Originally written in Odia, the novel depicts not just people’s enthusiasm and sacrifices during the freedom struggle but also their disillusionment with a freedom that failed to fulfill their cherished dreams of equality and prosperity in postcolonial India. The protagonist, Diganta Keshari, leaves home and joins the freedom struggle, hoping to see the country become the ideal kingdom—Ram Rajya. But when he returns to his village after twenty years of Independence, he encounters a new form of oppression and evil perpetrated by people they considered their own.