'In a few moons the Goddess will claim me, and I do not have a fresh young virgin by my side to absorb my knowledge and take my place once I am gone. The Mysteries of Ganga and her Sight will vanish with me.' 'My hair is white and thin, now. In a few moons, the Goddess will claim me, and I do not have a fresh young virgin by my side to absorb my knowledge and take my place once I am gone. The Mysteries of Ganga and her Sight will vanish with me, and the Great River will become nothing more than a body of lifeless water ... It is my intention, therefore, to tell you the story as it happened, as I saw it happen.' The Mahabharata is the story of women, even though men have focused far too much on the Great Battle. It is women who have set events in motion, guided the action and measured the men. The Winds of Hastinapur begins at the point that Ganga was cursed and sent to Earth. She lives among the mortals and bears Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur, seven children, all of whom she kills. With the eighth, she leaves. That boy, who returns to Earth, will prove to be the key to the future of Hastinapur.The story, as told through the lives of his mother Ganga and stepmother Satyavati, is violent, fraught with conflict and touched with magic. A lady of the river who has no virgin daughter to carry on her legacy, Celestials who partake of a mysterious lake they guard with their very lives, sages overcome by lust, a randy fisher-princess - these and other characters lend a startling new dimension to a familiar tale. SharathKomarraju does not so much retell the epic as rewrite it

'Fans of The Winds of Hastinapur, who should be legion, will delight in reconnecting with Sharath Komarraju's alternative-Mahabharata universe, where divinities and royals are both complex, capricious beings - with the former distinguished only by slightly enhanced powers, and the latter by more immediate desires and ambition. Komarraju has set himself greater challenges in this sophomore outing of his series: the plot thickens, the players multiply and the geopolitical chessboard on which this epic game unfolds is a thing of beautiful intricacy.' - Karthika Nair, author of Until the Lions For the story of the Great War is also the story of the women . . .Amba lives for revenge, but circumstances and men conspire against her. Will her daughter bring her the only salvation she seeks? Kunti stakes all to free her brother Vasudev and his wife Devaki. Yet it is the groom-choosing ceremony that will define her life. Gandhari too has come of age, and is faced with a difficult choice: she must marry the blind prince of Hastinapur if she is to save her kingdom from the certain ruin it faces due to Hastinapur's deceit.In the background, Bhishma pulls the strings, making alliances and marriages, devising new strategies, ever increasing the might of Hastinapur.

'They can claim to know her because she is unknowable. They see her form because she is formless. They speak her words because she never utters a word.'This is the story of Ganga, Madri, Pritha and Gandhari: powerful women who, driven by their fears and ambitions, trigger events that lead to an epic war, propelling kings, princes and warriors towards glory and bloodshed, sin and redemption. Here is a retelling of the Mahabharata through the eyes of its female characters, for what came to an end at Kurukshetra took root in throne rooms and bed chambers; hermitages and sacred lakes; prisons and shrines; on horseback and under the stars.

In this award-winning novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Nothing is sacred in this deliciously irreverent, witty, and deeply intelligent retelling of modern Indian history and the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata. Alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving, it is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that satirically, but also poignantly, chronicles the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.

Army man found dead in Banjara Hills. Only witnesses - wife and servant. Unconfirmed reports of rape. Can the truth be revealed? Nari is a chronicle of sexual abuse told from the points of view of the victim and the perpetrator. Set in present-day Hyderabad, when Ramya Tirthankar, the young wife of a retired army man, and their seventeen-year-old servant, Narayana - lovingly called 'Nari' - accuse each other of rape. Layered and disturbingly lyrical, filled with shock, empathy and trauma, Nari uncovers questions related to human sexual behaviour, power play and how gender inequalities are built into our very genes.

'In the house of Nanda and Yashoda, Vrindavan reared a boy that would first grow into a man, then a warrior, a statesman, a lover, a sage - and finally, a god.'There are armed soldiers at Nanda's door. They have come from the palace of Kamsa, Mathura's High King, on orders to kill every newborn babe in the city. Krishna and Balarama are at their mothers' breasts, and tending to their needs is a thirteen-year-old cowherd girl.Her name is Radha. And it is she who must protect the two princes from the tyrant's men.Then there are dangers that spring from within. Mandira, the pregnant wife of the merchant Shaunaka, dreams of chieftainship for her to-be son, and for that to happen, Nanda's heirs will have to be dispensed with. She comes to Yashoda's hut bearing warm smiles and venom-filled breasts.Will Radha succeed in saving the two infants from being suckled to death?Written in the same lyrical style of the previous Hastinapur books, The Song of Vrindavan tells the true story of the first sixteen years of Krishna's life, and the role that Radha played in making him the man he would eventually become.Sharath Komarraju beautifully breathes life once again into the silences that permeate the epic we all know so well. If you're a mythology or fantasy fan, this is a must-read.