Power Places of South Asia

"Religion is the business of South Asia. Our temples, mosques and monasteries have no memory of being touched by a dark recession. The sun always shines on them and business is on a constant upswing," writes the author in the preface to the book. Akhil Bakshi has seldom been content simply with satiric bite or verbal brilliance: he has usually aimed to confront broad and challenging themes. In Power Places of South Asia, he covers territory where dust is raised, and tempers are quickly lost. His bold and entertaining accounts of his visits to holy shrines across South Asia are entirely satisfying, pertinent and entertaining. The revisionist versions of immortal religious epics and legends are hilarious. The imaginative yarns about gods and saints balance popular views. Descriptions of statues engaged in gynaecological probes at the Sun Temple, the revered rats of the Karni Mata Temple, bathing with an avalanche of three million sinners at Kumbh Mela, his struggles with the curses delivered by pick-pocketing priests of Ajmer Dargah - are full of wit and punch. The narrative about the magical powers of the Temple of the Tooth Relic at Kandy, the Sai temple at Shirdi, the Chilla of Baba Farid, and Milarepa's Cave in Tibet pulls you along, leaving you properly thoughtful. Power Places of South Asia will have a worthy place in an anthology of contemporary humorous writing.