On the Shelf

SIEGE OF MITHILA
By Ashok K. Banker
Orbit
Price: pound;6.99
After the pace and intensity of The Prince of Ayodhya, book one of Ashok Banker8217;s unfolding seven-part series on the Ramayana, you can8217;t help expecting much more of part two, The Siege of Mithila. The attention to detail, the empathetic development of minor and major characters, the straight, spunky tone are still happening. But gosh, there8217;s already a sense of predictability, of repetition, of imagination thinning. We may entirely sympathise with Banker8217;s need to portray old Ravan as the Ultimate Evil One: it8217;s market forces that are God. But knowing what we know about Ravan much misunderstood and feeling what we feel about Ram hero to some males, but no woman8217;s idea of much, it8217;s tiresome having to trawl through a huge second chunk of this Binary Boy version of the epic. Loosen up, Banker, it8217;s gotten too colour-by-number already!

LITERARY CULTURES IN HISTORY: RECONSTRUCTIONS FROM SOUTH ASIA
Edited by Sheldon Pollock
Oxford University Press
Price: Rs 1495
Any understanding of India would be tragically incomplete without deep acquaintance with its stories, its grand narratives from the classics and the experimentation under way in contemporary literatures in different parts of the country. Sheldon Pollock, professor of Sanskrit and Indic studies at the University of Chicago, has brought together a series of essays on literature in various languages. Definitely invaluable for the scholar as well as for the reader looking to supplement her regular tryst with the stories that continue to animate us.