Avishvaspur was once a very pleasant village. Bestowed with the kindness of Mother Nature, the village had everything- lush greenery, breath-taking beauty, fertile soil, and clean water from the Ganges. This tiny village, situated at the foot of the state, was the farming capital of Bengal. But unfortunately, the village held this prestige at the wrong time.
Those were the dark days when the East India Company had begun colonising India, and Bengal was the state where the Company had its most powerful influence. After the introduction of the Zamindari System, the once-prosperous farmers of Avishvaspur found their wealth dwindling into the pockets of the Company and the gluttonous Zamindar, but of course, these farmers, always so proud and haughty, never protested against the unreasonable sums of rent they were charged by the landlord. Slowly, the prosperous village was becoming a penniless one, with no one working against it.
But the heavens seemed to be on the farmers’ side. On one glorious day, it was announced that the village’s Zamindar had been removed from his position as he had failed to pay the required amount of tribute that he had to pay to the Company. A piece of news which made the whole village soar in the spirit of celebration! How very happy they were! But underneath their elation, there was a little thought that seemed to weigh down their minds. ‘How would the new Zamindar be?’
Although they didn’t know it yet, Sajjan Bakshi was a very good man indeed. He was himself born in a farmer’s family and thus knew of their sufferings. It pained him to see how mercilessly the farmers of this village were forced to pay such heavy land revenue and thus, the first thing he did when he came into power was to reduce the rent. On his first day on the chair, he sent forth proclamations, that the land revenue had been halved and would remain so till the end of the year.
This news sent the people into festivities. All the villagers were singing praises of the name of Sajjan Bakshi. However, there was one man who seemed to be dull and almost apprehensive. He was Babuji, the village headman.
This put a big damper on the peoples’ spirits. After all, Babuji was the most prudent and influential man in the village. Why was he so suspicious so suddenly?
Hesitantly, the people proceeded to ask him why he was so glum when such good news had been announced. The headman shook his head, and said, “I have some grave doubts about this new move. I want everybody to assemble under the Banyan Tree and we will talk about it then.”
And so, at the appointed time, everybody gathered under the tree to attend the meeting. Once everyone had assembled, Babuji got up and began addressing the matter of concern. “Dear friends, we all have heard that the new landlord has proposed to halve the rent we have to pay him in the course of the year. Now, instead of the eight-tenth of the produce that we had to pay before, we only have to pay four-tenth. All this may sound very kind and compassionate to you, but you must ask yourselves this- why does the Zamindar want to decrease the rent? No one has ever done so before. What does he gain by doing this?”
“Perhaps he is just a kind man, dada.”
“Pah! A kind man! Have you ever heard of a kind Zamindar, son? No. I am absolutely sure that he has some ulterior motive for doing this. Something bad is sure to happen.”
“But Babuji, have you spoken to the new Zamindar?”
“Yes, I spoke to him, and when I asked him why he had reduced the tariff, he just said that ‘the current prices were too high’. Yes, it is very suspicious. We all must remain on our guard as I believe something vicious is set to happen.”
And on this sinister note, he dispatched the meeting.
The headman’s ominous warnings and foreboding had certainly taken a toll on the minds of the people. The next morning itself, rumours began floating around - that the fields were becoming infertile, that the new Zamindar would not repair the old irrigation system the previous Zamindar had promised to do, that a ghost was haunting the village, a tiger was roaming the fields, a mass murderer was hiding in the village and many other fantastic bits of gossip. The result? Within a month, the whole village was deserted. All the inhabitants had left it for good, fearing for their lives.
Today, the village of Avishvaspur is totally untenanted as all its residents ran away due to mere speculation that never proved itself to be true. What corroborates the conjecture of the people is the fact that the ghost of Sajjan Bakshi still roams the land, with a knife in one hand and a collection tin in the other, demanding the rent. The lands of the village still lay bare, but for the presence of an entity jingling coins and sharpening knives in the dead of the night.
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