Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India

In the very best book about Hindu mythology that anyone has ever written (The New Republic) Calasso plunges Western readers into the mind of ancient India. He begins with a mystery: Why is the most important god in the Rg Veda, the oldest of India's sacred texts, known by a secret name--Ka, or Who?

What ensues is not an explanation, but an unveiling. Here are the stories of the creation of mind and matter; of the origin of Death, of the first sexual union and the first parricide. We learn why Siva must carry his father's skull, why snakes have forked tongues, and why, as part of a certain sacrifice, the king's wife must copulate with a dead horse. A tour de force of scholarship and seduction, Ka is irresistible.

Author: Roberto Calasso
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 11/02/1999
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 7.94h x 5.32w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780679775478
ISBN10: 0679775471
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Short Stories (single author)
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology