Yayati (Hindi) (Hindi) Paperback – 2013 by Vishnu S. Khandekar

There are few story tellers like V. S. Khandekar, the famous author who has penned the beautiful ancient story of Yayati with a more modern context. A story of greed and desire, Yayati is a story plucked out from the chapters of Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Purana. Khandekar's rendition of the story of Yayati –about a power ruler, warrior and the ancestor of Kuru and Yadav clans—is basically written in Marathi, but the masterpiece has translated in Hindi for more people to acknowledge the beautiful content.

The story revolves around Yayati, the protagonist, who meets a beautiful women and falls in love with her. Yayati, irresistibly in love with this woman, wishes to seek her hand in marriage but finds her to be really heartless and arrogant. This women turns out to be the daughter of the sage of the asuras, Shukracharya.

Yayati marries the beautiful Devyani to appease Shukracharya. Over time, Yayati falls for his maid servant named Sharmishta. Sharmishta herself is no ordinary maid: she is the daughter of asura King Vrisha Parva. Sharmishta, owing to an impulsive act of folly, was cursed to be a slave of Devyani. The spellbinding story takes the readers through the highs and lows of love and what it can do to corrupt the soul of even the most powerful.

Fascinating twist in the story comes when Shukracharya discovers Yayati’s reality and curses him of eternal doom – one which no one but his son could redeem, only if he wished so.

The beauty of this story is the way it is told from the perspectives of different major characters. Published in 2013, this book is available in paperback edition.

About the Author:

A Marathi author and school teacher, Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar had also authored numerous plays, essays and short stories apart from novels, and is considered as one of the stalwart writers of India. He had also been the recipient of prestigious awards like Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan and the Jnanpith Award.