Chandramukhi

Chandramukhi is one of the two women who continue to occupy Devdas’s heart, and her significance sharpens as his life approaches its end. She has urged him not to drink and loves him, yet he does not speak of her when illness and separation make her absence consequential. Only on the road to see Parvati does he fully confront how unjustly he has judged Chandramukhi—and how unlikely it is that he will see her again.

A Presence in Devdas’s Thoughts

At times Devdas thinks first of Parvati and at times of Chandramukhi; in his mind, the two women become strangely linked, even appearing side by side in visions. The possibility that both have fallen asleep and are unreachable leaves him bereft. This inward association does not erase their differences: Chandramukhi has forbidden him to drink, and he remembers her as bright, composed, and deeply loving. By contrast, he thinks that Parvati has gone to sleep where he is concerned. His reflections place Chandramukhi’s care beside a growing awareness of emotional loss.

Silence and Separation

After Devdas falls ill, Dharmadas urges him to tell his mother and proposes that they go to Varanasi. For an instant, Chandramukhi’s name comes to Dharmadas’s lips, but his hatred of her prevents him from saying it. Devdas, too, remembers her frequently, yet does not want to talk about her. No news is sent to either his mother or Chandramukhi, so neither comes to see him. His silence and the failure to send word turn remembrance into separation: Chandramukhi remains important to him, but is denied the chance to respond to his illness.

Recognition on the Final Journey

On the bullock-cart journey toward Parvati, Devdas remembers his mother and weeps. Chandramukhi’s face also rises in his thoughts, described as pure and innocent. He recognizes that he had spurned her throughout his life because he considered her life sinful. Now her face takes its place beside his mother’s, and his tears flow more intensely than before. The change is not a reunion or an apology spoken to Chandramukhi; it is a belated revision of the judgment through which he had kept her at a distance.

An Affection Left Unreconciled

Devdas believes he will never see Chandramukhi again and that she may not hear news of him until much later. Even in this final reckoning, he continues toward Parvati because he has promised to see her once more and feels bound to honor that promise. Chandramukhi’s place beside his mother in his thoughts reveals the depth of his attachment, while the journey’s direction makes its limit plain: he recognizes her love at the very moment when circumstances offer no time to return to her.