Valmiki’s Women

Valmiki’s Women – Five Tales from the Ramayana by Anand Neelakantan offers a contrarian and empathetic perspective on the lives of marginalized female characters from the epic, focusing on their unacknowledged sacrifices and motivations. The book is a collection of five short stories, each focusing on a key woman in the Ramayana whose life is intrinsically tied to Lord Rama’s story, but whose voices are rarely heard in the main narrative. Neelakantan reimagines their stories, inviting readers to question the traditional interpretations of their actions and destinies.