The Caravan – August 2019

94 THE CARAVAN

Thelatejournalistandpho-

tographerAnnieAliKhan

wrotethisbookrecounting

hertravelswithwomen

pilgrimsanddevoteesofSati—avariationofthefigureofSita

fromtheRamayana.Sheexplorestheoriginsofthismodeof

worshipinPakistan,BalochistanandSindh,andthefolklore

behindit.

simonandschusterindia, 312 pages,S 599

THEBOOKSHELF

I SAWMYSELF

JOURNEYSWITH

SHAHABDULLATIF

BHITA I

ShabnamVirami

andVipulRikhi

SITAUNDERTHE

CRESCENTMOON

A WOMAN’SSEARCH

FORFAITHIN

PAKISTAN

AnnieAliKhan

Setin1673,duringthe
reignoftheemperor
AurangzebAlamgir,this
novelfollowstwoyoungsiblingsfromShahjahanabadwho
leavetheirtownonsecretmissions.Ontheirtravels,they
encounter,andaredrawninto,rumoursandstoriesabout
a quelleduprising,ledbywomenandinspiredbythepoet
Kabir,againstAurangzebandhisregimeofheavytaxation.

hachette, 348 pages,S 399

The writer and activist Sub-
hash Gatade examines the
recent victory of the Bhara-
tiya Janata Party in the 2019
general election, the rise of Hindutva politics, cow-protection
vigilantism and the spate of lynchings that have occurred
over the last few years, as part of a larger exploration of
growing communalisation in India.

leftword, 128 pages, S 195

MODINAMA

ISSUES THAT DID NOT

M AT TER

Subhash Gatade

FEAR OF LIONS

Amita Kanekar

The authors translate and

compile several poems by

Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, an

eighteenth-century Sindhi Sufi scholar, poet and mystic. The

volume also includes their experiences of travelling through

Kutch to meet folk singers and lovers of Latif’s poetry, and

explores the various epics and legends that the Sufi poet

wrote about.

penguin ananda, 428 pages, S 599