Nala & Damayanti: A Love Story

This translation from the Sanskrit is a far cry from Hollywood’s garish portrayal of India’s exquisite, ancient culture, which is also the world’s oldest democracy. And, in contrast to the West’s tale of Cinderella, the heroine in this story – Damayanti – chooses her own husband from a group of formally-assembled men in the custom known as girl’s swayamvara or self-choice. Taken from recordings of Hindu holy men, original-source texts in Sanskrit, Hindi and Tibetan, innumerable conversations with speakers of those languages and a children’s cartoon, this translation/transliteration is a labor of love, started in college classroom 40 years ago.