An important trend in Indian-English writing, post-millennium, has been the reincarnation of mythology as bestsellers, thanks to writers like Devdutt Pattanaik (who is also an illustrator) and Amish. There have been retellings by other gifted writers of fiction as well: Chitra Banerjee Divakurani’s The Palace of Illusions: A Novel (2008) and The Forest of Enchantments (2019) immediately come to mind. However, none of them featured Ahalya as a protagonist. Enter Koral Dasgupta.

She had acknowledged her immense debt to Pattanaik for her interest in mythology in one of her previous novels, Rasia (2017). In that novel (somewhat reminiscent of the life and art of Raja and Radha Reddy), a Bharatnatyam dancer-couple are forced to realign their personal and professional lives when a gifted student enters their world. At one point, that student gives a long exposition on Durga and Kali as she prepares their dance troupe for a new mythological production. It was but one step for the author from making mythology a part of the story to making it the story itself: she took that step with Ahalya.

Breaking away

In her note to readers, Dasgupta elaborates on the distinction that is traditionally made between the Panch Kanya – Ahalya, Kunti, Draupadi, Mandodari and Tara – and the Five Satis – Sita, Sati,...

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