KALA KRISHNAN’S MURUGAN TRILOGY DELVES RIGHT INTO THE HEART OF WHAT IT IS ABOUT THIS GOD THAT’S SO COMPELLING, WHY HE ELICITS NOT JUST DEVOTION BUT ALSO LOVE. The Vast: a still, dark, endless field of nothing, in which something broods and gathers, rising and billowing into waves. Everything emerges from these waves of the Vast, including Time, Creation, and the woman and two men known as The Three. From the waves come multitudes of beings, including the Asura, those of untiring breath who seek knowledge, and the Sura, the bright ones who keep order. The greatest of all the Sura and Asura is Surapadman, who will embody inventiveness, wisdom and statecraft for all time to come. The only one who can counter his might and his challenge to the rules of creation is Karthikeya, child of Shambhu and Uma, and brother to Ganesha, the all-seeing elephant-headed god. Kala Krishnan has been exploring the Murugan universe for years now. In this first volume of a planned trilogy, she expands the mythologies of the god. Kumara, Karthikeya, Kandhan, Velan, he is the god of Tamizh, the patron of the Great Assembly of poets in Madurai, friend and mentor to the hot-headed and fiercely loyal Aambal, who is known to all as ‘Murugan’s poet’. A reimagining of the life and exploits of the magnificent young god, Mahasena is resonant with the stories that were, as well as vividly original.

KALA KRISHNAN’S MURUGAN TRILOGY DELVES RIGHT INTO THE HEART OF WHAT IT IS ABOUT THIS GOD THAT’S SO COMPELLING, WHY HE ELICITS NOT JUST DEVOTION BUT ALSO LOVE. The great battle of Chendur has drawn to a close and Murugan has fulfilled his role as Mahasena. But it has left his beloved war bard Aambal enervated, her memories obliterated, her tongue stilled, unable to compose sentences, let alone verses. Will Aambal find her way to words again? The battle had also kept Murugan from Theivanai whose mere presence had tugged at his feet. Will he succeed in wooing her now? Kala Krishnan has been exploring the Murugan universe for years now, first in verse and now in prose. In this second volume of a planned trilogy, she expands the mythologies of the god. Kumara, Karthikeya, Kandhan, Velan, Mahasena: the god of Tamizh, the patron of the Great Assembly of poets in Madurai, friend and mentor to the hot-headed and fiercely loyal Aambal, known to all as ‘Murugan’s poet’. Exploring the stories of the women in the god’s life—his poet Aambal and his wife Theivanai—Book Two of the trilogy is resonant with the stories that were, as well as vividly original.

This book breaks with three common scholarly barriers of periodization, discipline and geography in its exploration of the related themes of heresy, magic and witchcraft. It sets aside constructed chronological boundaries, and in doing so aims to achieve a clearer picture of what ‘went before’, as well as what ‘came after’. Thus the volume demonstrates continuity as well as change in the concepts and understandings of magic, heresy and witchcraft. In addition, the geographical pattern of similarities and diversities suggests a comparative approach, transcending confessional as well as national borders. Throughout the medieval and early modern period, the orthodoxy of the Christian Church was continuously contested. The challenge of heterodoxy, especially as expressed in various kinds of heresy, magic and witchcraft, was constantly present during the period 1200-1650. Neither contesters nor followers of orthodoxy were homogeneous groups or fractions. They themselves and their ideas changed from one century to the next, from region to region, even from city to city, but within a common framework of interpretation. This collection of essays focuses on this complex.

As a young girl, Laura Locke ignored the warnings of local superstition and played among the burnt-out ruins of Magnolia; a Tennessee plantation that had been forcibly occupied by the Union Army and then laid to waste during the bloody Battle of Franklin in 1864. She had always thought the ghost stories and tall tales to be untrue… until the night when she witnessed it for herself. High among the blackened columns of the old mansion, upon a balcony with no floor, stood the forlorn specter of Jessica Heller. Rather than fright or horror, Laura had felt empathy for the lost soul, along with a strange kinship. She told herself, then and there, that she would someday own the old house and discover the truth concerning the violent scourge of Magnolia and what had truly become of its lonesome mistress, who had mysteriously vanished without a trace. Years later, as a bestselling author of steamy romance novels, Laura’s dream of owning the deserted plantation became a reality. After much construction and remodeling, the old mansion was every bit as majestic as it had been during the prosperous years of the Old South before the devastation of the Civil War. She thought life for her and her husband, Rick, would be peaceful and idyllic. But then strange and disturbing occurrences began to take place. A weeping woman in the garden. A haggard man digging feverishly by the light of a coal oil lantern. The horrifying shadow of a man hanging from the limb of an ancient oak tree. And, worst of all, a malevolent and destructive poltergeist that seemed particularly resentful of her husband’s presence. When a world-renowned ghost hunter, a man in search of his ancestral heritage, and two local historians arrive at Magnolia, Laura hopes that the terror that stalks Magnolia will finally be put to rest. Instead, things begin to spiral out of control, leading toward a violent and bloody confrontation that somehow mirrors the deadly events that took place there over a century before.