Nala & Damayanti: A Love Story

(Paperback)

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This translation from the Sanskrit is a far cry from Hollywood's garish portrayal of India's exquisite, ancient culture, which is also the world's oldest democracy. And, in contrast to the West's tale of Cinderella, the heroine in this story -- Damayanti -- chooses her own husband from a group of formally-assembled men in the custom known as girl's "swayamvara" or self-choice. Taken from recordings of Hindu holy men, original-source texts in Sanskrit, Hindi and Tibetan, innumerable conversations with speakers of those languages and a children's cartoon, this translation/transliteration is a labor of love, started in college classroom 40 years ago.

Author Bio

A career journalist, Bustos has worked as a reporter and photographer for The New York Times, The Denver Post and dozens of newspapers and magazines across the U.S. The first woman political columnist for The (Santa Fe) New Mexican, she also an documenteds state participation in the nation's worst -- most atrocity-ridded -- prison riot. She has two children and an adopted son in Nepal.