The Upside Down King

This book is a MUST-READ! In her latest book The Upside Down King, master storyteller Sudha Murty regales us with the untold and lesser-known tales of Rama and Krishna. These are tales we never knew existed, lost to time and tide. They stun and grip us with their power and offer us narrative surprises and enchantments in true epic style. And mysteriously, they tie back to the mainstream stories that we so love. There are some stunning stories that work on their own too, in this beautiful book. 'Time Travel' is one of my favorites. It is about how Yama visits Lord Rama to tell him he has little time left in his human form but Hanuman, not wanting to lose Rama, would not let Yama in. So Yama tricks Hanuman and sends him to Patala, where a few minutes equals years on earth. Such stories are fascinating because they bend time and space. Another beautiful story is about how Krishna dies, shot by a hunter named Jara. This story has an interesting connection to how Rama killed Vali. Murty gives us a stunning variation of this story -- of how Ekalavya's son kills Krishna without knowing it. This, again, is a stupendous story.