Compilation of Ancient Palagans of Bangladesh’s Mymensingh Region Professor Dinesh Chandra Sen of Calcutta University collected and edited traditional Palagans from Greater Mymensingh district with the help of local collectors and published them in 1923 in a book called Mymensingh Geetika. The history of folk songs or songs of Bengal is very old and rich. As there is diversity in lyrical content; Sometimes nature and other times human feelings, folk beliefs, rituals, love-hate, happiness-sadness, palace politics, caste discrimination, conflict-conflict, communal harmony have become the subject matter. The lyrics are presented in simple and conventional language, rhymed poems and songs with metaphors-similes-ornaments in the guise of fairy tales. ‘Kajalrekha’. But at the time of publication or later, no name of its author or publisher has been found. As a result, ‘Kajalrekha’ is widely known as the turn of the fairy tale category in Mymensingh-Gitika.
In the story ‘Kajalrekha’, the names of the characters are individual characters and have special characteristics. For example: Dhaneshwar and Ratneshwar of the Saudagar class, Hiradhana, Sunchraja, Sonar of the king and ruler class, Sanyasi of the pious class, Kankan-dasi and old woman of the lower class.
The main character Kajalrekha Swashat is the epitome of traditional Bengali women. And the pheasant is represented as a symbol of divinity, religion in a miraculous and metaphorical sense. And while Sucharaja’s cursed life is cursed by the gods, his process of redemption is completely mundane. Which is the name of scientific modern medicine.
Except for “Kajalrekha”, almost all the narratives of Mymensingh Gita have tragic endings. Although placed in the royal family by the kindness of Kajalrekha, the ungrateful Kankan-dasi takes the opportunity and commits injustice. The tragic fate of Kankan-dasi is therefore symbolized as the triumph of evil in the rhythm of good and evil, and Kajalrekha’s regaining her honor and deserved status as an inventory of good.
Mymensingh Gitika is a narrative from the Ugyan region, but this story is from the Bhati region. Upstream’s historical commercial relationship with the kilns and the immense interest of the upstream people in the kilns gave rise to such stories. Besides, there are modern attempts to show the reality of one’s own society in terms of other societies or in a different way. The history of trade in Bengal is very old. Along with trade with Arabia, Greece, Rome, Bengal also had trade relations with South and South East Asia. That is why many stories like the story of Dhaneshwar, the story of Chand Saudagar have many examples in our literature. They are considered as elements of Bengali heritage. While Kajalrekha’s narrative tells the travails of a very innocent woman, it also presents the realities of fortune, commerce and folk society.