Synopsis
India’s leading writer in English offers an inspired retelling of superb stories from his people’s myth and legend, as handed down for centuries in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the other great epics. He has chosen the most representative and most entertaining tales, as they might be narrated by the wise and venerable figure of the village storyteller, or Pandit, to give a complete introduction to this vast body of Indian lore.
In this legend world where all is possible, one thousand years seem but a second, and good ultimately prevails over evil. A king passes through a turbulent life of seventy years in a minute. The Devi, personifying the highest beauty and energy, destroys the demon, Mahisha, who has invaded the heavens; Manmata, the god of love, is burned up physically when he crosses the austere God Shiva. Yama, the god of death, is persuaded for the first time to relinquish a soul, when Savitri pleads for the return of her husband. A king is challenged by the great sage Viswamitra to prove his dedication to truth.
Though the stories embody the traditional religion, they rarely point a moral. They are full of violent actions and uninhibited passions, superhuman wonders and human virtues and vices: fidelity and sacrifices, avarice and ambition. The gods and goddesses, as well as the mere mortals—kings and princesses, wood-cutters and hermits—share in both the virtues and the vices. Extravagant adventures and wildly comic episodes combine with thought-provoking fables involving time and the universe to make this one of the richest and most varied of mythical worlds.
The author has supplied an account of the sources, a note on the relationships of the gods in their different manifestations, and a helpful glossary of Sanskrit and Tamil words. The drawings are by his brother, the Indian artist, R. K. Laxman.
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Gods, Demons & Others
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