Chitpore

Chitpore is the setting of Devdas Mukherjee’s first meeting with Chandramukhi, an encounter arranged by Chunilal that brings Devdas into a two-storied house at night. The visit turns the location into the scene of an abrupt collision between Chunilal’s social plan and Devdas’s hostility toward the woman who welcomes them.

Setting and Arrival

At nine o’clock, a hired buggy stopped outside the two-storied house in Chitpore. Chunilal had dressed formally for the outing and, despite Devdas’s reluctance, took his hand and pulled him inside. The house’s owner, Chandramukhi, came out to greet them.

The Encounter in the House

Devdas reacted to Chandramukhi with sudden repulsion, as the sight of her brought his growing hatred of women sharply to the surface. He frowned at Chunilal and condemned the place; both Chunilal and Chandramukhi were taken aback by his acrimonious tone and glare. Chunilal tried to ease the moment, leading him further inside, while Devdas’s blunt question to Chandramukhi about whether she took money made the visit’s implied transaction impossible to ignore. Chitpore thus becomes more than the address of a social call: within the house, Devdas’s contempt immediately shapes the terms of his first encounter with Chandramukhi.