Why was the small bundle Kashiram carried so important to him during the attack by thieves?

The small bundle was incredibly dear to Kashiram not for any monetary value, but for a pious reason. As explained in Chapter 0, the thieves mistakenly thought it contained treasure, but it only held powdered sugar. This was significant to Kashiram because he was following the advice of a saint named Janakidas Baba, who had instructed him to feed sugar to ants. Because he was carrying out this saintly advice, the bundle was very precious to him, and he resolved that he would not let the thieves take it, whatever happened.