Book Review: Kausalya : Queen of hearts

Author: Vibha Sangita Krishnakumar 

Who was Kausalya?

An unwanted daughter, given her mother’s indifference? Someone whose fate was tied to the Asura king Ravana? or someone who had to bear with the fact that her husband had to take on two more wives?

Or was she just a mother who had to give up her children, including exiling her own son?

Kausalya was the princess extraordinaire. She excelled in all areas to the extent that she was known to be blessed by the Goddess. She had powers unknown to many.

However, she had to remain in the shadows of her father, husband and later, her son. Though she embodied truth and wisdom, happiness and sorrow, sacrifice and devotion, she came across as a disgruntled and voiceless monarch.

There were many layers to the enigmatic Kausalya and the young author has done a good job of peeling them one at a time. Here was a warrior queen who birthed an avatar but was a lot more than what met the eye.

The later part of the story, particularly the exile and Sita’s birth, is very different from what we have read in most versions of the Ramayana. But the reasoning is effective enough. It’s a different yet interesting perspective.

Kausalya was the queen who had it all but was always alone…

 

Subscribe for updates

Related Stories

Pages

Book Review: Mostly Mundane

Author: Saugata Chakraborty Contrary to what the title suggests, there is nothing mundane about this...

Book Review: My Life On Canvas (poetry collection)

Poet: Saloni Sareen While I am not a poetry person, Saloni's book made me stop...

Epilogue: the password

Epilogue 18 months later Maanav and Nitya walked hand in hand and stood still in Shadow’s...

Chapter 25 The curtains fall… in action

  Chapter 25 Maanav stood still for a moment trying to quickly analyse the situation. Shadow...

Chapter 24 Action on board…

Chapter 24 Maanav stood in attention along with Shadow and Razor. The 3 of them...

Short Story: The Alchemy of The Scar

The following 300-word short story was based on a prompt for Artoons Writer's room. The...

Popular Categories

Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here