Welcome friend! For our May buddy read, Ariel and I loved returning to story by Vaishnavi Patel. You may remember her from our raving review of Kaikeyi some years back. In her latest, Goddess of the River, Vaishnavi explores a lesser known side of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. Take a look at what the book is about and read our discussion:
Vaishnavi Patel | Goodreads
A powerful reimagining of the story of Ganga, goddess of the river, and her doomed mortal son, from Vaishnavi Patel, author of the instant New York Times bestseller Kaikeyi .
A mother and a son. A goddess and a prince. A curse and an oath. A river whose course will change the fate of the world.
Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse.
Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind.
Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga’s curse. And when he makes an oath that he will never claim his father’s throne, he sets in motion a chain of events that will end in a terrible and tragic war.
As the years unfold, Ganga and Devavrata are drawn together again and again, each confluence another step on a path that has been written in the stars, in this deeply moving and masterful tale of duty, destiny, and the unwavering bond between mother and son.
Content notes include infanticide, casteism, ableism. Please see author’s note at the beginning of the book for more details.
Goddess of the River – Discussion
Kriti: Vaishnavi Patel is an author we both love returning to and I personally love discussing her books with you, Ariel. Goddess of the River is the story of the river Ganga and her role in the Mahabharata. What did you know of this Hindu epic before you read this book?
Ariel: I am less familiar with Mahabharata because while I had been able to read the Ramayana in college , we only fully read that plus an overview of Hindu mythology that covered some basics of the Mahabharata, but nothing specific I could remember. I have read the Aru Shah books by Roshani Chokshi and those provided a primer-level overview of the story which helped me create the framework of the story and main characters. I have also heard of the River Ganges and the important role it has in Indian culture even to this day, so I was excited to find out more about the roots of this sacred river.
Aru Shah books are a great introduction to the key characters of the Pandavas and the divine world.
For me, the Mahabharata had always centred around the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Though I knew Ganga was related to Bhisma, I had never looked into her story. I also had never thought about her friendship with Krishna or the tumultuous relationship with Shiva. Lots of new things to ponder in Vaishnavi Patel’s version!
Yes, what I liked about this POV was the duality of her perspective of a goddess and how she could view the world around her on a larger scale, and then how Ganga’s POV narrowed into the mortal lens changed her outlook even as a goddess later on.
One of the things Hindu mythology does very well is how the divine are not perfect and all powerful. Though Ganga is a goddess, she is trapped in the form of a river when she first arrives. Later, she is cursed by a Rishi and turned into a human. It’s really interesting to ponder mortality and divinity together. Ganga’s anger towards this punishment was justified and it created a barrier between her experiencing humanity. It was only later in the story when she understood the influence she had in those years. What do you think of this aspect, Ariel?
Yes, agreed! One thing I love about folklore and mythic beliefs is how the divine interacts with humanity and how that impacts the mortal world. Ganga is a goddess that many respected and revered for her cleansing and forgiving nature, and seeing her character arc in how she got to that point was cool to see. She saw what it felt like to feel shame and anger and all the common mortal feelings even during her short time as a mortal, and it changed her perspective on humanity from that point forward.
Ganga has to perform some heinous acts during her lifetime to break the curse on the Vasus. When she is unable to complete her mission and the king stops her from killing the last child, she experiences motherhood. The challenge is that her time as a human is over and she has to rely on the Padma to meet with Bhisma. I related to her challenges of only periodically seeing her child and yet building such a strong connection with him. Goddess of the River did a good job of showing the evolving relationship between a mother and son.
Yes, and one aspect that we got from Bhisma’s POV was his changing perspective of his mother. At first as a child, he thought it was such a cool thing to have a mother who was a goddess, but as he grew up he was taught his duty to the people. Bhisma constantly feels a tension between being a morally neutral person as Ganga taught him versus his responsibility to the crown as his mortal father taught him.
One of my favorite side stories in this book is that of Amba, the wrong Bhisma did to her and her eventual boon from Shiva. Her story is well known in Hindu mythology. I loved how the author included Ganga and Shiva in these delicate events and the moral dilemma that Bhisma faced that led to this moment.
Goddess of the River covers a number of key moments of the Mahabharata. As the author pointed out in her note, this is a very long epic and many key events have been dropped or adjusted to suit the fictional narrative. I wasn’t surprised with Bhisma’s bed of arrows was missing from the story but it is an iconic scene that in ingrained in my memory from the televised version of the epic. I felt that the background in Mahabharat was helpful to keep track of the multiple timelines and characters. At the end of the book, I am not sure if the non-linear storytelling style added to my reading experience.
While I think I enjoyed Kaikeyi more, I found that Goddess of the River was still extremely well written and expertly crafted to take a thousands-year-old epic into a retelling that centers a point of view we haven’t seen much of. Patel remains a favorite of mine and an instant-buddy-read for the two of us!
Add Goddess of the River to your Goodreads shelf.
The most recent Mahabharat retelling I read was The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (review, Goodreads) that was from the point of view of Draupadi. Goddess of the River touches on her role and I highly recommend picking up this book next if you want to dive into the main Mahabharat storyline.
Thanks for reading our discussion! Let us know what you think of this book!
Many thanks to Orbit for providing review copies of this amazing book to us!
Be First to Comment