While the war was raging between the devas and asuras, the devas sent Kacha to the preceptor of the asuras. Kacha approached the asura guru as a student. It was in this background of hate, war and rivalry that the beautiful Devayani, the proud daughter, of the asura guru, fell in love with Kacha, the man who was being watched by the asuras with increasing suspicion - they knew Kacha was seeking the key to immortality from their guru. Then a twist in the tale throws the dreams of the young couple into dissarray.

The story of Kacha and Devyani appears in the first book of the eighteen that are contained in the Mahabharata. The central theme of the Mahabharata is the 18-day war between the cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, and their respective allies, on the

Long before the Ramayana and Mahabharata wars were fought, Yayati, a scion of the lunar dynasty, was the emperor of Aryavarta, the land of the virtuous. He was an ancestor of the Kaurava princes. A tale of love, friendship, betrayal, and passion in the backdrop of a war between the Devas and the Asuras, Devayani, is a modern retelling of an ancient tale from the Mahabharata. Devayani, the self- willed daughter of Sukracharya, the Asura preceptor, became wife of emperor Yayati through a failed love affair with Kacha. How did the princess Sarmishtha, her friend, become her servant and then her rival? Why did Yayati have to ask his children to make the ultimate sacrifice--to give up their youth for him? Devayani takes you on a journey through infatuation, lust, jealousy, rage, betrayal, love and wisdom.Yayati's son Puru would later inherit the land of Saraswati from his father and start the Puru dynasty; the story of which is synonymous with Bharata.

The story of Yayati is perhaps one of the most intriguing and fascinating episodes of Mahabharata. Yayati was a great scholar and one of the noblest rulers of olden times. He followed the shastras and was devoted to the welfare of his subjects. Even the King of Gods, Indra, held him in high esteem. Married to seductively beautiful Devayani, in love with her maid Sharmishtha, and father of five sons from two women, yet Yayati unabashedly declares, 'My lust for pleasure is unsatisfied...' His quest for the carnal continued, sparing not even his youngest son, and exchanging his old age for his son's youth... Winner of the Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi Awards.

I am brown. I am beautiful. I am perfect. I designed this computer. I ran this race. I won this prize. I wrote this book. A joyful celebration of the skin you're in - of being brown, of being amazing, of being you.

This book offer a fascinating new insight into the India's negotiation at the international level through the lens of the classical Sanskrit text, the Mahabharata.