This charming, expansive novel set in 16th century medieval Bengal draws on the life of the great medieval poet Kabikankan Mukundaram Chakrabarti, whose epic poem Abhayamangal, better known as Chandimangal, records the socio-political history of the times. In the section of the book called Byadhkhanda - the Book of the Hunter - he describes the lives of the hunter tribes, the Shabars, who lived in the forest and its environs.