<div>Authored in about 345–300 BCE by Vishnu Sharma, the Panchatantra has long been considered one of India’s invaluable gifts to the world. Its creation is the stuff of legend: in an effort to expedite the education of his three unschooled sons, the wise King&nbsp; Amara shakti of Mahila ropya sought out the octogenarian scholar Vishnu Sharma, who was known for his inventive teaching methods. Vishnu Sharma not only accepted the task of educating the princes but also said that he would accomplish it in six months. </div><div>The Nitishastra he used to teach the princes was one he composed specifically for the purpose and this was called the Panchatantra—five treatises. ‘Mitra Bheda’ (breach of friendship), the longest of the sections, is framed around the deep friendship between a lion, Pingalaka, and a bull, Sanjivaka, and narrates how they are turned against each other, raising the question: can two animals who are natural enemies ever be friends? The second tantra, ‘Mitra Samprapti’ (acquisition of friends), relates how a crow, mouse, tortoise, and deer become friends, and shows how friendship between the small and powerless is beneficial to all involved. ‘Kakolukiyam’ (of crows and owls), the third tantra, is a narrative that draws from Kautilya’s six-fold state policy, which is woven into the tantra’s frame story that describes a vendetta between crows and owls. The fourth tantra, ‘Labdha Pranasham’ (loss of acquired gains), is centred around the well-known tale of a crocodile’s treasured friendship with a monkey and how he loses it when his wife develops a hankering for the monkey’s heart. ‘Aparikshita Karakam’ (impetuous actions), the last tantra, is unique for its focus on human characters. The framing tale is about a barber who, under a misconception, assaults monks, rashly assuming that this will bring him gold. It makes the case that reckless actions, especially when they are triggered by greed, end in failure and grief. The sixty-nine stories in the Panchatantra cut a wide swathe, depicting as large a slice of life as possible. The cast of characters consists of lions, tigers, wolves, cats, tortoises, monkeys, deer, hares, snakes; crows, cranes, and various other birds; and water creatures, such as fish and crabs. There are also some humans, such as weavers and barbers, fowlers and hunters, as well as wealthy merchants, and ministers, kings, and, along with these, a smattering of priests. While in recent times it has been largely treated as children’s literature, the Panchatantra is a timeless book of wisdom for all ages, filled with tales laced with insight, cogent witticisms, and lessons about living. In this retelling of the ancient text, Meena Arora Nayak creates a work that is lucid, fluent, and engaging, while keeping the essence of its magnificence intact. The Panchatantra has long been considered one of India’s invaluable gifts to the world. </div><div>The Panchatantra of Vishnu Sharma presents sixty-nine stories depict a large slice of life. In her retelling of the ancient text, Meena Arora Nayak creates a work that is lucid, fluent, and engaging, while keeping the essence of its magnificence intact.</div><div><br></div>

<div>Nine characters recall their relationship with a young woman – the same woman – whom they have loved, or who has loved them. We piece her together, much as we do with others in our lives, in incomplete but illuminating slivers.Set in familiar, nameless cities, moving between east and west, The Nine-Chambered Heart is a compendium of shifting perspectives that follows one woman’s life, making her dazzlingly real in one moment, and obscuring her in the very next. Janice Pariat’s exquisitely written new novel is about the fragile, fragmented nature of identity – how others see us only in bits and pieces, and how sometimes we tend to become what others perceive us to be.</div><div><br></div>

<p>A gripping royal saga of charmed lives in a changing world. The Jaipurs were India's mid-century golden couple; its answer to the Kennedys, or Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Jai and Ayesha, as they were known to friends like Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote and 'Dickie' Mountbatten, entertained lavishly at their magnificent palaces and hunting lodges in Rajasthan--and in the nightclubs of London, Paris and New York. But as the Raj gave way to the new India, Jaipur--the most glamorous and romantic of the princely states--had to find its place. The House of Jaipur charts a dynasty's determination to remain relevant in a democracy set on crushing its privileges. Against the odds, they secured their place at the height of Indian society; but Ayesha would pay for her criticism of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. From the polo field and politics to imprisonment and personal tragedy, the Jaipurs' extraordinary journey of transformation mirrors the story of a rapidly changing country.<br></p>

<p>When Mihika, 56 and a widow, gets drawn into a relationship with Zuhayr, a 60-year-old divorcee who was her late husband Aditya’s friend, it doesn’t seem to her like an event that should cause more than a raised eyebrow or two. </p><p>Not in the twenty-first century, and not when their grown-up children are happy that their parents have found a second chance at happiness. But in Tinigaon—a small town in Assam—it is just not done for a woman of Mihika’s age to have a romantic relationship—that, too, with a man from the Other Religion: a Muslim.</p><p> Tinigaon’s Old Guard is scandalized as Mihika and Zuhayr are seen together in restaurants and cinema halls, ‘flaunting’ their affair. And a nosy neighbour, Ranjana, keeps the moral brigade busy with juicy details of Zuhayr’s late-night comings and goings from Mihika’s house. Mihika decides to ignore the gossip-mongering and slander and remain true to her relationship with Zuhayr, who has filled a void in her life after Aditya’s death five years ago. </p><p>As long as her four closest friends, Tara, Triveni, Shagufta and Pallavi, stand by her, she doesn’t care if others turn away. But when the gossip turns into something more sinister that could threaten her daughter Veda’s happiness, Mihika is forced to take a call—should she give up the man she loves for her daughter’s sake, or is there an alternative that could give them both what they want? Writing with great sensitivity and gentle humour, Mitra Phukan proves once again that she is an extraordinary chronicler of the human heart. Rooted, like all her fiction, in the culture and sensibilities of Assam, What Will People Say? speaks to all of us, wherever we are, whoever we are.</p><div><br></div>

<div>A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women. - THE NEW YORK TIMES.</div><div>Five years ago,&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Geeta lost her no-good husband.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">As in: She actually lost him-he walked out on her and she has no idea where he is. But in her remote village in India, rumor has it that Geeta killed him. And it's a rumor that just won't die. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">As it happens, being known as a "self-made" widow comes with some perks.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">No one&nbsp; messes with Geeta, harasses her, or tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It's even been good for business: No one dares to not buy her jewelry. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Freedom must look good on Geeta, because now other women are asking for her "expertise," making her an unwitting consultant for husband disposal. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">And not all of them are asking nicely. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">With Geeta's dangerous reputation becoming a double-edged sword, she has to find a way to protect the life she's built-but even the bestlaid plans of would-be widows tend to go awry.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">What happens next sets in motion a chain of events that will change everything, not just for Geeta but for all the women in the village.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"> Filled with clever criminals, second chances, and wry and witty women, Parini Shroff's. The Bandit Queens is a razor-sharp debut of humor and heart that readers won't soon forget.</span></div><div><br></div>

In the early years of the twentieth century, Calcutta is grappling with deadly diseases such as the plague, cholera, typhoid, malaria, and kala-azar caused by viruses, bacteria, and other infectious organisms. The populace is restive under British rule, and World War I looms large on the horizon. Set against this tumultuous backdrop, is an indelible tale of loss, hope, love, and mortality. Dr Dwarikanath Ghoshal is one of the city’s most celebrated physicians. Propelled by a fierce desire to vanquish the diseases that ravage the population, he does not hesitate to dismiss quackery, superstition, and old-fashioned beliefs that have contributed to high mortality rates and the spread of epidemics. Dwarikanath is equally dismissive of irrational customs in his personal life. His impatience with tradition begins early. He decides to study medicine against the wishes of his father (who disowns him), buys and dissects corpses, converts to Christianity, and instils that rebellious spirit in his descendants. Four generations of Ghoshals continue to infuse their scientific temper and liberal values into the lives of people around them. There is Dwarikanath’s headstrong son, Kritindranath Ghoshal, who as soon as he acquires his medical degree joins the Bengal Ambulance Corps and sets off for the battlefield in Mesopotamia during World War I. There is also his soulmate, his fiery cousin Madhumadhabi, who trains to be an Ayurvedic doctor, and is heartbroken when Kritindranath is married off. Equally compelling are Dwarikanath’s wife, Amodini, his grandson, Punyendranath, his great-grandson, Dwijottam, and a myriad other brilliantly imagined characters who play out their lives in the course of the novel, fighting diseases, social mores, and trying to cope with the enormous, convulsive changes the city and country are experiencing. Distinctive and beautifully wrought, A Ballad of Remittent Fever is a stunning exploration of the world of medicine and the ordinary miracles performed by physicians in the course of their daily lives. Originally published in the Bengali as Abiram Jwarer Roopkatha, this is one of the most original novels to have come out of India in the twenty-first century.

Vishnu, a twenty-one-year-old Indian student out drinking in a bar in Washington D.C., is murdered in a hate crime. At the moment of his death, Vishnu takes flight and traces the sequence of events that led to his life being extinguished. Speeding through the past, present, and future, his consciousness witnesses the hate and violence on two continents. As Vishnu looks back on his short life, we see the brutal acts of his father who built an empire in the Hindi heartland of India on the blood and trampled beliefs of others so his family could lead the good life. When Vishnu gets to America, he finds that the detestation and othering that targeted one set of people in his homeland is replaced by more of the same in the country he has landed in, except this time he doesn’t belong to the class of oppressors but that of the oppressed. Visceral and intense, this tremendous debut novel is a clear-eyed look at the barbarity that lies just beneath the surface in countries like India and America and the toll it takes on the lives of innocents.

The Hindi short story is one of the most exciting genres in modern Indian literature. The fifteen stories in this volume, by some of the most prominent writers in the field, provide unique picture of the country today. Most of the stories focus on urban middle-class individuals and especially those whose lives are marked by alienation and loneliness. They highlight the disruptions caused in a society that is modernizing at a rapid pace while still being blessed and burdened by a strong sense of traditional morality, duty and family ties. Among the writers included in this volume are Kamleshwar, Nirmal Verma, Phanishwarnath ‘Renu’, Krishna Baldev Vaid and Mohan Rakesh.

Ruskin Bond is the most addictive and entertaining writer in modern Indian literature. The author of over a hundred novels and short-story collections, his fiction is especially celebrated for the unforgettable misfits, dreamers, small-time con artists, rapscallions, thieves and drifters who populate it. For the first time ever, A Gallery of Rascals brings together the most memorable rogues to feature in Ruskin Bond’s fiction. A few brand new stories—‘A Man Called Brain’, ‘Sher Singh and the Hot-water Bottle’, ‘Crossing the Road’— headline this collection and rub shoulders with much-loved tales like ‘The Thief’s Story’, ‘The Boy Who Broke the Bank’, ‘Tigers for Dinner’ and ‘A Case for Inspector Lal’. Thrilling and effortlessly readable, the thirty stories in this book show exactly why Ruskin Bond’s fiction is irresistible.

The twenty-one stories in the book are the greatest pieces of fiction written by Ruskin Bond. Chosen by the author himself, from a body of work built over fifty years (starting with his award-winning first novel, The Room on the Roof, and ending with Tales of Fosterganj, this collection includes well-known masterpieces like ‘The Night Train at Deoli’, ‘The Woman on Platform No 8’, ‘Rusty Plays Holi’ (from The Room on the Roof), ‘Angry River’, ‘The Blue Umbrella’, ‘The Eyes Have It’, ‘Most Beautiful’, ‘Panther’s Moon’, as well as newer stories like ‘An Evening at the Savoy with H.H.’ (from Maharani) and ‘Dinner with Foster’ (from Tales of Fosterganj). Taken together, the stories in A Gathering of Friends show why Ruskin Bond has long been regarded as one of the pillars of Indian literature. This is a book that will delight his legions of fans as well as those lucky few who are new to his fiction.