Tags: Caste system, arranged marriage, wandering life, asceticism, Calcutta (Kolkata), Bihar, Patna (city in Bihar), Arrah (city in Bihar) 


As the narrator, Srikanta, sits at the "threshold of the afternoon" of his wandering life, he reflects on a past marked by a recurring social stigma of "Shame!". Despite being labeled a "bad boy" by contemporaries, he questions whether those summoned by Providence to experience the heart of creation are simply those who lack the "sound common sense" valued by society. His narrative begins with Indranath, the person who initiated him into the joys of a wandering life.

Indranath is a fearless, dark-complexioned boy with "extraordinary power" in his arms, whom Srikanta first meets during a school football riot where Indranath rescues him. Indra is a "scapegrace" who plays the bamboo flute with entrancing sweetness and spends his days in a dinghy on the Ganges. He is defined by his total lack of fear, famously scaling school railings to escape a "donkey cap" and never returning, preferring the life of an oarsman. Srikanta’s childhood home is ruled by the tyrannical Mejda, a perpetual student who enforces a rigid and absurd schedule for his younger cousins. This environment is interrupted by the appearance of a "tiger" in the courtyard, which is revealed to be Chinath the mimic in disguise—a situation that highlights Indranath’s genuine courage compared to the cowardice of the adults.

Indranath eventually leads Srikanta on a perilous night-fishing expedition during the swollen torrents of mid-July. They cross the river diagonally through "inky darkness" and "midnight gloom" to steal fish from the "net lure" used by local ruffian fishermen. After a narrow escape from these fishermen, Indra drags the boat through a flooded maize field infested with snakes and wild boars. While Srikanta is paralyzed by fear of cobras and kraits coiling on the stalks, Indra remains nonchalant, asserting that "one must die some day". The trip culminates in a moment of profound gravity when they encounter the dead body of a young child on the riverbank. Despite Hindu taboos regarding the touch of the dead, Indra tenderly moves the corpse into the water to prevent jackals from devouring it, arguing that a dead body has no caste.

Srikanta’s life is further influenced by the tragic figure of Annada Didi, whom Indra introduces as his "sister". She lives in a jungle hut with Shahji, a snake-charmer and ganja addict. Annada Didi is described as "fire under the cover of ashes," a woman of immense grace living in squalid conditions. Though Shahji is a brutal man who beats her, she remains devoted to him, collecting fuel and making cow-dung cakes to support his drug habit. It is eventually revealed that Didi is the daughter of a Hindu who fled her wealthy home to follow her husband, a murderer, out of a sense of wifely constancy. Relevant passage: 

'Srikanta, your poor Didi's name is Annada. I do not reveal my husband's name: you will understand why when you have read this letter to the end. My father was a rich man. He had no sons, only myself and one other daughter. My father married me to a poor man whom he kept at his house, and set out to educate and make a man of. He succeeded in educating him, but not in making a man of him. My elder sister had lost her husband and was living with us. My husband killed her and disappeared. You are too young to understand why he did this evil deed but you will understand some day. I cannot express what ignominy I suffered, what poignant shame. Still your Didi endured it all, though the pain, the fire of indignity, which my husband had kindled for me, has not yet abated after all these years. Seven years afterwards, I saw him again. He was playing to a snake before our house in the garb in which you have seen him. Nobody else could recognize him, but I did: he could not deceive my eyes. He said that he braved the danger of recognition for my sake alone. But that was a lie. Yet one dark night when all were asleep, I opened a back-door and actually left my father's house to follow my husband all through life. Everyone heard and everyone believed that Annada had run away to a life of ignominy and shame. I shall have to bear the burden of this shame throughout my life. But there is no help for it. While my father was alive I could not go back and tell my story. I knew him; he would never have forgiven the murderer of his child. Though my fear for my husband no longer exists, how can I go and tell him my story now? Who would believe me after all these years? So I have no place in my father's home. Besides I am a Mahomedan.

After Shahji dies from a snake bite, Srikanta and Indra help her bury him. She then disappears into a life of wandering with only five and a half annas, leaving behind a legacy of selfless suffering that Srikanta views as a tragic "ironical destiny".

The narrative briefly explores Srikanta's interactions with Natunda, Indranath’s arrogant and "exquisite" Calcutta cousin. During a cold river trip to a play, Natunda’s pompousness is exposed as cowardice when he jumps into the icy river to hide from barking dogs he believes are wolves. This ends Srikanta’s adventures with Indranath, who eventually vanishes from his life.

Years later, Srikanta becomes a "parasite" attached to a prince’s shikar party, where he meets the celebrated singer Piari Baiji. He soon realizes Piari is actually Rajlakshmi, a childhood playmate who used to make him garlands of bainchi fruits. Rajlakshmi’s history is one of abandonment; she was married to a kulin cook who deserted her, and she was later reported dead at Benares. Now a wealthy and famous performer, she remains deeply connected to Srikanta, mocking his new status as a "hanger-on" while secretly harboring a love she calls her "treasure from the hand of God".

To prove his courage to the prince’s party, Srikanta spends a moonless Saturday night at a cremation ground believed to be haunted by the goddess Bhairavi. The experience is psychologically taxing; he is surrounded by human skulls and hears the sobbing of young vultures. He experiences an "uncanny feeling" of cold breath on his ear, which he attributes to hysteria. Rajlakshmi, terrified for his safety, sends her servants and the village watchman to rescue him. This event bridges the gap between them, revealing the depth of Rajlakshmi's concern.

Srikanta eventually abandons his aristocratic life to become a sannyasi, wandering with a Guru. During these travels in Bihar, he witnesses the harrowing effects of the caste system. He meets a young Bengali girl, the daughter of Gauri Tewari, who was married into a Bihari family where she cannot understand the language and is brutally abused. Her sister had already committed suicide due to similar treatment. Relevant passage: 

'Why did your father marry you into a family which lived so far away and whose language you do not know?'

'We are Tewaris,[17] you know,' she explained. 'We can't find anybody to marry us in Bengal.'

'Do these people beat you?'

'Don't they? Look at this.' Sobbing convulsively, she showed me welts on her arms, her back, and her cheeks. I shall kill myself like my sister.'

My eyes too had grown wet. I went out without asking further questions and without waiting for my alms. The girl however followed me, saying, 'Won't you tell my father? Tell him to take me away or I shall—' I nodded assent and strode rapidly away. Her heart-rending appeal continued to ring in my ears.

Srikanta writes to her father, but remains disillusioned by a society that prioritizes "preserving intact a race" over individual humanity.

Srikanta’s wandering concludes when he falls dangerously ill with a fever in a tin shed at Arrah station. Rajlakshmi receives word and rushes to his side, nursing him back to health in her house in Patna. There, Srikanta observes the new life Rajlakshmi has built, particularly her relationship with Banku, her step-son who views her as a pure and revered mother. Srikanta realizes that Rajlakshmi has "voluntarily put a hundred chains round her feet" to maintain her dignity as a mother in Banku's eyes.

Ultimately, Srikanta decides to leave Rajlakshmi. He concludes that "a great love not only binds, it separates," and that to stay would be to dishonor the life she saved and the maternal sanctuary she has created. He departs for home, vowing to keep his respect for her from a distance.