THE INDIAN EPICS RETOLD

One of India s finest novelists retells the two great Indian epics as well as some well-known tales from Hindu mythology and folklore. While the eleventh century Tamil poet Kamban s version inspires his Ramayana, Narayan s Mahabharata is based on Vyasa s monumental work. In Gods, Demons and Others, he includes stories from Kalidasa s Sanskrit classic Abhijnana Shakuntalam, the Tamil epic Silappadikaram, the Shiv Purana and the Devi Bhagwatam.