The Many Lives of a Story
Summary
The book with accounts by anthropologists, Sanskritists, historians and literary scholars examines the many renditions of the story of Nala and Damayanti to provide readers new understandings of the popular story. It brings out the many meanings behind the story of Damayanti and her spouse Nala: the worth of love and devotion, the meaning of being human, the play of the gods as revealed in the story and the pain of separation and unjust accusations. It reveals the story in its famous Mahabharata rendition and in numerous other sources—paintings like the Kangra paintings, stories told for women’s vrats in Rajasthan, oral epics of Uttar Pradesh and classical Telugu poetry.
