<P> Bengali novels occupy a major part of Bengali literature . Though the first Bengali novel was Karuna O Phulmonir Bibaran (1852), the Bengali novel actually started its journey with Durgeshnandini written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1865 . According to Ananda Sanker and Lila Ray,' when the novel was introduced in Bengali in the middle of the 19th century, the form itself was new, the prose in which it was written was new, the secular tone was new in a country hitherto wholly dominated by religion, and the society in which and for which it was written was new' (Page 168). But some great novelists like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay developed the newly introduced genre in such a way that' new' changed into' matured' through their works . Almost all these literary activities went on in full swing in Kolkata . Dhaka, on the other hand, could not participate in the early stage but literature created by and of the people of Bangladesh area later on flourished with notable success . </P> <P> Novels of Bangladesh fall almost fifty years behind the Bengali novels . (First Bengali novel Alaler Ghore Dulal was published in 1858 and Anowara was published in 1914 .) In its history of about one hundred years, novels of Bangladesh got a good number of novels where creative emancipation of the writers has been established . </P> <P> In the early stage, glorification of the religious beliefs and lives was the theme of most of the novels . Later on, picturization of real Bengali life became a common topic . By the end of the fifties, the novelists gradually turned to human mind and its analysis . A great change of the theme came after 1971 . Novels about the Liberation War of Bangladesh began to come forth . Even till now it has not ceased to be an interesting topic . </P> <P> The content and form of the novels saw various changes in the last fifty years . Starting from ordinary narration, now it has reached to magic realistic presentation through stream of consciousness, realism, surrealism etc . </P>

What were the basic themes of early bengali novels