From the author of The Last Mughal, an enlightening book that explores
with remarkable compassion and expansive insight nine varieties of
religious devotion in India today.
In portraits of people we might otherwise never know William Dalrymple
distills his twenty-five years of travel in India to explore the
challenges faced by practitioners of traditional forms of faith in
contemporary India. For two months a year, a man in Kerala divides his
time between jobs as a prison warden and a well-builder and his calling
as an incarnate deity. A temple prostitute watches her two daughters die
from AIDS after entering a trade she regards as a sacred calling. A Jain
nun recalls the pain of watching her closest friend ritually starve
herself to death.
Together, these tales reveal the resilience of individuals in the face
of the relentless onslaught of modernity, the enduring legacy of
tradition, and the hope and honor that can be found even in the most
unlikely places.