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''Chander Pahar'' ((ベンガル語:চাঁদের পাহাড়), (英語:Mountain of the Moon)) is a Bengali novel written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay in 1937. Chronicling the adventures of a Bengali boy in the forests of Africa, it is considered to be one of the most loved adventure novels in the Bengali literature and is one of Bibhutibhushan's most popular works. ==Plot summary== This novel tells the story of an ordinary young Bengali boy, Shankar Roy Chaudhary, from a nondescript village of Bengal, as well as his adventures in Africa through the years 1909 and 1910. The 20-year-old protagonist had just graduated from college, and due to his family's financial struggles, is on the verge of taking up a job in a jute mill in Shyamnagar. A prospect he absolutely loathes. Since childhood, geography has been his favorite subject. He has wanted to follow the footsteps of renowned explorers like Livingstone, Mungo Park, and Marco Polo, all of whom he has read about. He yearns for adventures in wilderness, and has a passion for forests, animals, and the continent of Africa. By a stroke of luck, he secures a job as a clerk at the Uganda Railway through an acquaintance already working there - and so joyously rushes to Africa without a second thought. There, he spends a few months laying rail tracks, but soon encounters the first of many dangers in Pre-World War I Africa: a man-eating lion, who claims the lives of a few of his new-found friends. Later, he takes up a job as station-master in a desolate station amidst the Veldts. There, his presence of mind enables him to have a narrow escape from another hazard in Africa: the deadly black mamba. While at this post, Shankar encounters, rescues and nurses Diego Alvarez, a middle-aged Portuguese explorer and gold/diamond prospector. Alvarez's arrival becomes a turning point in Shankar's life. While recuperating, Alvarez narrated his earlier exploits in Africa with his friend Jim Carter. Lured by a priceless, uncut yellow diamond gifted by the Chief of a Kaafi village, Alvarez and Carter had resolved to find the cave of these yellow diamonds, located on the Mountain of the Moon-Chander Pahar- in the Richtersveldt, that was believed to be guarded by the mythical monster, the Bunyip. The brave explorers set off into the dense jungle, much against the villagers' advice, but met with disaster- for Carter was gruesomely killed, supposedly by the Bunyip. Shankar, highly inspired by Alvarez's exploits, resigns from his job and accompanies Alvarez as they decide to venture out once more and find the mines. They meet with innumerable hardships, a raging volcano being the greatest challenge. But the volcano was unknown to the world outside, thus making Shankar and Alvarez its first discoverers. Eventually, they get lost in the forests where Alvarez suffers death at the hands of a mysterious monster, the same that had taken Carter’s life, the Bunyip. A grieved and demoralised Shankar sets out to attempt to reach civilization. He finds the Bunyip's cave and the diamond mines by accident. He enters the cave but eventually gets lost. With great difficulty, he gets out, marking his way with "pebbles" and taking some back with him as a memento, not knowing each is a piece of uncut diamond. He finds the remains of the Italian explorer, Attilio Gatti, and learns that the cave he found earlier really was the diamond mine. Gatti, as Shankar learns from a note by him, had uncut diamonds in his boots. The note said that whoever reads the note can take the diamonds as long as he buries his skeleton, with Christian rites. Shankar does so, and keeps the old diamonds. He becomes lost in the deserts of Kalahari and nearly dies of thirst. Fortunately he is rescued by a survey team, and taken to a hospital in Salisbury, Rhodesia, from where he sets sail for home. Before going back, he wrote his account in a newspaper which earned him quite some money. In that he named the volcano after Alvarez. He ends the book saying that he will return to that cave one day with a large team, and continue the legacy of Alvarez, Carter and Gatti. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chander Pahar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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