A river sutra
Publisher: Minerva; Vintage Books / Random House; Vintage
Published: 1994
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9780749315337; 9780749397920
Subjects: Pilgrims and pilgrimages; Fiction; Tales; 18.07 English literature outside Europe and the USA
Description: Set on the banks of India's holiest river amid the constant traffic of pilgrims, archaeologists, policemen, priests, and traders, A River Sutra weaves the richness of India into the dangerous lives of its characters. A bureaucrat retires to the sacred river in search of tranquility only to encounter a girl fleeing her kidnappers, a naked ascetic and the child he has saved from prostitution, a teacher who confesses to murder, a millionaire monk, and a musician silenced by desire. Instead of finding serenity, the bureaucrat is forced to confront the powers of mythology, religion, music, and philosophy, and to acknowledge that the holy river has a sanctity more threatening than he can imagine. In this exquisitely written novel, Gita Mehta uses the traditional forms of Indian story-telling to explore the savagery of human love and to illuminate the paradoxes of India.