![]() ![]() "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. These disparate elements all come together as Uma discovers that the foundation of the mansion is not only very deep, but it also masks the stink of death. In The Song Seekers, Saswati Sengupta recasts the militant goddess Chandi as a wife and interweaves the history of the Portuguese in Bengal, the rise of print, the swadeshi movement, and the turbulence of the 1960s in Bengal. ![]() But it is only as she begins to read aloud the traditional Chandimangal-composed by her husband’s grandfather to celebrate the goddess-that the long-buried stories begin to emerge. ![]() Her husband’s silence about his mother’s murder and the childhood tragedy that beckons him from the shadowy landing of Kailash, the embroidered handkerchiefs in an old soap box in her father-in-law’s room, and the strange presence of the old, green-eyed Pishi-all intrigue and mystify her. In the 18th century Puranic retelling of the tale, however, Kali as consort of Shiva assumes more importance. In The Song Seekers, the debut novel by Saswati Sengupta, the monsoon rains wash over the city of Kolkata while four women sit and read and talk in the kitchen of Kailash, the old mansion of the Chattopadhyays where Uma comes to live after her marriage in the summer of 1962. The Song Seekers Saswati Sengupta Zubaan Rs 395 In one of the most venerated texts on Goddess Kali, the Mahatmya, Kali also known as Chandi, is a fierce sword-wielding goddess. ![]()
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