Thus She Spake: Creative Telling of Mythology

by A.R. Sara, Suchitra Kaul Misra, Anu Krishna

Each tale unfolds with startling clarity and strikes a resonant and unique note as it echoes from the hallowed pages of mythology, carrying the timeless ethos of the feminine muse, some of them voiced for the very first time.

A bold, vibrant and creative exploration of mythology through the eyes of the women that inhabit it. An assertation of the female spirit in the various phases of womanhood.

165 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2019

About the author

A.R Sara is a pen name the author coined for herself to explore her passion for writing. She is a breezy & intense eternal teen with a zest for the here and the now. She had been considering writing for a long long time. Then a nudge and a push from her kids. So the "Tales From The Pachaihara Forest" took shape!

Since the idea of the Tales from the Pachaihara forest took root, she feels strongly compelled to take it further. To tell the tales of the various beings that dwell this fantastic forest as well as the neighbouring realms.

Learn more about her and her other books at: https://arsarasite.wordpress.com

You can connect with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/A.R.Sara.Site

Reviews

[Sinjini]

Loved the idea of this book, to begin with. It brings together very unlikely combination of feminine forces from mythology, forcing us to look at them even as they stand apart, away from the limelight of the main epics. The imagery is vivid and the language, lucid. Many congratulations to the writers.

[Rohit Sharma]

Whenever I look back or think about my childhood there is this one thing that keeps coming back to my mind. Everyday as I used to walk back home from school, I would imagine that my mom must have cooked one of my favorite items and indeed it came true mostly (still dunno how that worked) but there was always an issue with what she made in quantity :). Every-time the quantity used to fall short of our satisfaction and mom will always give an excuse that when something is too good, it feels it wasn't enough. "Thus She Spake" is exactly that dish, that I always wanted, the booked came my way without asking, it is full of gem of the stories that I never wanted to end but again the size is so small (or call it so good) that it ended in no time. But the best thing about it is that the title says "Vol I" so we have more of it coming in very near future. Although I don't read much of mythological fiction these days but if I have to name a few of my favorite from the era, Karan will be on the top of the chain (right man at the wrong side). Another of my favorite character who never got his due is Krishna who I love more as I myself am a hardcore romantic and can there be a better character than Krishna and his love of Radha when it comes to romance or make it other way round. Imagine a situation when the whole world looks up to that one person for rescue and how amazing it is to know that who he looks up to. Now these five amazing Authors who are a part of "All Ladies League" have done a tremendous beautiful work in carving out five incredible untold stories of five underrated women whose perspectives were never told.

I don't want to disclose much about the book as you have to get this gem of a book and read it yourself, I can bet my life that you will finish it in one sitting (I stretched it to two to the best of my abilities and to savor the taste). I had no idea of its content and that is the reason I loved it more. My favorite story(s) will remain the first one about Radha (& Krishna) and the last one about Shiva's daughter. Although I am a strict atheist but if I have to pick up one God from the plethora of Gods that we have in our part of the world, Shiva will show up on the top and I still haven't got enough of him in my reading career yet. This one gave me another superb chapter about the man, his family and especially about his daughter of who I knew nothing till I read this one. Did you know Shiva had a daughter? And so far I haven't read Gandhari's version ever from Mahabharat whereas the only thing I know about her is that she was one of the most righteous person back then unfortunately having no control on the situation. It was indeed fantastic to know her story, how she was betrayed by her own father (and why). A new angle to Raavan's end was superb too. An important character from Ramayan who started it all in the first place (and why). I have read a few books earlier based on the mythological stories (fictionalized version) but this one comes closest to my favorites "Palace of Illusions" and "Karna's Wife" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Kavita Kane respectively. I will be big time looking forward to its Vol II and will be super eager to know who they are writing about in the upcoming books.

Have you read "Thus She Spake"? If you have already read it, do let me know how you like it or which was your favorite story and character but if you haven't read it so far, you gotta get it at the earliest.

[Gopi Shungloo]

Beautiful collection of eternal love stories. Thus she Spake.. brings out the power of a woman who loves without wanting to possess her lover. She just loves.. It's so meditative. Book brings out the essence of pure love beautifully. Enjoyed reading.. Will read again

[Rachana]

Amazing book written by ladies. Beautiful collection of mythological stories of women. Must read...each tale just seamlessly gets into your heart directly. Many more works like this had to come... Which provides an different angle of approach to known charecters.

[MAMTA HEMRAJANI]

"Thus She Spake" is a brilliant book, extensively researched and written in a lucid yet concise style.
It is a collection of 5 mythological characters from 5 talented writers who bring their creative thoughts together.
What makes the narration unique is its simplicity.
Each story provides an intense reflection. It captures the emotions of the characters beautifully and could change our perception about the characters.
A very thought provoking and powerful book.
First Story "Radha" by Dr. Suchitra Kaul Misra is magical, free flowing, beautiful. It is a lyrical prose.
Second Story "Urvi" by Anu Krishna is about quite an intense character that has been ignored.
"Gandhari" by Dr. Chaya Nair makes us reevaluate our pre-conceived notions about the character.
"Surpanaka" by Sandhya kunjur is thought provoking. It changes our perception about the way we usually think about Surpanaka.
And the last one "Ashoka Sundari" by A.R. Sara is powerfully written, moving and engrossing.The
Illustration skills of Bharati Sagar are of exceptionally high quality. On the whole, this
wonderful book made me think deeply. I
highly recommend it.

[Vanaja]

Remarkable Read indeed. Took me back to the days of yore!
Dr. Suchitra has linked Myth to romance which the present day youth can connect with. On one hand Radha realizes Thana is wrong whilst stealing butter, but her eyes adoringly follow his misdeeds. Divine and absolute love for Krishna blinds his mischief and he seems to grow even dearer to her. Suchitra beautifully takes us down the path of their love story. The part where Krishna says ‘ everyone is drawn to me but I am drawn to her ,is mind blowing. She winds up with Krishna presenting his flute to Radha ,symbolically conveying the end of His care free days . The parting of Krishna and Radha sure is heart breaking! Kudos to you Suchitra! You sure have built a bridge that connects myth to life!

Coming to Anu Krishna , her Uruvi practically imposes her influence on us. Who would choose a poor Charioteer’s son when there was a better choice in the form of Arjuna?Well Uruvi does it. We learn not to judge a book by its cover from her.
The author does not present a meek and mellow Uruvi. She portrays her as someone who is capable of judging people without any bias. Uruvi has the courage-to speak up and say that Duryodhana was misguiding Karna and taking him down a dangerous and disastrous path. I liked the way Anu puts forth the character of Vrushali. Although she loves Karna as much as Uruvi she does not show any hostility towards her. She has willingly sent karna’s sons through her to the battle field. As the final flaw she is ready to undertake Yuva’s upbringing all by herself. Why does Uruvi hand over Yuva to Vrushali ? Read the book to find out.

That’s all for today folks. More about the stories by the other authors is soon to come. Until then keep browsing keep reading for there is nothing more rejuvenating than that!

[Gautam Valiveti]

A neat mini-anthology of short stories depicting a particular phase of the (female) characters' lives from their perspective in the greater Mahabharata narrative. The themes of the stories although largely adhering to traditional aspects of the sacred feminine, such as nurturing others as well as subtlety in dealing with conflict, also include the heartbreaking loss of childlike innocence. I enjoyed the writing style in some of the stories more than the others and eagerly await Vol. 2.

[Gitanjali Gupta]

Exquisitely rendered. I felt drawn into those stories, deeply. The Yearning felt in another story. The imagery it evokes. Bringing these stories to life again. The mastery of retelling such stories is evident. Well done!
Gitanjali

[Deepa Kesavan]

Ashoka Sundari

This daughter of Shiva and Parvati is like the power puff girls, full of sugar and spice with a hint of mischief (sweet innocence can hide rivalry, hmmm ). A magical read for all age groups and cultures !

[NightOwl4eva]

It’s a book designed to pique curiosity and the way it’s been presented, five women coming together to weave tales of five women from mythology, is in itself both heartwarming and interesting. All in all its not a bad book, though not great either.
As far as individual stories go, Shiva’s Daughter is by far the best written piece of the book. It’s biggest USP is that it’s a relatively unknown story, and the twist that the writer gave to it is interesting. Radha is, unfortunately, a bit of a drag. It portrays something that all of us know and have seen in TV serials as well as heard in songs. It’s not badly written, it’s just been done to death. Surpankha could have been better. Gandhari could have been a great story had the writer tried to limit her scope to a slice of Gandhari’s life rather than trying to capture everything in a short story. The result is that nothing gets highlighted and you’re left with a rush job. You don’t get an idea of her helplessness or her greatness because the author couldn’t show it, instead she tells you and you have to take her word for it. It’s unfortunately a case of biting off more than can be chewed in the allotted word count. Uruvi is the worst of the lot, though, because it’s a short written on a fanfiction, and unless you’re familiar with the original fanfic, this short is extremely confusing. First, there was no character called Uruvi in the Mahabharata, nor anyone even remotely like her. That the author doesn’t know this proves she didn’t do any research and just wrote her short after reading a book based on another author’s imagination. Essentially it’s plagiarism. And it has been written in a way that it tries to create a mysterious air by omitting details. This doesn’t quite work because not everyone would’ve read the novel this story is based on. Then there is the fact that no attempt has been made to bring this story anywhere close to the Mahabharata culture or its times. Women running amok at the drop of a hat, flouting everything from convention to common sense, for a Bollywood romance type love is a ridiculous notion to have of the times the author is writing about! A teensy bit of research would’ve avoided this.
All in all, a great idea that could have been so much better. A suggestion for the authors in case they want to bring out a sequel: please read up on the subject you’re about to write on, because not everyone is totally clueless.

[Vinay Leo - vinayleoreads]

#2019 #YearInBooks Book 62

I seem to be in a mood for mythology of late, and this book came available on Kindle Unlimited just recently. The book brings five stories of female characters from Indian mythology, and written by five women as well. It was quite interesting to read each.

Of the five, my favourite two were the takes on Radha and Ashokasundari. The former because it brought life to a favourite character and told me more of her story than I had known, and the latter because I hadn't heard of the character before and was intriguing to know. The other three stories, takes on Surpanakha, Uruvi and Gandhari were interesting too but I slightly favored the first two I mentioned.

The stories are all told in a simple manner, but still have magic in them. I like the illustrations that begin each story too. Other than two or three places, I felt like the book was edited nicely.

I wish Uruvi's tale was told from the first person style too, it would have made the set of five similar in that way as well. I'm a reader who loves good cover art. I think this book needs a better one. If I saw the paperback version of the book on a shelf, I don't think it would call to me. And it's a book many might like to read.

I liked the book overall, and would recommend it to readers who love to read mythological stories. If you are on Kindle Unlimited, do give it a try.

[Pratik Bharat Palor]

9️⃣ out of 🔟 women can relate to 'Thus She Spake' 📓

The characters that were there but didn't get as much attention. The women that were as important in the larger picture, however pushed to the corner. The stories that were not meant to be ignored. The emotions or feelings that were as intense as the grand wars happening around them.

Kudos to this very unique work of bringing about the long hidden perspective and personal aspects of those ladies who didn't get their dues in the literary world. The stories are pretty relevant, relatable, entertaining, engrossing and admirable.

Visit and follow @pustak_darpan for more such comprehensive and objective Book Reviews in Hindi & English 👍

#pustak_darpan #book #review #memoir #story #women #character #ancient #untold #mustread #unique #bookstagram

[Muktha Kaja]

I read this book with absolutely no background of our Indian feminine mythology and I was completely mesmerized by these characters and the worlds they portrayed. The 5 women in this book have each been eloquently voiced by the authors, in a simple yet highly captivating way. Their stories have been brought to light so easily yet have definitely left their mark. Characters like Gandhari and Radha both have a different storyline yet are both equally strong women and their stories are very inspiring because of the virtues these women possess like perseverance through their hardships. Highly recommend this book!!

[Suresh Gupta]

Though the characters in the book were very well known and familiar but after reading the book our view towards them changes a lot and know how strong were our Women at that time. Gandhari was a strong personality but her decision to blindfold herself to support her husband could not support her children otherwise the history would have been different

[Anjali Desure]

In this era of empowered women and growing interest in Vedic wisdom this book is a timely presentation of engrossing and entertaining tales of strong women from ancient India.
The story of Radha and Krishna narrated from Radha's perspective flows... carefully chosen words blend together to weave a carpet one can fly on to the lands beyond time.