The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals

<p>How did Brahma create alluring women and for what purpose? Why did</p><p>the righteous King Bhangashvana choose womanhood? How did the sage</p><p>Markandeya's pupil prevent his guru's wife from committing adultery? What</p><p>role did Indra play in the births of Vishvamitra and Parashu Rama? How were</p><p>death diseases desire and anger created? Why and how did the institution</p><p>of kingship come about? What can one learn from the mouse who escaped</p><p>the cat the owl the mongoose and the hunter; or the wise jackal who was</p><p>betrayed by the lion king? Why did Shiva swallow Shukra the guru of the</p><p>Asuras?</p><p>Embedded within the lengthy discourse on dharma in the Shanti and</p><p>Anushasana Parvans of the Mahabharata are answers to a whole range of such</p><p>questions-moral lessons from a dying Bhishma to King Yudhishthira on</p><p>life death and everything in between. The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and</p><p>Faithful Jackals is a highly entertaining selection of these tales-tangled at</p><p>times insightful at others yet always quirky-about women both good</p><p>and bad fathers and sons kings gods and kings of gods and fables. The</p><p>perceptive translations by Wendy Doniger hailed as 'the greatest living</p><p>mythologist' are a treat for anyone fascinated by the bewildering complexity</p><p>of Hindu myth and lore.</p>