Interesting, fairly fast moving novel. Mixes present day Eastern UP with its religion, castes, corruption and politics with a hallucinating religious warrior ;)
The writing tends to go overboard a bit at times, but that may just be due to the nature of the story.
Shrewd and frugal, the Tamil Brahmin is a lover of anonymity: he works behind the scenes and never gets too close to the big man, because when the barbarians leap over the fort walls and the next batch of heads roll, there will always be a market for good accountants.
In the old days hilsa was not caught between Lakshmi puja and Saraswati puja, to let them breed and replenish the river.
But times have changed. We have succumbed to the Christians, and the first chapter of their book that says they believe they were given dominion over the earth and its creatures. The world is not our home, they tell themselves. Heaven is our home and what is why they do not care so much for the forests and its beings.
…Indore—that dividing city between the Deccan and Delhi, built as protection from both the Marathas and Mughals—where they would rest for a few weeks before walking to Bombay, formerly a mangrove swamp…