In the ages since he first inhaled, before India was ever called India, Vayu has guided army after army through the mountain passes to Punjab. . . . It was Vayu who rode in the manes of horses when the Persians and Afghans sacked Lahore and snatched away its women . From the heavens I descend with Vishnu to gallop across the waning days . . . . Sometimes . . . when he pets my mane and whispers in my ear, when I see him donning his battle gear . . . I remember the work we have come down to do. . . . For the country has been overrun by barbarians.
Infidels rule the land.
They have buried the teachings of the Vedas , they have poisoned the air with their alien ways. To the Indian reader, at least, this is the moral equivalent of informing us that Jesus was betrayed by a kiss. Similarly, all three books are peppered with set pieces on spicy food, master-servant dynamics, and redeeming vignettes on the possibility of romance in an arranged marriage. Reincarnation, Mighty Avatars, Spicy Food, Servants, Arranged Marriage. I'm being a little unfair.