Arshia Sattar

Valmiki

One of India's greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country's moral and cultural consciousness. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Visnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honour, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies and destructive ambitions - all this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods, wondrous animals and terrifying demons.

The Ramayana

Mahabharata For Children

One of the world’s oldest and best-loved tales, now retold and illustrated in thrilling detail for readers of all ages. Rama pulled the splendid arrow out of his quiver. It had been given to him long ago by the sage Agastya who had told him that he could use it only once and only for a great enemy. The incomparable arrow held the wind in its feathers, the sun and the moon in its shining tip, the earth in its shaft and the power of the doomsday fire in its flight. Ramayana—an unforgettable tale of love, adventure, flying monkeys and god acting in the world of humans—has been treasured by readers around the world for thousands of years. Now in an authoritative, gripping retelling by the renowned Ramayana scholar Arshia Sattar, readers have a new chance to explore this classic’s riches. Rama is a brave young prince who is forced into exile. His brother Lakshmana and his wife, the beautiful princess Sita, loyally follow him into the depths of the mysterious forest, where they encounter strange and dangerous creatures. None is as terrifying as Ravana, the ten-headed demon king who kidnaps Sita and takes her to a fortified city in the middle of the ocean. To rescue her, Rama enlists the help of hundreds of thousands of magical monkeys and bears to fight the demon army and win her back. Even the gods gather to witness the harrowing battle. Will Rama and his friends prevail, and will Sita return to him? Only these captivating pages will tell…

An Illustrated Retelling

Ramayana

Even in ancient India, money is always a good thing and everyone wants it. The stories in The Mouse Merchant—selected from the Sanskrit universe, from the period of the late Rig Veda to the twelfth century—tell us how money was dealt with in everyday life in ancient and medieval Indian society. At the heart of these tales is the merchant. Sometimes gullible, sometimes greedy; ingenious at some moments, dim-witted at others; and hopelessly in love with courtesans but also loyal to their wives, our merchant heroes show how innovation in business is sometimes more important than capital. The Mouse Merchant puts these stories into the context of Indian business history, giving not only rare insights into the romance of the ancient seafaring life but also great wisdom about money.

Money in Ancient India

The Mouse Merchant

The story of the Ramayana is a story of trial and tribulation, of the subtlety of right and wrong, of love and loss. The actions of Rama, the righteous but troubled prince of Ayodhya, have perplexed readers over the millennia. Lost Loves is an attempt to come to terms with Rama and with the Ramayana, a text that Arshia Sattar has translated to acclaim. The essays in this book imagine what might have been the thoughts and feelings of Rama and Sita as they lived through the tumultuous events of the great epic. They explore what happens to love in separation, and how public lives and private desires collide to devastating effect. In doing so, Arshia Sattar makes the existential conflicts of the Ramayana fascinatingly relevant and freshly inspiring for the contemporary reader.

Exploring Rama's Anguish

Lost Loves

Adhering faithfully to ValmikiÕs RAMAYANA, the oldest version of RamaÕs story composed in Sanskrit about two and a half thousand years ago, Arshia Sattar distils the great Indian epic in this beautifully told and sumptuously illustrated edition

Ramayana for Children

Of the seven books that comprise the Valmiki Ramayana, the Uttara Kanda is the final and perhaps the most problematic: Rama banishes his beloved Sita into the forest; Rama kills Shambuka, a low caste man practising austerities that are above his station; Rama is reunited with his sons during a sacrifice at which he loses his wife forever; Rama watches over the death of his devoted brother Lakshmana who knowingly submits to a curse that will take his life. In Uttara, Arshia Sattar exquisitely captures the heady delights of the original text in all its sensuous, colourful detail—frenzied battles, simmering intrigue, lustful demons and the final and tragic act in Rama and Sita's love story. But the Uttara Kanda raises more questions than it answers, and Sattar’s accompanying essays skillfully explore the shattering consequences of Rama’s actions even as they unravel the complex moral universe of the Ramayana.

The Book of Answers

Uttara

Stories of Friends and Foes from Hindu Mythology

Garuda and the Serpents

"Raghu has the best adventure of his life with the cheerful and brave monkey god!"--Cover page 4.

Arshia Sattar

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