Keeping the Vow

Set against the backdrop of India's freedom struggle, this is the story of Banshi, a hard-working weaver, and his younger brother Rashik, who is determined to prove himself the better man, whatever it costs. Tagore's tale traces the quiet unhappiness that pride and envy can bring into a family. It comes from a collection of eighteen stories, originally written in Bengali and carefully retold in English, that move between love, sorrow and joy while opening a window onto the customs and beliefs of an earlier India.