| Abstract: | The Mahabbarata speaks of Yuvanashva, a childless king who accidentally drinks a magic potion meant to make his queens pregnant, and gives birth to a son. The Pregnant King, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik's first work of fiction, weaves the tale of the ensuing crisis with the stories of Somvat, who surrenders his genitals to become a wife; Arjuna, the great warrior with many wives, who is forced to masquerade as a woman after being temporarily castrated by a nymph; Ileshwara, a god on full-moon days and a goddess on new-moon nights; and others who wonder what their dharma is when they exist not here, not there, but somewhere in between |
|---|
