SHARMISHTHA YAYATI (LOVE STORIES FROM INDIA)

A LOVE TRIANGLE THAT CHANGED A DYNASTY
Another lesser known yet emotionally rich and powerful love story from Indian puranas is the love triangle of Sharmishtha, her former friend Devayani, and Yayati. Over a petty misunderstanding, Devayani used her influence as the daughter of a powerful sage Shukracharya, Guru of the Asuras, to make her best friend Sharmishtha her veritable slave. (To see why Devayani was such a bitter, spiteful person, read Devayani and Kacha: A Love Story.) Soon after, Devayani chanced across a man trapped in a well. On learning that he was Yayati, king of a powerful nation, she blackmailed him into a relationship in exchange for saving his life. A man of his word, Yayati eventually married Devayani but in fact, it was her maid and slave Sharmishtha that he truly loved. Unable to resist his heart’s longing, Yayati began a secret affair with Sharmishtha that last years. But one day, Devayani began to suspect something was amiss in her perfect life and followed her husband into the forest, discovering his secret to her chagrin. But that was not the end of this extraordinary tale. Read on to see how Ashok’s storytelling shines brilliant light upon this gem pried loose from the mosaic of his own Mahabharata Series.

THIS EBOOK IS EXCERPTED FROM THE LARGER MAHABHARATA SERIES BY ASHOK K. BANKER, AVAILABLE ONLY AT www.akbebooks.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashok Kumar Banker is one of India’s most beloved, prolific and successful authors. His work has been published in 57 countries, a dozen languages, several hundred reprint editions with over 1.4 million copies of his books currently in print.
Born of mixed parentage, Ashok was raised without any caste or religion, giving him a uniquely post-racial and post-religious Indian perspective. Even through successful careers in marketing, advertising, journalism and scriptwriting, Ashok retained his childhood fascination with the ancient literature of India. With the Ramayana Series® he embarked on a massively ambitious publishing project he calls the Epic India Library. The EI Library comprises Four Wheels: Mythology, Itihasa, History, and Future History. The Ramayana Series® and Krishna Coriolis are part of the First Wheel. The Mahabharata Series is part of the Second Wheel. Ten Kings and the subsequent novels in the Itihasa Series dealing with different periods of recorded Indian history are the Third Wheel. Novels such as Vertigo, Gods of War, The Kali Quartet, Saffron White Green are the Fourth Wheel. His internationally acclaimed Ramayana Series® has been hailed as a ‘milestone’ (India Today) and a ‘magnificently rendered labour of love’ (Outlook). It is arguably the most popular English-language retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic.
His writing has been awarded numerous times. He is also one of the few living Indian authors whose contribution to Indian literature is acknowledged in The Picador Book of Modern Indian Writing and The Vintage Anthology of Indian Literature. His writing is used as a teaching aid in several management and educational courses worldwide and has been the subject of several dissertations and theses. His online bookstore www.akbebooks.com is India’s first bestselling ebookstore and publisher and pioneered digital publishing in the country. He has been credited with several other firsts including the first Indian crime novels in English, the first Indian TV series in English, the first Indian ebook, the first Indian science fiction, fantasy and horror stories and novels in English.
Ashok is 48 years old and lives with his family in Mumbai. He is always accessible to his readers at www.ashokbanker.com—over 40,000 have corresponded with him to date. He looks forward to hearing from you.