Summary of the Book
Rahu perhaps was their ancient ancestor. The magic wand made of Rahu’s bone was their mysterious source of power, which created enchantment and sorcery. The Bajikars were one such wandering race. In a few villages of northern part of Bengal a few gypsies still fight to establish themselves as peasant man. Time gradually obscures memory. The new generation does not perhaps know that they might have originally belonged to a territory of northern or western part of India where they had a separate language and alien rituals, systems and habits.
Shariba collects the past of the Bajikars from his Grand Mother’s songs, tales and a story of continuous struggle for existence. It’s a tale of five generations which began 150 years ago at the time of Pitem, the Great-Great Grand Father of Shariba. It includes, very naturally, many ups and downs of the region which have their reference in those of the entire country for one and a half century. Pitem wished that his race would cease to be a wandering band of gypsies and transform into a race of peasant man. And after five generations Shariba still carries out the legacy.
