Until the Lions by Karthika Nair

Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata by Karthika Naïr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mahabharata from the viewpoint of ‘minor’ female characters – like the mother of an infantry soldier on the Kurukshetra battlefield; the bitch Shaunaka (who talks about her proto-ancestor – Sarama); the crafty Satywati of the piscean origin (she was certainly not ‘minor’ – more like the root of all the strife, in a manner of speaking); the unnamed queen of Dhrupad (mother of Draupadi, Dhrishtadhyumna and Shikhandi); Poorna the maid (mother of Vidur); the blind Gandhari; Dusshala (the only sister of the 100 Kauravs), Sauvali the mother of the 101st Kaurav – Yututsu; Hidimbi and Ulupi (the discarded wives of Bheem and Arjun respectively); Abhimanyu’s widow Uttara (mother of Parikshit); Karna’s widow Vrishali; wife of Su-/Dur-yodhan Bhanumati.
It is in free verse form and reflects the unrelenting hate and jealousy pervading the landscape. It shows the characters succumbing to grief over loss – loss of lives, loss of kingdoms, loss of values and ethics. Just a jeremiad that goes on and on.
The style of printing gets irritating, at times.

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