Shanku Samagra  (Bengali, Hardcover, Ray Satyajit)

The Bengali scientific fiction story book Shanku Samagra by Satyajit Ray is a collection of  the famous children’s series created by this gifted writer and is about the comic and heroic exploits and ‘travels’ of its hero Professor Shanku.

Summary Of The Book

The volume, Shanku Samagra, brings together all the Shanku series published over a period of time and is read by all age groups. The hero of the book, Shanku, portrays the character of a Bengali scientist, who is driven by an insatiable appetite for scientific adventures. He undertakes several journeys, including one to Mars. Ray’s hero Shanku is an absent-minded and eccentric genius.

Among his imaginary medical inventions is a wonder drug called ‘Miracure-all’ - which can cure any disease, ‘Remembrance’ - for restoring a failing memory, and his most powerful weapon ‘Annihilin’ - which can destroy anything without leaving any evidence. Armed with these ‘weapons’, he can travel to any new strange world or even time zones. His travels have adventure, mystery, and science all with extraordinary stories. He seems to have the uncanny ability to land himself in all types of dangerous situations, from which he comes out eventually. He has faced a killer Tyrannosaurus Rex, met one of man’s distant ancestors, and even travelled trough the dense rain forests of Amazon.

Professor Shanku has even travelled across time zones into past and future and other planets, and all stories end with a thrilling climax. Other characters who always join him in his adventures are his own inventions - the robot called Bidhushekhar, his servant Prahlad, and his pet cat Newton. In this volume, readers can find about how they land on Mars, where they are attacked by the natives from whom they escape narrowly. Subsequently, after wandering through space for several days, they discover a planet called Tafa inhabited by what Shanku calls the first civilised human race of the solar system.

Satyajit Ray had got inspired to write the series on Shanku by Arthur Conan Doyle’s book Professor Challenger.

About Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an eminent Bengali film maker, apart from being a renown writer. He was born in Calcutta on May 2, 1921, into a Bengali family known for its contribution to the world of literature and arts.

His other popular books in English include The Complete Adventures of Feluda (Volume 1 and 2), Deep Focus: Reflection on Cinema, Speaking of Films, and Adventures of Feluda: Bandits of Bombay, and he has also written books in other Indian languages.

In his writings, you can trace his interest in puzzles, suspense, and puns. His short stories gave him the freedom to express his favorite themes, which he could not for some reason represent in his films. His works make an interesting study in psychology. Ray won international acclaims from authors and film makers around the world. 

Ray obtained a B.A (Hons) in economics from Presidency College, Calcutta, and later studied at the Viswa Bharati University at Shantiniketan. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray entered the film industry and directed several feature films, documentaries, and short films. His films Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and Apur Sansar won him several national and international awards. He married Bijoya Das in 1949, and his son Sandip is also a film director.