Shajarur Kanta

The Quill of the Porcupine

Author	Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay
Original title	(শজারুর কাঁটা) Shajarur Kanta'
Language	Bengali
Series	Byomkesh Bakshi
Genre	Detective, Crime, Mystery
Publisher	P.C. Sorkar and Sons (also anthologized by Ananda Publishers)
Publication date	1967 in hardcover Byomkesher diary and in the Sharadindu Omnibus in 1972
Publication place	India
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	182 pp
Preceded by	Chholonar Chhondo
Followed by	Benishanghar

Shajarur Kanta (Bengali: শজারুর কাঁটা) (Lit: The Quill of the Porcupine) is a Bengali mystery novel written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay in 1967. The murderer kills people using porcupine quills thrust from behind into the heart.

Characters

• Byomkesh Bakshi
• Ajit Bandyopadhyay
• Satyabati
• Debasish Bhatto
• Deepa Bhatto, wife of Debashish
• Udaymadhab Mukherjee, grandfather of Deepa and Bijoy
• Neelmadhab Mukherjee, father of Deepa and Bijoy
• Prabal Gupta, lover of Deepa
• Sujan Mitra, an actor
• Nripati Laha
• Bijoy Madhab Mukherjee, brother of Deepa
• Kharag Bahadur, footballer
• Kapil Bose
• Mother of Deepa and Bijoy
• Dr. Sen
• Dr. Gupta

Adaptations

Television

• This was one of the stories in the 1993 TV series Byomkesh Bakshi titled "Sahi Ka Kanta", that were recreated for broadcasting on Doordarshan, the Indian National Network, by Basu Chatterjee, and immediately went on to become one of the most memorable episodes.
• The story adapted into another TV series in 2014 named Byomkesh, which aired on the Bengali channel ETV Bangla.

Film

• A film of the same name was made in 1974.
• Another version of the film is made in 2015 with the same name.