{"product_id":"ka-stories-of-the-mind-and-gods-of-india-9780679775478","title":"Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India","description":"\"A giddy invasion of stories--brilliant, enigmatic, troubling, outrageous, erotic, beautiful.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"So brilliant that you can't look at it anymore--and you can't look at anything else. . . . No one will read it without reward.\"\u003cbr\u003e --\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith the same narrative fecundity and imaginative sympathy he brought to his acclaimed retelling of the Greek myths, Roberto Calasso plunges Western readers into the mind of ancient India. He begins with a mystery: Why is the most important god in the Rg Veda, the oldest of India's sacred texts, known by a secret name--\"Ka,\" or Who? \u003cbr\u003e What ensues is not an explanation, but an unveiling. Here are the stories of the creation of mind and matter; of the origin of Death, of the first sexual union and the first parricide. We learn why Siva must carry his father's skull, why snakes have forked tongues, and why, as part of a certain sacrifice, the king's wife must copulate with a dead horse. A tour de force of scholarship and seduction, \u003cb\u003eKa\u003c\/b\u003e is irresistible. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Passage s] of such ecstatic insight and cross-cultural synthesis--simply, of such beauty.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"All is spectacle and delight, and tiny mirrors reflecting human foibles are set into the weave, turning this retelling into the stuff of literature.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/02\/1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679775478\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.93lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.94h x 5.32w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/21\/1999 pg. 78\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Roberto Calasso","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36639911772316,"sku":"9780679775478","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_3872639e-ac26-4447-af19-ca48da870319.jpg?v=1603850900","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/ka-stories-of-the-mind-and-gods-of-india-9780679775478","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}