Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Uday Sahay is passionate when he talks about the history, culture and traditions of the Kayasth community in India as he has penned a book from the heart rather than with the keystrokes on a laptop.
"You cannot divorce yourself from the realities. You are born in a particular setting, a village or town, to a particular parents and in a particular community. You have to take pride in where you belong. You will become a rootless wonder if not attached to your roots or moorings, says Sahay, on the oft-repeated question on why a book on the Kayasth community to which he belongs.
"You have to take pride in what you have and this includes your caste," says Sahay, now a communications professional, adding that is the journey to know your culture, religion, traditions and civilization starts from taking pride in what you have, rather than discarding it at the altar of modernization.
Kayasth Encyclopedia talks of maps, migration and forgotten footprints. Maps codify the magic of existence, but Sahay is no cartographer contouring mountains and rivers on blank pages. He doesn't even talk of the established present. He goes back 2,500 years to unearth the forgotten past of the Kayasth community and narrates it over 382 glossy pages of Kayasth, An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories.
Maps don’t talk. History does. And in this one-of-its-kind book, history borrows the tenor of Sahay who, for 27 months, trudged through 21 Indian states, poured over dog-eared books and sepia documents in libraries, sieved facts, pieced fragmentary entries, posed questions, posited theories, had long conversations with scholars and historians to string together an ethnographic (he calls it illustrative, not exhaustive) tale of the Kayasth community, who, mythology tells us, are descendants of Shri Chitragupta, the heaven’s record-keeper of virtues and sins.
Even before one thumbs the first page of the hardback, faces on the cover hold the readers’ gaze. A few known and oft-repeated in conversations, others unremembered and left behind on memory’s sidewalk. Swami Vivekananda, Munshi Premchand, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Paramhans Yogananda, Raja Todar Mal, Mahadevi Verma, Satyajit Ray, Suchitra Sen, Manna Dey, Firaq Gorakhpuri, among several other faces, adorn the book’s cover.
Sahay’s narrative, however, is not limited to the luminous faces on the cover. He brings in Alexander the Great, Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya, Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, emperors and nawabs to trace the migratory footprints of the community that is now scattered across 21 Indian states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Wars, temples, trade, intellect turn into the dramatis personae of the long saga that Sahay co-authored with Poonam Bala, former visiting professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and currently Visiting Scholar at Cleveland State University (USA).
Available both in English and Hindi, the encyclopedia is neatly divided into chapters each delineating one aspect of the ethnic-cultural diversity of the community. The Grand Narrative discusses the mythological origin of Kayasthas, especially in India’s nine Hindi-speaking states in North/Central India and four southern states. The chapter on temples details the temples dedicated to Chitragupta, the mythological ancestor of the community as well as Sun temples built by great Kayasth rulers.
There are chapters on inter-state migration, linear evolution of the writer class, nuances of the Kayasth culture, the Kaithi script, the identity symbols of Kayastha, cuisine, among others. Infographics trace the migration routes of Kayastha to various parts of the country as well as Sri Lanka.
An interesting element mentioned in the book is the Kayasth cuisine, so popular in several parts of north and east India due to its uniqueness.
“Bhuna (slow-roasting), dum (steam-cooking), and dhungar (smoke-cooking) are three common cooking techniques of Kayasthas applied equally to vegetarian and non-vegetarian Kayasth cooking. Judicious usage of Garam Masala however plays the referee’s role in the final reckoning,” the book reveals.
According to the book, Kayasth women (several of them are vegetarians) can cook and present vegetarian dishes to resemble non-vegetarian ones. For example: dal kaleji, dal keema matar, bhuna kathal (jack fruit), kathal kabab, bhuna zimikand (elephant foot), potato Ishtu, black gram shami kabab, and vegetables like bitter, round, wax bottle gourd, and okra which can rival the finest non-vegetarian dishes.
The list of sweetmeats is pure temptation: kheer, halwas, barfis, malpua, shahi tukda, rabri, jalebis, pista and almond lauz, khurchan, firni, parwal-ki-mithai, and double-ka-meetha. The book makes a special mention of the celebrated daulat-ki-chaat (also called nimish) in which thickened milk is mixed with sugar, rose water, and saffron, and left uncovered or covered with a fine muslin cloth, out in the cold winter night to infuse the dew. In the morning, it is repeatedly churned and the foam collected in shakoras (small earthen bowls).
Kayasth, An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories is Sahay’s eighth book and he has more lined up. Shipping details of the book can be obtained at www.kayasthencyclopedia.com.
The book “Kayasth: An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories” is a hard-bound book printed in four colors, running into 400 pages with rich text content, amazing images, illustrations, and paintings, mostly contributed by the best of Kayasth talents in India. It was launched on the birthday of lord Shri Chitragupta. Available in both Hindi and English, the book costs Rs 3000 each in India, 85 US dollars, and 60 UK Pounds.
The book has 13 chapters, which includes Legal status, Mythology, History, Sub-castes, State presence, Interstate migration, Script, Food, Identity symbols, Cultural practices, Temples, Festivals, Rituals.
The book is the first ever community study of Kayasthas in 21 states and one UT in India, researched over 2 years, and it intends to revisit their identity and conserve the glorious heritage of their three types – Chitraguptvanshiya, Chandraseniya, and Chitrasenitya - spanning over several centuries. It brings out their interstate migration over 2500 years, most of which they have forgotten. It explores the Chitragupt Circuit as also major Sun temples in the backdrop of their grand narratives in mythologies.
Historian of Australian National University, Professor Angela Woolacott, says, "This wide-ranging and beautifully illustrated book presents many stories from the Kayastha community. Kayasthas have contributed to Indian history and heritage in diverse fields from politics, to science and technology, the law, literature and the arts. Readers will find much of interest.
Adds top actor Shatrughan Sinha, "The much awaited book Kayasth, An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories revisits issues of identity as well as heritage conservation of Kayasth community which shaped the Indian civilization in ways more than one. A community study undertaken by two illustrious insiders, it is bound to strengthen the bond among members separated by territories, languages and loss of civilisational memories".
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Uday Sahay, a voluntarily retired IPS officer of AGMUT cadre of 1988 batch, has the credit of editing the book titled Making News, published by Oxford University Press, which was one of the best sellers on media in 2007. He has edited seven volumes on Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Renewable energy, Kumbh, Gaya, Bodh Gaya, and this book on Kayasthas is his eighth. As a photographer he has held photo-exhibitions in India and abroad. A master in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, Sahay is pursuing his doctoral research in media and advertising from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. On the social front, Sahay is currently the National Working President of Akhil Bhartiya Kayasth Mahasabha.
Poonam Bala, Ph.D.(Sociology, UK), former Visiting Professor, JNU and Professor, Amity University, currently Visiting Scholar at Cleveland State University and nominated Fellow, UNISA (South Africa). She received her doctorate from the University of Edinburgh with post-doctoral research at the Universities of London and Edinburgh, and held a Visiting Professorship in Germany, South Africa and Greece.
