A dazzling and eloquent reworking of the Mahabharata, one of South
Asia's best-loved epics, through nineteen peripheral voices. With daring
poetic forms, Karthika Naïr breathes new life into this ancient epic.
Karthika Naïr refracts the epic Mahabharata through the voices of
nameless soldiers, outcast warriors and handmaidens as well as abducted
princesses, tribal queens, and a gender-shifting god. As peripheral
figures and silent catalysts take center stage, we get a glimpse of
lives and stories buried beneath the dramas of god and nation, heroics
and victory - of the lives obscured by myth and history, all too often
interchangeable. Until the Lions is a kaleidoscopic, poetic tour de
force. It reveals the most intimate threads of desire, greed, and
sacrifice in this foundational epic.