Tara, 2019

"Badrang is creative reinterpretation of the legend of Panchkanya, as mentioned in a Sanskrit shloka of obscure origins. This is how it goes: ahalyā draupadī kunti tārā mandodarī tathā । pañcakanyāḥ smarennityaṃ mahāpātakanāśinīḥ ॥ (Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari One should forever remember the Panchakanya who are the destroyers of great sins) Three of these women, Ahalya, Tara, and Mandodari are mentioned in the Ramayana, while Kunti and Draupadi are heroines in the epic of Mahabharata. While this shloka has somehow merged into canonical and religious Sanskrit literature, I believe it has not been questioned, explored, unpacked fully before. The women mentioned herein are quite different, even divergent in some ways from the ideal woman of Hindu myth. For one, they do not bend to the will of their fathers and husbands. They all grow up without mothers or any significant motherly presence, which allows them to forge their own definition and ideals of womanhood. Each of them has a will of her own and is unafraid to articulate it. In a series of five novel-length stories, I hope to bring alive these heroines and their journeys as I understand them. This is my attempt to find myself in the mythology I grew up with. In reading, researching, thinking and writing about these women I have found courage and joy and inspiration. I look forward to sharing it all with the contemporary reader." -- Project Description