Why This Book?

Kayasth Encyclopedia is the popular name of an illustrious book titled ‘Kayasth: An Encyclopedia of Untold Stories.’ Inspired by Swami Vivekanand’s reflections on his own roots, and authored by Uday Sahay and Poonam Bala, the book covers different facets of Kayasth community spread over 21 states in India, including their history, grand narratives, legal status, migration, temples, and cultural practices among others. An author of 8 books, Uday Sahay is a voluntarily retired IPS officer, whereas Dr Poonam Bala teaches at Cleaveland State University in USA.

Interesting features of the book inter alia include inter state migration of Kayasthas in all their twelve variants over 3000 years - their grand narratives, proto-history, and history. In addition, it includes Kayasthas in major southern and northern states, their cuisines, Shri Chitragupta temples, Kaithi script, cultural practices, Kayasth legends, and also their role in freedom struggle. The uniqueness of the book also lies in the fact that it was created and contributed wholly by the community talents, but for printing which was done by the Oberoi printing press in Manesar, called EIH.

The major objective of the book is two fold: To revisit Kayasth identity and to preserve the tangible and intangible heritage of the Kayasth community.

The book was launched on the 24th April 2021 - on the Chaitra Purnima day when Shri Chitragupta was believed to have originated from the whole body of Lord Brahma. It was attended by the major community leaders such as RK Sinha, Subodh Kant Sahai, Jitendra Nath Singh, Sameer Gupte, Prabhakaran, Swarup Prasad Ghosh, Swapnanil Barua, and Rajeev Ranjan among others.

Within six months of its release, the book has reached to 21 states in India, and it is now seeking to reach out to Kayasth settlements in 52 countries world wide. The book is sold not only through this website, but also through Amazon. The Indian distributor is Variety Book Depot, Connought Place, New Delhi. The book is primarily promoted through a Facebook Page and a YouTube channel integrated with this website.