The Queens of Hastinapur

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'They can claim to know her because she is unknowable. They see her form because she is formless. They speak her words because she never utters a word.' This is the story of Ganga, Madri, Pritha and Gandhari: powerful women who, driven by their fears and ambitions, trigger events that lead to an epic war, propelling kings, princes and warriors towards glory and bloodshed, sin and redemption. Here is a retelling of the Mahabharata through the eyes of its female characters, for what came to an end at Kurukshetra took root in throne rooms and bed chambers; hermitages and sacred lakes; prisons and shrines; on horseback and under the stars.

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Q and A with Sharath Komarraju

Q. What does the term 'silences of the Mahabharata' mean?

Sharath: It means the stories that you don't read in the original canon. Examples are Kunti's early youth before she meets Karna, the kind of life Gandhari lived before she married into the Kuru house, the events that surround the return of Devavrata from Heaven to Earth etc. In The Queens of Hastinapur, the inside story of Krishna's birth is told - how he came to be Devaki's son while remaining an avatar of Vishnu.

Q. Would it be right in saying, then, that the Hastinapur books expand the epic as we know it rather than just retell it?

Sharath: With due modesty, yes.

Q. What can I expect from this book as a reader?

Sharath: Velvety writing, crisp plotting, life-like characters, and a sense of ‘might it have happened this way?’

Q. Why are there women on all three covers?

Sharath: Some of the great silences of the Mahabharata arise in the inner lives of its various women. I’m not talking about just Kunti and Draupadi, but those we generally think of as insignificant. Ganga, Satyavati, Gandhari, Amba and Bhanumati are good examples. It’s interesting to view what is a tale of ‘male themes’ – property, war, women – from a softer, feminine prism that features love, motherhood, tenderness, patience and stoicism.

Q. Is it a feminist angle to the epic?

Sharath: I prefer the word ‘feminine’. Some of the women I write about are feminists, some are not. They all have individual personalities.

Q. Do I need to read the books in sequence?

Sharath: No. Each book stands on its own as a separate novel. You might miss a small number of inside references to Books 1 and 2, but these constitute less than 5% of the book. Nothing major.

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