Jalpaiguri, Feb. 5: Saraswati Vandana is now available in the Kamtapuri language too.

The book, Sri Sri Saraswati Kabach Malar Panchali, is being seen as the Kamtapur Peoples’ Party’s (KPP) card to promote the language of the Rajbanshis in north Bengal.

Mitali Roy, a KPP leader hailing from Dhupguri said: “We have gone through the book and are thinking in terms of organising seminars and holding discussions with priests and other noted personalities to give the book some publicity. This can be the first step in encouraging Rajbanshis to stick to their roots and embrace their culture.”

The book, translated in the Rajbanshis’ language by Manindra Kishore Roy, a resident of Chandaljote village in the Tarbandha area of Phansidewa, hit the stands in January last year.

Though it was largely unheard of, with the KPP stance of working out a way to revive their fading culture and language, its fortunes are expected to turn for the better before tomorrow’s Puja.

In a letter written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the preface, Roy explains that he was gripped by the “overwhelming urge” to compile the mantras of Saraswati puja in Kamtapuri to make the language popular in all households of the region “irrespective of caste and creed”.

The author said he believed that the book would play an important role in uniting the people of the region and ending the reign of political tension and extremism that has gripped North Bengal.

A blurb on the book jacket also states that a student reading the book will pass all the examinations s/he appears for, and assures anyone reading it of mental peace.

The book, however, is not written in Kamtapuri alone

There are splashes of Sanskrit also. Some of the mantras are written in Sanskrit while others are in Kamtapuri.

The chants of Saraswati Vandana and Saraswati Panchali are composed in the Kamtapuri language but sound “very similar to the original verse” and “have a local cultural essence that gives it an added appeal,” Roy said.

The book, sources said, is gaining popularity in Mainaguri, Barnish, Dhupguri, Rangdhamali and pockets of Jalpaiguri and Phansidewa in Darjeeling. “There will many people who will carry the book to the temples and pandals during the ceremony tomorrow,” they added.

“We have gone through the book. It is indeed a novel idea for the development and practice of the language. We have heard that the book has been well received in many places though we have not launched any campaigns to promote it,” Mitali Roy said.