Every heartbeat, every touch, every form, taste, and smell have a story to tell. Every stone has absorbed all the events that have occurred around it, every drop of water is imprinted with events it has witnessed. If we listen with care, even the trees, the wind and the birds share their stories fabulous tales that may have happened, or not happened in the real world, but they surely did in the corridors of the mind.
I have always enjoyed relating stories and in great detail my children would say, "Only Amma will take five hours to tell the story of a movie that was only three hours long"
My skills at creating stories inspired by our Itihasa Paranäs improved with my grandson Aarya, by detailing elements crucial to all stories, like a director directing actors, and my granddaughter Radha, intently listening to each one of them.
One day, not so long ago, as my mind wandered into the world of fantasy and history, as it is wont to, a story began to form. One that I felt I must share, one that possessed me. I spoke to historians and scholars, referred to some books, and slowly the story grew and began to take shape.
This book would not have been possible without the T backing of a host of people: My husband Vijayakumar, and the eternal support and unconditional love of my children, Shriram and Rukmini.
Arun Sarma who kept tabs on the progress of my writing. My team at Center for Soft Power: Aparna, Varsha and Arunima, who have been with me all the way. I thank Varsha especially for writing the detailed glossary and Aparna for giving her expert feedback on the story. Thanks are due to Supriya and Rekha, my Heritage team, for their encouragement.
Shweta Raghunathan did the first reading, giving me confidence that it was worth getting published. My cousin Aparna Muralidharan did another read, and then I found Nirja Sharma, an editor who inspired me to look at my work with an eagle's eye and write better. She had been patient and understanding with a first-time author Later, Prakash Belawadi, a thamma to me said, "Akka, share the latest draft please, we need to keep the flow of Rasa consistent, so there are some places which you could alter a bit.
The world as we perceive it is unique to each of us, I according to every event we interpret, our background and our way of thinking. The foundation of Indian civilizational thought processes are cyclical in nature. In the Bharathiya ethos, all creation is inherently divine. There is only GOD.
In the ancient cosmology of Bharata, time is cyclic, and a specific division of it is termed a Yuga, an age or an epoch presently we are in the Kali Yuga, considered an age when ethical values deteriorate and Dharma is in a downward spiral.
In this age of Kali, our country has withstood a thousand years of invasions, followed by colonisation and, now, globalisation. Yet we have an unbroken culture that continues to run in the veins of those who still live by the principles of Dharma, carrying wisdom from our hoary antiquity.
This story is historical fiction. It is based on some major events that did occur but all the characters and the storyline are of my imagination. Many of the invaders who came in search of wealth stayed back in this land of plenty. Some.
Thanks to the grandchildren of the author of this book. Forever There (Kathā Paramparā), for inspiring her to be a Kathäkär turned into a novelist, with the inspiration of her beloved husband, Sri. Vijayakumar. Her mental wandering through history, fantasy and all that mingling with her eternal love for her Daivam (God) and Desam (country) have been beautifully blended in this book.
This is a historic fiction with umpteen characters created by the author, who are like beautiful and colourful creepers hovering around the central theme of non-warriors turning into warriors nurtured by their instinct to protect the indigenous Dharma against the mighty Mughal ruler, Aurangazeb, who ultimately demolishes the abode of the Lord of Kāši.
The aim of the Islamic rulers, right from the days of Razia Begum, 1169 CE onwards, becomes part of the narration, smoothly dissolving into the mainstream of the drama. The characters are contemporaries of Aurangazeb. They are not kings but commoners, traders, saints and yogīs, with the heroes being four children who are part of a renowned Haveli in Kāśī.
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