A book titled In the Cradle of the Seven Sisters by noted author Biswakesh Tripathy, a former IPS officer, was unveiled at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The book was released by eminent author Dr JP Das in the presence of distinguished guests Prof Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, Prof Himanshu S Mohapatra, HOD Department of English, Utkal University, and eminent theatre personality Anant Mahapatra.

The book is a historical fiction based on the Indus Valley Civilisation, which encompassed mostly Pakistan and parts of northwestern India, Afghanistan, Iran extending from Baluchistan in the west to Uttar Pradesh in the east and Maharashtra in the south. The civilisation came up around 3300 BC and lasted up to 1700 BC. The civilisation was composed of and built up by migrants from Syria, Persia, Tigris Valley, Euphrates Valley and Nile Valley.

The book is based on the city of Sutkangen-dor and gives a glimpse into the life and times of the people of this vibrant civilisation.

In the end, the book describes the tragic story of the fall of the civilisation in the hands of the barbarous Aryans, who drove them across the Vindhyas. The writer weaves an interesting tale on how hordes from the north entered the Indus Valley with their fast moving horses equipped for battle. These people gave their cattle more importance than their women, who could be forced upon, raped and killed with impunity. To escape these scathing attacks, the Indus Valley people left their hearth and home and migrated beyond Vindhya Mountains to settle down in the Deccan plateau. Gradually, they built a rich Dravidian civilisation with beautiful temples and ports as they had done in the Indus Valley.

Biswakesh Tripathy has authored six books in Odia, six collections of short poems and a long sequence poem on Konark in English, besides two books on his experiences in police Terrorism and Insurgency in India and My life & Times in IPS.