Storizen Magazine August 2018 Issue | Chiranjiv Patel VI | Page 25

STORIZEN NEWS
Rich with the echoes of classical
poetry, The Queen of Jasmine
Country, Sharanya Manivannan
imagines the life of the devotional
poet Andal, whose sublime and
erotic verses remain beloved and
controversial to this day.
Speaking about The Queen of
Jasmine Country, Sharanya
Manivannan said, ‘Centuries
before she was accorded
goddess status, a teenage girl in
ninth century CE Tamil Nadu
expressed all her sorrows and
desires through poetry. Unusually
for her time, she was both
unmarried and literate, yet
bounded by the norms of society.
What could it have been like to
have been her? The Queen of
Jasmine Country is not so much
about Andal, whose verses still
resonate in Tamil temples and
AUGUST 2018
homes today, but about Kodhai,
the only name she knew herself
by, all those centuries ago. Her
interior life, the fabric of her
days, all the loneliness and
longing so palpable in her work –
these were what consumed my
thoughts. I wrote this novel with
equal amounts of love and
sadness: love for Kodhai herself
(who came to me bright and
sweet, melancholic and brave,
sublime but wholly human), and
sadness for all whose stories we
never hear because we are
taught to never ask for them.
Udayan Mitra, Publisher
[Literary], HarperCollins India,
added: ‘Andal is a mystical figure
and a devotional poet who has
evoked a great deal of curiosity;
very little, though, is known of
her life. In her novel, Sharanya
Manivannan imagines Andal’s
world as it might have appeared
to the teenage girl. The Queen of
a Jasmine Country is a lyrical,
evocative novel about devotion
and creativity; it will resonate
with readers long after they have
finished reading it.’
About the author: Sharanya
Manivannan is the author of the
STORIZEN MAGAZINE
|
25
for freedom – is likely to remain
unfulfilled. Then, she hears of a
vow that she can undertake that
might summon it to her. In
deepest winter, the sixteen-year-
old begins praying for a divinely
sensual love – not knowing that
her words will themselves
become prayers, and echo
through the centuries to come.