[Devadasu (1953 film)|Devadas]]'' ||[[Tamil language|Tamil]] || [[Vedantam Raghavayya]]|| [[Akkineni Nageswara Rao]] || [[Savitri (actress)|Savitri]] || [[Lalitha (actress)|Lalitha]] ||
|-
| 1955 || ''[[Devdas (1955 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Hindi language|Hindi]] || [[Bimal Roy]] || [[Dilip Kumar]] || [[Suchitra Sen]] || [[Vyjayanthimala]] ||
|-
| 1965 || ''[[Devdas (1965 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Urdu]] || Khawaja Sarfaraz || Habib Taalish || [[Shamim Ara]] || [[Nayyar Sultana]] || [[Pakistani film]]
|-
| 1974 || ''[[Devadasu (1974 film)|Devadasu]]'' || [[Telugu language|Telugu]] || [[Vijaya Nirmala]] || [[Ghattamaneni Krishna]] || [[Vijaya Nirmala]] || [[Jayanthi (actress)|Jayanthi]] ||
|-
| 1978 || ''[[Muqaddar Ka Sikandar]]'' || [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] || [[Prakash Mehra]] || [[Amitabh Bachchan]] || [[Rakhee Gulzar|Raakhee]] || [[Rekha]] || loosely inspired by ''Devdas''
|-
| 1979 || ''[[Devdas (1979 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] || [[Dilip Roy (actor)|Dilip Roy]] || [[Soumitra Chatterjee]] || [[Sumitra Mukherjee]] || [[Supriya Choudhury]] || also known as ''Debdas''
|-
| 1980 || ''[[Prema Tarangalu]]'' || [[Telugu language|Telugu]] || S. P. Chitti Babu || [[Krishnam Raju]] || [[Sujatha (actress)|Sujatha]] || [[Jayasudha]] || remake of ''Muqaddar Ka Sikandar''
|-
| 1981 || ''[[Amara Kaaviyam (1981 film)|Amara Kaaviyam]]'' || [[Tamil language|Tamil]] || Amirtham || [[Sivaji Ganesan]] || [[Madhavi (actress)|Madhavi]] || [[Sripriya]] || remake of ''Muqaddar Ka Sikandar''
|-
| 1982 || ''[[Devdas (1982 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] || [[Chashi Nazrul Islam]] || [[Bulbul Ahmed]] || [[Kabori Sarwar]] || [[Anwara Begum|Anwara]] || [[Bangladeshi film]]
|-
| 1989 || ''[[Devadas (1989 film)|Devadas]]'' || [[Malayalam]] || [[Crossbelt Mani]] || [[Venu Nagavally]] || [[Parvathy Jayaram|Parvathy]] || [[Ramya Krishnan]] ||
|-
| rowspan=2|2002 || ''[[Devdas (2002 Bengali film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] || [[Shakti Samanta]] || [[Prasenjit Chatterjee]] || [[Arpita Pal]] || [[Indrani Halder]] ||
|-
|''[[Devdas (2002 Hindi film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Hindi language|Hindi]] || [[Sanjay Leela Bhansali]] || [[Shah Rukh Khan]] || [[Aishwarya Rai]] || [[Madhuri Dixit]] ||
|-
| 2004 || ''Devdas'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] ||  || [[Parambrata Chatterjee]] || [[Monami Ghosh]] || [[Sreelekha Mitra]] || 
|-
| 2009 || ''[[Dev.D]]''|| [[Hindi language|Hindi]] || [[Anurag Kashyap]] || [[Abhay Deol]] || [[Mahie Gill]] || [[Kalki Koechlin]] || Modern-Day Adaptation
|-
| 2010 || ''Devdas'' || [[Urdu language|Urdu]] || Iqbal Kasmiri || Nadeem Shah || [[Zara Sheikh]] || [[Meera (Irtiza Rubab)|Meera]] || [[Pakistani film]]
|-
| 2013 || ''[[Devdas (2013 film)|Devdas]]'' || [[Bengali language|Bengali]] || [[Chashi Nazrul Islam]] || [[Shakib Khan]] || [[Apu Biswas]] || [[Moushumi]] || [[Bangladeshi film]]
|-
| 2019 || ''[[Nayaka Ra Na Devdas]]'' || [[Odia language|Odia]] || Mrutyunjaya Sahoo|| Asit Patra|| [[Bhoomika Dash]] || Anu Choudhary||
|}

* In [[Guru Dutt]]'s critically acclaimed film ''[[Kaagaz Ke Phool]]'' (1959), a sub plot involves Dutt directing a film titled ''Devdas'' with [[Waheeda Rehman]] playing Paro.
* In ''[[Haath Ki Safai]] (1974)'', a song in the movie is about the play ''Devdas'' with [[Randhir Kapoor]] as Devdas and [[Hema Malini]] as Chandramukhi.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9C3E6Ge_Dk Peene Walon Ko Peene Ka Bahana Chahiye – Haath Ki Safai 1974 1080p HD]</ref>
* In the Tamil remake of the song, [[Kamal Haasan]] plays Devdas and [[Sripriya]] plays Chandramukhi.
* A sequel of the 1953 Telugu version of [[Devadasu (1953 film)|''Devdasu'']] was released in year 1978, titled ''[[Devadasu Malli Puttadu]]''.
* In the 2006 Kannada blockbuster ''[[Mungaru Male]]'', a rabbit who is protagonist's pet is named after Devdas. 
* In the 2012 Hindi film ''[[Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum]]'', a dream sequence has [[Tusshar Kapoor]] as Devdas, [[Neha Sharma]] as Paro and [[Sarah Jane Dias]] as Chandramukhi.

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
* [[Bengal Renaissance]]
* [[Mujra|Mujra dance]]
* ''[[Parineeta (novel)|Parinita]]/[[Parineeta (novel)|Parineeta]]'' (1914)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Manzar|first1=Benazir|last2=Aravind|first2=Aju|editor-last=Dominic|editor-first=K. V.|title=International Journal on Multicultural Literature (IJML)|volume=8|issue=1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECVIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70|date=January 2018|publisher=Modern History Press|isbn=978-1-61599-382-6|issn=2231-6248|pages=70–76|chapter=Devdas to Dev.D : Transformation in the Cinematic World of Devdas}}

==External links==
{{Wikisourcelang|bn|দেবদাস}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071016144547/http://penguinbooksindia.com/Books/bookdetail.asp?ID=4996 Penguin India book review]
* {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20090508093010/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2003/03/02/stories/2003030200180300.htm ''The Hindu'' (newspaper) essay on the novel]}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080414003251/http://barnamala.org/barnamala/554 Devdas in Bengali Text]

{{Devdas}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devdas (Novella)}}
[[Category:Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]
[[Category:1917 novels]]
[[Category:Bengali-language literature]]
[[Category:Love stories]]
[[Category:Novels set in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Fictional Bengali people]]
[[Category:Indian Bengali-language novels]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Indian books on courtesan]]