Chandrasekhar Kambar is one of the most accomplished Indian writers working today. In each of Kambar's novels, the archetypical Mother, Karimayi, is at the center. The narrative of Karimayi moves through an astounding time span, beginning with the mythopoetic times of Goddess Karimayi's birth and continuing through the historical and cultural shifts in the life of a small rural community called Shivapura during the British colonial era.

Karimayi breaks the familiar narrative of an idyllic and traditional village community being destroyed by the incursion of modernity....