Mahadev

The book begins with a child's simple question: who is Shiva? Answering it sends a whole family on a journey through tales and episodes spread across Shivbhumi, the land of Shiva. Their route runs from the sacred heights of Mount Kailash to the legendary Ocean of Milk and down into the netherworld.

Along the way, stories gathered from many parts of India build a portrait of Mahadev, a deity who is deeply loved yet hard to pin down. Readers meet his avatars and his lilas, or divine plays. They watch him swallow the Kalakuta poison to save the world and share his grief when Sati dies. They follow his return to family life as a householder, even as he remains the Mahayogi, the eternal ascetic. The histories of his temples are woven in as well.

Renuka Narayanan tells all of this in the manner of Harikatha, the traditional form of devotional storytelling. Her narrative pays particular attention to how Shiva deals with the mortals who worship him, in ways that are tender, playful and often surprising.