In an Antique Land: Character Mind Map & Summary
The key characters of Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land (1992), grouped into branches, with the key episodes, a quick summary and the exam facts that come up again and again in UGC NET.
Watch the Animated Summary
Short on time? Watch the whole story of In an Antique Land in a few minutes, then revise the characters below.
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The Character Mind Map
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Ghosh & Bomma
Two journeys: the author as a young anthropologist in Egyptian villages in the 1980s, and his search for Bomma, the Indian slave of a 12th-century Jewish merchant, found in the documents of the Cairo Geniza.
Ending: the old links between India and Egypt are lost👑 The Past
12th centuryAbraham Ben YijuA Jewish merchant
Role: Trades between Aden and Mangalore.
BommaHis Indian slave and agent
Role: A man from Tulunad; the hero of the historical story.
AshuBen Yiju's wife
Role: A Nair woman whom he freed from slavery.
🏠 The Present
EgyptThe VillagersLataifa & Nashawy
Role: Ask him about cow-worship and cremation.
Imam IbrahimA village healer
Role: Argues with Ghosh about "progress" and guns.
Key Episodes
The turning points examiners love to ask about.
Quick Summary
The story, stage by stage.
Stage 1Lataifa
- First stay in a village.
Stage 2Nashawy
- Friendships and arguments.
Stage 3Ben Yiju
- Merchant's life.
Stage 4Bomma
- The slave's story.
Stage 5Return
- Changes and loss.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Genre
A mix of travelogue, history and anthropology.
Prologue
"The Slave of MS. H.6".
Theme
Shared histories across religions; the loss of the old Indian Ocean world.
Author
Ghosh did his D.Phil. in social anthropology at Oxford.
Additional Revision Notes
Extra character, historical and literary details for exam preparation.
Two Time Periods
Amitav Ghosh alternates between his anthropological experiences in Egypt and the medieval Indian Ocean world recovered through historical documents.
Archive and Individual Life
The story of the Jewish merchant Abraham Ben Yiju and an Indian figure known as Bomma offers a glimpse of forgotten networks of movement and trade.
Genre Distinction
The work combines travel writing, history, ethnography and imaginative reconstruction. It resists the boundaries of a conventional historical novel.
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