What is not so well known, however, is that the gentle, lovelorn Shakuntala immortalized by Kalidasa is very different from the original Shakuntala of the Mahabharata—a strong, fiery woman who stood up for her rights when she was spurned by her beloved.In this thoughtful retelling of the story of Shakuntala, Utkarsh Patel brings to the fore the original heroine, the bold and beautiful daughter of Menaka and Vishwamitra who fights to get herself and her son the recognition they deserve. She does not surrender to anyone, not even the king of Hastinapur. Retold to suit the modern-day context, Shakuntala: The Woman Wronged is a must-read to understand one of the most powerful yet underrated female characters of the Mahabharata.

    Drawing from the Hindu sacred text the Shiva Mahapurana--said to be written by Shiva himself--Vanamali selects the essential stories of Shiva, both those from his dark wild side and those from his benevolent peaceful side. Vanamali discusses Shiva’s many avatars such as Shambunatha and Bhola, as well as Dakshinamurti who taught the shastras and tantras to the rishis. She explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and with his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. Examining Shiva’s acceptance of outsiders, Vanamali explains why ghosts and ghouls are his attendants and why his greatest devotees are demon kings, like Ravana. She includes famous Shiva stories such as the Descent of the River Ganga and Churning the Milky Ocean as well as those that reveal the origin of the festival of lights, Diwali; his creation of the cosmic couple, or hierogamos; and how Shiva and Parvati taught the world the secrets of Kundalini Shakti. The author also draws upon Shaivite teachings to illustrate the differences between Western science and Vedic science and their explanations for the origins of consciousness. Integrating Shiva’s two sides, the fierce and the peaceful, Vanamali reveals that Shiva’s form depends on the needs of the devotee. Understanding his teachings allows one to see through the illusions at the root of all grief and alienation in human life, for Shiva is the wielder of maya who does not fall under its spell. While Ganesha is known as the remover of obstacles, Shiva is the remover of tears.

    Three Hundred years after the epochal Mahabharata War... India is still haunted by the shadows of the devastating conflict of the Kuru cousins, which almost destroyed the entire land.... The epicentre of power has now shifted to the kingdom of Vrij, situated on the northern banks of the Ganga, ruled by an ambitious king who would not stop at anything to lay his hands on the most powerful weapon of the Mahabharata age... Soaring ambitions have once again brought the ancient civilisation on the dark brink of another full-scale war.... Against this backdrop, a warrior princess is set to change the political legacy of Ancient India – guided by her destiny... and a phenomenal man, who lived three hundred years before her... A man who is considered God today, but whose greatest contribution lies buried below layers of ancient history...And buried below these very layers, lies the story of this warrior princess, who unravelled the mystery of His code – an eternal way to establish dharma in Bharat...Will the princess change the way kingdoms in India are ruled? What is the destiny of Bharat?

    Bhishma, the venerable patriarch of the families, lies fatally wounded on the plains of Kurukshetra. On his deathbed he offers Radheya, his nemesis, a chance to rule the Kuru kingdom by capturing Yudhishthira.In the Pandava camp, Yudhishthira, a reluctant warrior, tries desperately to hold his allies together and escape capture without appearing to be a coward. Meanwhile, his young and impulsive nephew, Abhimanyu, a warrior prince, dreams of glory and yearns for a chance to save the Pandava cause. The lives of these three warriors, Yudhisthira, Radheya and Abhimanyu, collide brutally on the thirteenth day. A story of how stories are created, how fact becomes fiction, how history becomes mythology and how men become legends, The Thirteenth Day re-imagines India's greatest epic like never before.

    The Gupta dynasty is stepping into its golden ageBut the past holds many dark secrets... After long and bloody wars, Samrat Samudragupta sits on the pinnacle of an empire. yet, close to his throne are hearts filled with revenge, scheming to bring him down.Into this gathering storm arrives Chandragupta, the king’s long-lost son. As he settles into his new life devastating family secrets surface, old wounds are reopened and Chandra can no longer trust anyone – least of all those closest to him. Bizarre and sinister incidents abound as palace conspiracies unravel plunging Rajgriha into a pit of chaos. Will the son pay for the sins of his father?Yoddha: The Dynasty of Samudragupta unfolds the murky loves and lies of one of the most illustrious clans in history.

    He had imprisoned them in the caverns of Mt. Hemil. They who ravaged the city of Kushlam...The golden capital... The Gods spoke of a Prophecy then... And now it has come to pass. The dark enemy of yore rises. Only an incarnation of Lord Vishnu has the power to defeat and destroy the enemy of Kushlam. A farmer from Bamiyan, unaware of what destiny has in store for him, is pushed into circumstances beyond his control. Will he accept that he is the prophesised Avatar? Will he save Kushlam from its enemies and free the world from the fear of the trapped monsters who have found a way out of their infallible trap?

     An ancient war, older than humankind, is about to spill out of the shadows into broad daylight...And the fate of the entire creation of Oorja--the Primordial Light--rests upon two complete strangers from different worlds: Abhay Rajvardhan, a seemingly ordinary young man will discover his dead father’s secrets and his connection to a clandestine army dating back to the ages long before the epic battle of the Mahabharata. Abhay’s interaction with a magical artifact--a Chakra forged from an unknown but sentient metal--triggers an unforeseen event whose ripples are felt light-years away. As her kindred prepare to go after the Artifact on Prithvi, Dhwani, a 600-year-old Angiri warrior will find herself chasing an unknown mole hiding in their midst and working alongside the Enemy. To protect the divine artifact of the gods--the Ultimate Weapon--the two will embark upon a quest fraught with nameless perils, fighting the demonic forces of Andhakar that are bent upon destroying them. The lines between myth and reality will blur, a forgotten history will shape a new reality. The Three will unite as One to unleash the Destroyer of Worlds: the Brahmāstra, the weapon to end all weapons--and the world as we know it."

    In him was distilled the terrible powers of Mahadeva, at its fiercest and most deadly. Although he fought many wars and slew many tyrants, his gifts to humanity have always been those of mercy, compassion and love. What makes this possible?For Kartikeya, there have always been more questions than answers. Did he really walk away from his family over a piece of fruit? What about the women in his life—was he the ravisher he is at times accused of being, or the protector of women? Was he the violent warrior who revelled in bloodlust, or a gentle family man? What was his relationship with his more popular sibling, Ganesha?Anuja Chandramouli weaves together myth, imagination and folklore while looking to answer these questions and recreates for modern readers the story of one of the most enigmatic gods—Kartikeya.

    The usually venerated characters of this ancient Indian epic are here subjected to a rational enquiry that places them in context, unravels their hopes and fears, and imbues them with wholly human motives, thereby making their stories relevant and astonishing to contemporary readers. Irawati Karve, thus, presents a delightful collection of essays, scientific in spirit, yet appreciative of the literary tradition of the Mahabharata. She challenges the familiar and formulates refreshingly new interpretations, all the while refusing to judge harshly or venerate blindly.

    Like in every culture, Chinese folktales too have been instrumental in passing on Chinese tradition, beliefs, customs and values from one generation to the next.Chinese folklore consists of fables, legends, mythology tales and historical accounts. Magical creatures, demons, mythical animals, malicious step-mothers and witty and valiant protagonists take you through the common themes of the triumph of cleverness and wisdom.This collection of Chinese folktales includes the well-known tale of the 'Valiant Shu Lang', the woman who dressed herself as a man to join the military, 'The Laughing Monks' who taught the path to a contentted life throguh the only language they knew - laughter, and 'The Great Discovery', the tale of how a phenix led a young couple to a treasure they later discover to be salt.

    Kolkata had frozen to its lowest of -15 degreecelcius. Widespread diseases were common. Sharat was no exception as he was forced to quit his Zamindar lifestyle after his parents died. On the other hand in 2018, there was Niharika, living in the best of times - in a fairly modern society. She loved her life - her group of friends, her family and everything around her. Little did they know that something awaited them far away in a deserted civilisation 6 billion years into the future; in the planet Nocturne which was ravaged by compounds of a rare element called Barrenium. A Year Without Summer is a tale on how lives can intertwine with no restrictions in space time and dimensions.

    Indra, destiny's orphan, finds himself growing up in a vortex of treachery and tribal incumbency. Shielded from the usurpers of his birthright only by the watchful eye of the warrior sage Mitra, he first sets out to conquer the hearts of his tribesmen, and then the kingdoms of the unmapped world.Aligning forces with his brothers by blood oath and divine intervention Agni, Vayu, Varuna and Soma Indra embarks on a military campaign of epic proportions, stretching from the Euphrates in Asia Minor to Harappa on the Indian subcontinent, encountering formidable armies, demonic beings and powerful goddesses, and losing the only woman he really loves.Will he get her to love him again? Will he avenge the death of his father? Will he assume his place in the pantheon of the gods?In a compelling saga, blended by history, spiced by legend and mutated by myth, Rajiv G. Menon transforms ten years of research into a lightning rod of an action adventure that streaks into your consciousness with the speed of Indra's thunderbolt.About the AuthorBefore setting out on a writing career, Rajiv G. Menon was an actor, occasional screenwriter, traveler and beach bum. A voracious reader since childhood, he was fascinated by stories and characters from Indian, Greek and Norse Mythology. Thundergod was born as a result of that fascination.

    I am the mightiest warrior of mytime. I have violated my dharma and murdered a man in cold blood.I have, single-handed, wiped out a whole generation of my kinsmen.I have committed acts of unspeakable brutality on the battlefield.I have done it all for the love of one woman. A woman who lovesmy brother.I am Bhima, the second Pandava. This is my story.Possessed of amazing strength, fierce loyalty and greattenderness, Bhima as a character is almost always eclipsedby Yudhishtira and Arjuna. In spite of his many virtues,he is destined to be remembered as all brawn and biceps.Now, in Vikas Singh’s retelling of the Mahabharata,India’s greatest epic is narrated through the eyes of ahero who has never got his due. A fascinating accountof a fascinating character—his extraordinary courage,his obsessive love for Draupadi, his deeply conflictedemotions about his brother, Arjun—this stunning work,written in a racy, entertaining style, provides the definitiveanswer to the question: What was it like to be Bhima?

    Novel set in 3rd and 4th century India

    So Shaktipurians would do anything to safeguard the 'Taal-Patras' -- the ultimate secrets compiled onto palm-leaves by the yogis that contained everything! Yes, all the do's and don'ts from making of the elixir to reviving the dead! This task was headed by their beloved warrior Indrajith. But destiny brutally destroyed their plans! Their toughest braveheart was to perish in a bloody dual. This ill-fated episode prompted the rise of the nefarious king of Narakdesh -- Asurshasak! Desperate, Shaktipurians recited the revival slokas on the dead grave of their only hope… Would Indrajith emerge and come back stronger than before? And if he comes back, who is waiting for him now with a pole arm in her hands and protruding teeth? With black-magic obstacles barring his way, the comeback warrior -- Suraj Sena is shaken when the conspirator rips off the mask! But traitors never go unpunished!