ISSN (Online): 2455-3662

EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal

ARUP KUMAR DUTTA'S NOVEL- THE KAZIRANGA

Dr Jintu Borah
Assistant Professor, Dispur Law College, Guwahati-6,

ABSTRACT
Arup Kumar Dutta is a prominent literary figure in English in North East India. He is the first writer who writes juvenile English
detective novels from the region. He has achieved many awards- Life Time Achievement Honour by Association of writers and
Illustrators for children (2014), Padma Shri by Government of India for children literature in 2014, children book prizes from
Children's Book Trust for The Kaziranga Trail which was published in 1978.
In the novel we find child heroes. They are very talented and hard working. They are conscientious and good. They want
society to be good and so they take risks in their lives to catch the criminals of various levels. In we find the heroes are Bubul,
Dhanai and Jonti who are able to catch the rhino poachers.
In the novel we have seen the role of animals also. In TKT we find Makhani, the elephant who helps the teen heroes to travel
through the thick forest.
ABBREVIATION :I. TKT- The Kaziranga Trail.
KEYWORDS: Adventure, teenagers, young -adult, fiction, novels, detective, juvenile, miscreants, criminal.

In the collection of novels, Adventure Stories of Arup Kumar a third person point of view. The third person point of view is
Dutta there are four detective children’s novels-The Kaziranga also known as the omniscient point of view. Regarding the point
Trail is the first novel. They are juvenile detective novels or of view, we can see the following lines as guiding lines:
adventure novels where the heroes catch the poachers or
criminals. The heroes are teenagers. With the help of elders, ‘…the narrator is free to move at will in time and place, to shift
they are able to catch some miscreants, unscrupulous people. from character to character’’…
Here we find the main characters are only teenagers. They (Abrahams M.H.and Harpham Geoffrey Galt, A Handbook of
are very ordinary boys but showed their intelligence at the time. Literary Terms, P-234.)
In the novel of Arup Kumar Dutta, we find that the characters
are real like. They are not those who are hard to imagine. For Crime and misdirection of the readers are two striking
example, Dhanai, Jonti and Bubul in TKT are like any features of detective novels. In almost every detective novel we
Assamese boys who live in the village. They are not mere find such features. The Oxford Companion to English
puppets; they are endowed with flesh and blood. The author Literature writes about it in the following words:
makes the ordinary boys extraordinary with their insight,
intelligence and circumstance. So, the readers accept them ''Crime has been a staple of storytelling since its beginnings,
without any doubt. Moreover, the author portrays some Police misdirection of the reader, leading to striking revelations at a
Superintendent, Police Commissioner, and constables who are late crisis point, has equally had its special position in fiction."
duty bound, honest and endowed with human qualities. (Brich Dinah, The Oxford Companion to English Literature, p-
The novel is truly an enjoyable novel. The tactics are 289.)
used and explained very nicely. We remember the novels of
famous Assamese writer Ranju Hazarika, while we read In the children novel of Arup Kumar Dutta also we find the
detective tactics. above two features. The novel is about the crime of killing
Although in all the novels we find juvenile heroes: it rhinos by poachers in a National Park of Assam named
does not mean that the elders have little role in the novels. In Kaziranga National Park. The crime against the killing of the
the novel we find some miscreant adults and opposite to them rare animal is continuing in the national park. The author tries
there are so courageous, duty bound, police officers, constables to nab the poachers in the novel in a fictional way by some teen
and some patriotic persons in the novels. heroes. Regarding the second element i.e., the 'misdirection’,
In the novel we find a third person Narrative. We find we find this element in this novel also. For instance, in TKT we
that the narrator knows all. So, the point of view of the novel is find that when Mr. Neog and the rescue party went in search of
2023 EPRA IJMR | http://eprajournals.com/ | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013------------------------------------------------------------------------- 253
 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662
EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal
Volume: 9| Issue: 5| May 2023|| Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor 2023: 8.224 || ISI Value: 1.188

Bubul and Jonti who were in the hands of the poachers then
they went to the deserted bungalow. The poachers got the time They informed the District Forest Officer in charge of
to hide. This is an instance of misdirection. wildlife Mr. Neog. Poachers seemed to be more cunning and
cautious than the forest guards. Mr Neog could find the reason.
In the novel ''Kaziranga Trail 'the author raises one of the
burning problems of Assam that is the killing of the rhinos in ''Unfortunately, that is the only conclusion I can draw
Kaziranga National Park. The novelist writes the novels so from the way the poachers have been operating. We all know
impressively that the readers will enjoy reading. The actions are that the wages our men get are not too high. Perhaps one of
happening so rapidly that readers will not get bored. They keep them has been tempted with a big sum of money."
on reading in curiosity about what will happen next time. How
the teenage heroes will be saved, how they will unfurl the (Dutta, TKT, p-24)
misdeeds of the miscreants-these are the major things of the Mr Neog's surmise was true. Mr Phukan, another forest
novels. officer, was involved in the killing of rhinos. He got a lucrative
In the novel we find about the activities of the poachers, their sum of money from the poachers and horn traders.
tricks of killing the rhinos and their nexus with their own
country and foreigners-smugglers of horns. The rhino's horn is While the boys, Dhanai, Jonti and Bubul roam on the
in great demand in the smuggling market. For which some of elephant back in the Kaziranga, the readers can visualise the
the guards, because of the greed of money joined with the National Park and its deftness. Usually there are many sounds
poachers and secretly helped them to kill the rhino and some of of birds, cricket, grunts of a rhino, roar of a tiger etc. The author
them are also eventually caught. presents the plot very naturally. In such a natural scenery
poachers kill rhinoceros in Kaziranga.
The poachers are the expert forest men. They know the
characteristics of the wild animals. The rhino always goes The rhino killing is a menace to Assam. The government even
straight. Therefore, in the path of the rhino they made a big hole fails to nab the culprit in most of the cases. It is because there
and covered the big ditch with herbs. When the rhino falls there, are some people who are like Mr. Phukan, as we find in the
they cannot go out and the poachers cut the horn off from the novel, gets money from the poachers and secretly allows them
rhino. The author describes how a rhino is trapped and what to kill one of the endangered animals of the earth. Who are
actions are to be done by the poachers. appointed as the protectors of the wonderful animals but they
serve as the traitors for some extra money. They sell themselves
''The poachers had watched the movements of the rhino for a or sell their conscience. So, there should be vigilance on the
few days. When they were sure of the path it took, they dug a guards and the officers also.
deep pit near a dung heap and covered it with strips of bamboo,
mud and grass. Then they built a shelter for themselves at a safe There are some honest, duty-bound officers and guards
distance and waited for the animal to fall into the trap.'' (Dutta also in the department of forest. For their effort only we get the
Arup Kumar, The Kaziranga Trail, P-7) surviving rhinos. One of such officers is Mr. Neog. Such
The poachers are merciless. They cut the horn of the officers always do their duty and try to save the rhinos even
precious animal when it was in a state of no self-defence. As when facing grim circumstances.
soon as the rhino falls into the pit it cannot come out. When the 1. Thus, we can say that the Kaziranga Trail of Arup
rhino falls into the pit then they promptly execute their action. Kumar Dutta is an interesting juvenile detective or
mystery novel. It has all the elements of such a novel.
''The rhino fought with all its strength. But the men were It is a gripping novel where readers are captivated by
experts and soon had the ropes all-round the animal's the narrative swiftness of the author.
body.........The leader of the gang moved into action......He
lifted the dao and began to hack away at the animal's snout to BLIOGRAPHY
remove the horn......His hands were bloody. On his face was a 1. Abrahams M.H. and Harpham Geoffrey Galt. A Handbook
triumphant, fiendish smile.'' (Dutta, TKT, P-8) of Literary Terms. New Delhi: Cengage Learning, 2009.
2. Brich Dinah. The Oxford Companion to English Literature.
There are some conscious citizens nearby who always New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
protest such action of the poachers. The whole Assam is against 3. Dutta Arup Kumar. Adventure Stories (Four novels - The
rhino killing except the poachers. Dhanai, Jonti and Bubul are Kaziranga Trail, Trouble in Kolongijan, The Blind Witness
such boys who love the Kaziranga and specially know the value and and Smack), New Delhi: Children's Book Trust, 1995.
of one horned rhino. When they saw the dead animal the next
day, they instantly knew about it.

'''The horn is gone. 'Dhanai was grim. 'Poachers! There

2023 EPRA IJMR | http://eprajournals.com/ | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013------------------------------------------------------------------------- 254