Jamila Gavin's Books

Three Indian Princesses

Three Indian Princesses is a delightful compilation of the stories of Savitri, Damayanti & Sita written in an easy to read set of chapters.
Savitri is the famous story of Princess Savitri who negotiates with Lord Yama, the God of Death in a clever manner. Savitri marries Satyavan, the son of a King who has been overthrown from his kingdom and is living in the forest. Satyavan is supposed to die within a year of marriage. However, Savitri is determined to give death a slip and she determinedly follows Lord Yama and using a play of words, forces him to grant a boon which effectively brings Satyavan back to life.
Damayanti’s story is about loyalty despite the odds. Her story is contained within the epic Mahabharata and is also a case of history repeating itself when one compares the gambling episode of Nala and Yudhishthira.
King Bheema is childless and by the grace of Brahma he becomes the father of the princess Damayanti.
King Nala is the apt husband for her, except for one vice- he loves playing the dice.
However the demon Kali wanted Damayanti as his bride and he & evil Dwapar conspire to enter the spirit of Nala & his dice and make him gamble away his wife.
The inevitable happens and Nala is on the streets. However with perseverance and skill he wins back Damayanti and his kingdom eventually.
Sita is the daughter of the earth, found by King Janak when he was tilling his land. He names her Sita- the furrow and she is Laxmi incarnate as Lord Ram her husband is Vishnu incarnate. They eventually marry when Ram wins her hand by breaking Shiva’s heavy bow. Circumstances cause Ram & Sita along with Ram’s brother Laxman to go into exile where Sita is kidnapped by Ravana the demon. What follows is the war between Lord Ram’s monkey army and Ravan’s poweress and Sita is rescued and brought back to Ayodhya as Queen.

Three Indian Goddesses

Three Indian Goddesses is a compilation of the stories of Kali, Lakshmi & Durga.These are depicted in the modern story format inspired by the tales of the Hindu Goddesses.

The Temple by the Sea- Shanta is an ordinary girl who is inspired to become a dancer- not just an ordinary dancer, but the best dancer. She is trained by the best dancer of her times, who funnily enough wears boots all the time. This is a mystery to Shanta. Time comes when Shanta is chosen to perform at the temple by the sea. However, her tabla player discourages her to perform by the sea and especially not let the tide touch her feet.Eventually Shanta performs but is she able to escape the inevitable that happens to all dancers? Find out in this chilling tale – the Temple by the sea.

Monkey in The Stars- One ordinary day Amrita finds herself face to face with a monkey- not an ordinary monkey but the legendary Hanuman.On a parallel plane, the story of Sita is told. The Monkey carries Amrita in his tail and shows her the world. He shows her that good and evil fight all the time as in mythological era but good always triumphs over evil. As Amrita lights the lamps for Diwali in preparation of the arrival of Lakshmi, she understands this important lesson.

The Girl who rode on a Lion- Durga arrives on the doorsteps of Mr & MRs Dalal to stay with them for 3 months while her parents visited relatives in India. However the Dalal family has a problem. Things are going missing in their house and their prime suspect is Ulrike. But it is not Ulrike who is stealing, but Anil.Durga appears in Anil’s dreams and she becomes his guiding force. Anil owns up and escapes from his home. Durga finds him and bings him back on her lion- which is actually a fox or perhaps the other way round.Both books have beautiful cobver designs, very Indian and ethnic.