Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life

Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life (1894) is a novel by Krupabai Satthianadhan. Published the year of Satthianadhan's tragic death from tuberculosis at the age of thirty-two, Kamala is a powerful bildungsroman that provides an early feminist perspective on issues of religion, class, and gender in nineteenth century India. "India may not be a perfect paradise, yet there are in it spots of surpassing beauty and grandeur. The mountainous part of the district of Nassick in the Deccan, where Ganga Godavery takes its rise, is one such spot. Here nature is sublime in its majesty and rugged in its grandeur, here hills rise above hills, some verdure clad, others bare, bleak, and barren, with caves and caverns at their bases through which the waters leap in torrents in the rainy season." Written in beautiful, meditative prose, Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life is the story of a young girl whose idyllic youth as the daughter of a Hindu priest ends with her marriage to a cruel husband. Treated like property by his family, belittled for her education and independent streak, Kamala soon dreams of escaping married life through divorce, risking disgrace for a chance at lasting happiness. Incorporating the author's perspective as a woman from a family of Christian converts, Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life is a powerful work of fiction by a pioneering figure in Indian literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Krupabai Satthianadhan's Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life is a classic of Indian literature reimagined for modern readers.