The Message of The Koel: Uddanda Sastri's Kokila Sandesa

'The Message of The Koel' takes the reader on a tour of mediaeval southern India. A lovesick husband stranded in Kanchipuram dispatches a koel to his wife in central Kerala with a message to sustain her until he can return. The journey will take the koel across a lush landscape thickly carpeted in betel nut or cardamom trees and criss-crossed by rivers; to temples alive with myth; and into fabulous cities whose palaces push the stars out of their orbits. This is the first English translation of the 15th century poem.