Valmiki S Uttara Kanda

The last and most intriguing book of the Ramayana, the Uttara Kanda is rendered here by noted Sanskrit scholar Arshia Sattar in vivid, sensuous detail. First composed around 500 BCE, it tells the story of an unjustly exiled prince, the abduction of his wife from the forest by a ten-headed demon king, his alliance with a band of magical monkeys, and the internal and external battles he must fight to win back his wife and keep her. India’s great Sanskrit epic brings to readers the classic dilemmas every individual faces: love versus duty, destiny and free will, the public and the private self, the pull of family, and the right to personal happiness. These universal problems are layered with the quintessentially Indian ideas of karma (action) and dharma (duty).The book explores what it means to be human in a complex and demanding world, considering the parameters and contexts in which we make the decisions that will determine the color and tenor of our lives, the choices that make us who we are. It also offers a great, albeit tragic, love story—a story of the demands and pressures of love and how we might fail those that we love most. Accompanied by Sattar’s thoughtful essays weighing the moral complexity of this most enduring of epics, this translation crystallizes her deep and intimate knowledge of the Ramayana in a way that is utterly compelling.

Instead of being a tranquil denouement to a tale studded with dangerous adventure and emotional turbulence, Valmiki's Uttara Kanda is a shattering epilogue to a beloved story.Ravana has been defeated, and Rama and Sita have returned to Ayodhya. Rama is established on the throne that is rightfully his and spends his time listening to the stories that the sages tell him, which answer questions like: Why did Hanuman not know about his special powers? How is it that the mighty rakshasas were defeated by the monkeys? Why did Ravana never touch Sita when she was his prisoner? But these stories are punctuated by events such as the banishment of Sita and the killing of Shambuka.What is said and done in the Uttara Kanda forces us to reconsider the events of the Ramayana, urging us to read the epic through a new and disturbing lens.

One of India’s greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country’s moral and cultural consciousness. For generations it has served as a bedtime story for Indian children, while at the same time engaging the interest of philosophers and theologians. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Visnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honor, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies, and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. With her magnificent translation and superb introduction, Arshia Sattar has successfully bridged both time and space to bring this ancient classic to modern English readers.

By the author of One Part Woman: “A haunting story of forbidden love set in Southern India that illustrates the cruel consequences of societal intolerance.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Saroja and Kumaresan are young and in love. After meeting in a small southern Indian town where Kumaresan works at a soda bottling shop, they quickly marry before returning to Kumaresan’s family village, where they hope to build a happy life together. But they are harboring a terrible secret: Saroja is from a different caste than Kumaresan, and if the villagers find out, they will both be in grave danger. Faced with venom from her mother-in-law and questions from her new neighbors, Saroja tries to adjust to a new lonely and uncomfortable life, while Kumaresan struggles to scrape together enough money for them to start over somewhere new. But in a world filled with thorns, their love may not be enough to keep them safe.