Category: Fiction
Rights: All rights available
These are not ordinary bones. They are winning bones, imbued with magical powers. When Shakuni employs them to decimate Yudhisthira in the fateful Game of Dice in the Mahabharata, the stage is set for the apocalyptic battle of
Kurukshetra. Shakuni—the evil genius who poured venom into his nephew Duryodhana’s ears and constantly stoked the fires of enmity against his cousins the Pandavas.
But is the prince of Gandhara as monstrous as he is usually made out to be? By fostering the rivalry between the cousins, a task that he actually finds loathsome, Shakuni is trying to fulfil the vow he made to his dying father King Subala. The vow to annihilate the proud Kuru clan and avenge the deaths of Subala and Shakuni’s ninety-nine brothers, condemned to death by starvation by his sister Gandhari’s husband, the unjust Dhritarashtra.
Inspired by folklore that provides mitigating factors for Shakuni’s destructive path, this novel explores an alternative point of view and presents a narrative uniquely different from other interpretations/spin-offs of the great epic. The mythical villain comes across as deeply human—a loving brother, son and husband, tragically entangled in a course of events that is as devastating for him as the target of his revenge.
With its evocative depictions of legendary characters like Gandhari, Bhishma Pitamah, Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana and Vidura among others, its penetrating insights into their motives and foibles, gripping drama and its lyrical language, this novel offers a fresh and thought-provoking elucidation of the timeless epic.
This compelling book will urge you to reexamine stereotypical tropes, caution you to look beyond the obvious and not make assumptions about individuals without examining the causes that impel their actions.
The author: Deepa Agarwal