Rajbahar

M Mazumdar

Rajbahar is written by M Mazumdar. It was recently published in 2011, by APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. It is the first attempt by the writer. M Mazumdar is from the Assam’s Silchar. The writer has completed her MA in English literature from Assam University. The book consists of 206 pages. It costs INR 195. The ISBN is, 978-81-313-1059-5.

Rajbahar is an imaginative village placed between the city and the village. Although, the language, characters, culture have closeness with the Muslims of the Barak Valley of Assam, a reader acquainted with the Muslims anywhere will find resemblance of the spirits of the Muslims in this book too.

The central character is a female. She is Samina. The other characters help her to expose the Muslim psyche. Although women are the dominant speakers from the beginning till the end, yet the knowledgeattempted to forward to the readers are cover beyond the female gender.

The book is all about the Muslim lives and psyche. But, the writer deliberately uses a title of the book, which has very little affinity with the people of the community or with the Islamic religion. The book alsoopens up a series of the identities of the Bengali Muslims of the Valley which consists of nearly 40% of the population. The identities are in relation to people within the community and people beyond the community.