THE DEVIL TAKE LOVE

Sudhir Kakar

Penguin Books India, 256 pages, Rs.499

In this fictionalised account of the life of the seventh-century Sanskrit poet Bhartrihari, the protagonist, as a young man, travels from the provincial town of Jalandhar to the magnificent city of Ujjayini. His brilliance is recognised, and the young king of Avanti becomes his chief patron. Bhartrihari’s fame grows at fabulous speed, but his own journey is not as smooth: he fluctuates between sexual passion and erotic disenchantment, as the appeal of the senses wars with the call of the spirit.