Abhaya by Saiswaroopa Iyer
Hi Friends
Today, I’m talking about a book, Abhaya, written by Saiswaroopa Iyer. It’s a mythological fiction.
Mythological Background
According to author, her story explores the episode of Narakasura killing from the perspective of a fictional female protagonist, Abhaya Dhaarmaseni. She further says, “Be it curiosity, adventure, love or realization, Abhaya has been my window to explore and experience Krishna Vaasudeva.”
Narakasura was the son of Varaha Avatara of Lord Vishnu and Mother Goddess Earth. The killing of Narakasura is associated with celebration of Deepawali and Kali Puja.
There are three stories famous in Indian subcontinent regarding killing of Narakasura. In one story, he was killed by Krishna. In another story, he was killed by Satyabhama, one of the wives of Krishna. And in third story, he was killed by Kali.
The book has three main characters in this regard. In the context of Narakasura killing, Kali, Satyabhama, and Krishna could be loosely represented by characters: Dhatri, Abhaya, and Krishna respectively.
Well, to know who kills Narakasura in the book, you’ll have to read the book. :)
Apart from the episode of Narakasura killing, the book deals with migration of Krishna from Mathura to Dwaraka, marriage of Krishna with Mitravinda, one of the Asthabharyas, and organization of Rajasuya Yajna by Yudhisthira to earn the status of ‘Empire’ for Indraprastha.
Most of the people knew about Radha and Rukmani. Because of Ramanand Sagar’s TV serial Krishna, people also came to know about Satyabhama and Jambavati, but Krishna had eight principal wives and Mitravinda was one of them. People also know about Krishna that he had 16000 wives. This was also related to Narakasura killing episode.
Krishna is also known as Murari. He got this name by killing Mura, Chief Army Commander of Narakasura.
Narakasura was also known as Bhauma, because of being son of Bhumi (Goddess Earth). In the book, author referred him as Bhauma.