The Winds of Hastinapur by Sharath KomarrajuMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is a re-telling of the great epic Mahabharata from the perspective of it's female characters. This first book narrates the story of Ganga and Satyavati, relatively minor characters of the epic. We have all grown up listening to the great epic and even watched it in television. But almost every version of the epic is from male viewpoint. It's really fascinating to read it from the viewpoint of it's female protagonists. A few years back, I read the novel "The Palace of Illusions" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which I must say is surely a masterpiece, being a retelling of the epic from Draupadi's perspective. This novel fascinates me in the same way. The fact that this novel is the work of a male author, fascinates me even more. The author has beautifully captured every emotion, every feeling that the women characters went through.
The description of Arundhati after she cursed Prabhasa will make you re-think about the virtues of sages. "A curse came out of that part of you that was black, and it nurturef all that was bad inside you and brought it to the fore, made it bigger and made you feel small and weak. She had heard Sage Vasishta say oncr that that man is truly good who has the ability to curse but still cannot, for that means there is no blackness in his heart."
The motherly feelings of Ganga when she dropped her new-born babies in river is something every woman will feel in her situation. It's not the feeling of a Celestial, but that of an ordinary mother.
Satyavati's tale is equally incandescent with human emotions. In the last few chapters, the stories of three Kasi princesses, Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, throws a new light in the epic.
Some quotes from the book will stay with me for quite a long time after finishing the book. I'd like to share a few here:
"She had heard it said once that nothing in the universe comes without a price; that in every instance you received something you wanted, you had to give up something you had, and in every instance you lost something, you gained something you did not have. The goddess was a trader herself; she gave not without receiving, and she took not without giving."
"The only true secret to happiness is to accept that we have no control over our fate."
"All our wishes and hopes have to go into the paths that we must yet travel, wherever they may lead."
Overall, it's the kind of book that you will want to read and re-read. A five star rating for the excellent style of story-telling and almost lyrical prose.
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