One of the best known works of Mir Mosharraf Hossain, Bishad
Sindhu (Ocean of Melancholy) is an epic historical novel centred
on events that led to the battle of Karbala and its aftermath. The book
revolves around the tragic story of Hassan and Hussein, grandsons of the great
Prophet Muhammad, who were exterminated by their bitter enemy Yazid, the son of
the king of Damascus, for his desire for Zainab—Hassan’s beautiful wife—and his
greed for the throne of Medina.
The plot is dramatic, has a mythical
undertone to it, and deeds of heroism and supernatural occurrences render an
epic flavour to its narrative. The storyline explores the sufferings and
agonies of human life and the covetousness and hatred of men, and, at the same
time, imparts a historical background to the bloodbath and killings that took
place in Karbala, Iraq on the 10th of October, AD 680.