Why this book

Published in 1873, this novel gave Bengali literature one of its most enduring images: a small, indulged passion that takes root unseen and grows, slowly, into a tree whose every fruit is poison — for the guilty and the innocent alike.

The Story

Zemindar Nagendra Natha sails toward Calcutta for a lawsuit, having promised his devoted wife Surja Mukhi he will come home safely. A sudden storm tears at the boat, and his steersman Rahamat Mullah, fearing for their lives, forces Nagendra ashore to find shelter from the wind and rain.

In a ruined house Nagendra finds a dying old man cradling his daughter, Kunda Nandini. He can do nothing but watch; by morning the father is dead, and Nagendra — a stranger — is the only one left to decide what becomes of the newly orphaned girl.

That same night Kunda dreams of her dead mother, who warns her that a godlike man and a dark, dangerous woman will enter her life and bring her only misery. Kunda wakes trembling, unable to shake the feeling that the warning is more than a dream.

Unable to trace Kunda's aunt in Calcutta, Nagendra leaves her with his sister Kamal Mani. Surja Mukhi, wanting the girl settled and safe, then arranges Kunda's marriage to her own foster brother, the schoolmaster Tara Charan — a match everyone agrees is a kindness.

Tara Charan proudly brings his young bride into society, wanting the world to admire her. But her beauty catches the eye of Nagendra's dissolute cousin, Debendra Babu, who becomes enchanted by Kunda and begins finding constant excuses to visit her.

Suspicious of Debendra's motives, Surja Mukhi scolds Tara Charan and puts a stop to the visits. Debendra's pursuit is checked, for a time — but three years later Tara Charan sickens with fever and dies, leaving Kunda Nandini a young widow once again.

Surja Mukhi takes the grieving widow into her own home. Soon after, a strikingly beautiful wandering singer calling herself Haridasi Boisnavi arrives and sings for the household — and with a chill, Kunda recognizes her as the dark woman from her dream.

Charmed at first by the singer's voice, Surja Mukhi rewards Haridasi and sends her away — but something about the woman lingers uneasily in her mind, and her suspicion begins to grow the longer Haridasi keeps returning to see Kunda.

Haridasi presses Kunda to secretly visit a supposed mother-in-law outside the household, but loyal Kunda refuses to go. When the singer's disguise finally slips away, she is revealed as Debendra Babu himself, still chasing the woman he cannot have.

Debendra, married to the shrewish Hembati, drowns his frustration in opium and wine, seeking pleasure wherever his conscience allows. His virtuous cousin Surendra confronts him over the scheme against Kunda, urging him to stop — but Debendra refuses to relent, so Surendra cuts him off entirely, disgusted.

Meanwhile Surja Mukhi, growing fearful that her own husband is falling for Kunda, writes a desperate letter to Kamal Mani. Kamal comes at once and gently questions Kunda in private — and learns, with sorrow, that the widow secretly loves Nagendra too.

To spare the household she loves from ruin, Kunda quietly agrees to leave for Calcutta. But Surja Mukhi, needing to know the truth about Haridasi, bribes the maidservant Hira to spy — and Hira returns with proof of Debendra's three-year obsession.

Believing Kunda a seductress rather than a victim of Debendra's scheme, Surja Mukhi turns on her and banishes her from the house. Heartbroken and homeless, Kunda flees into the night — yet cannot stop herself lingering beneath Nagendra's window before vanishing into the dark.

Hira secretly shelters the frightened girl in her own hut, but the milk-woman Malati tricks Hira into leaving and discovers Kunda hidden inside. Drawn back by longing she cannot control, Kunda returns near Nagendra's home, where Surja Mukhi finds her at last and, softening, brings her back inside.

Debendra corners Hira, demanding to know where Kunda is hiding. Hira, secretly in love with him herself, refuses to betray the girl and rejects his advances outright. Stung, she provokes a bitter quarrel in the household and is dismissed from service, her pride badly wounded.

At last Nagendra confesses to his wife that he has fallen in love with Kunda and means to leave her. Devastated but selfless to the end, Surja Mukhi asks only for one more month together — and then, astonishingly, arranges his marriage to Kunda herself.

Kamal Mani and her husband Srish Chandra rush to Govindpur in shock, but arrive too late — the wedding is already done. They find Surja Mukhi hollowed out with grief, quietly explaining the sacrifice she chose to make for the husband she still loves.

Unable to bear watching Nagendra with Kunda, Surja Mukhi leaves a farewell letter and disappears into the night. Nagendra, Kamal, and Srish Chandra search everywhere; she is briefly found weeping in a mango garden by a servant, but refuses to return home and vanishes again.

Kunda, certain the whole disaster is her fault, weeps in silent guilt. Nagendra, aching for his lost wife, speaks Surja Mukhi's name with such raw pain that Kunda hears it as final proof he does not truly love her — and her heart breaks further.

Far away, a wandering ascetic called Siva Prasad finds Surja Mukhi collapsed and dying by the roadside and nurses her back from the edge of death. Yet she confesses she no longer wishes to live, so the Brahmachari writes urgently to Nagendra, begging him to come.

The letter reaches Nagendra late, in distant Benares. He races back, only to learn the hut where Surja Mukhi lay has burned to the ground. Believing her dead and himself her murderer, Nagendra collapses in grief and resolves to give up everything he owns.

Srish Chandra then brings the true word: Surja Mukhi lives and is slowly recovering. Nagendra weeps with relief and shame at once, finally seeing that his own uncontrolled desire — the poison tree of the title — is the root of everything she has suffered.

Torn by her own feelings, Hira returns to service — partly to guard Kunda, partly to escape her longing for Debendra. She sends durwans to beat him for his schemes against the household, but the beating only hardens Debendra's resolve for revenge against her.

Meanwhile Debendra finally seduces the lonely, discarded Hira, then coldly abandons her once he tires of her devotion. Ruined and humiliated, Hira buys a lethal poison from an outcast healer, intending to kill the man who destroyed her — or the girl she blames for it.

As Surja Mukhi returns home alive at last, Hira instead seeks out Kunda, confesses her whole ruin, and shows her the poison. Convinced she alone has caused Nagendra's grief and Surja Mukhi's suffering, Kunda secretly steals the vial while no one is watching.

Kunda drinks the poison alone. Nagendra finds her dying and gathers her in his arms, and there, at last, she confesses the love she hid for years — and dies. Debendra, cursed and haunted by Hira's return, dies raving in delirium on his own sickbed soon after.

What it means

Bishabriksha means the poison tree — not a plant, but a habit: one small, indulged desire, left unweeded through years of comfort and silence, that finally grows roots through an entire household and bears fruit that poisons the innocent along with the guilty who planted it, long after the planting is forgotten.

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