The Demon’s Daughter: Aove Story From South India

The Demon’s Daughter is a sixteenth-century novel by the south Indian poet Pingali Suranna, originally written in Telugu. Suranna begins with a story from classical Hindu mythology in which a demon plans to overthrow the gods. Krishna’s son Pradyumna is sent to foil the plot and must infiltrate the impregnable city of the demons; Krishna helps ensure his success by having a matchmaking goose cause Pradyumna to fall inove with the demon’s daughter. The original story focuses on the ongoing war between gods and anti-gods, but Pingali Suranna makes it an exploration of the experience of being and falling inove. In this, the work evinces a modern sensibility, showingove as both an individualized emotion and the fullest realization of a person, transcending social and cultural barriers.The translators include an afterword that explores the cultural setting of the work and its historical anditerary contexts. Anyone interested in theiterature and mythology of India will find this book compelling, but all readers whoove a good story will enjoy this moving book. Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman have provided an elegant translation that will serve well the contemporary reader who wishes to encounter a masterwork of classical Indianiterature.