Of Power and Pity (A Novel by Mulk Raj Anand)

Pilgrimage into the interior from Sabarmati Ashram to Goofas of Ajanta, Ellora, Sihyadari, bring hero-anti-hero Krishan Chander Azad home from exile.

Talisman of Gandhi 'Recall the faces of the poorest and the most helpless' in mind. Krishan Chander goes through drought of angry, rainless summer, by desolate villages, where men, women and children wait in vain with pitchers, for Sarkari tankers to come, and I give them elixir of life.

No help in sight from towns in villages. The folk wait for Mahatma Gandhi.

Azad finds appeasement in fable of Buddha incarnate as Hasti the elephant, in Ajanta, who kills himself by falling from a hill to give his flesh for food to famine stricken.

In caves of Ellora, under shadow of the monumental Ellora, were created images of Gods Shiva, Vishnu, Goddess Durga in dramatic myths, carved out by Vishwakarma, God of Arts, quelling demons for whose miraculous intervention folk pray. And Shiva dances to keep the balance of world.

Among myths of powerful deities in one remote cave are images of compassionate Jain Saints. And in first caves carved in Elora are images of women Saints embodying pity, tenderness and knowledge, which preceded worship of Gods supernatural powers.

Krishan Chander meets young English woman, Shiela Richardson. Their joint quest for calm is research into themselves.

**Sample Pages**