Nala & Damayanti

Originally a folk tale, this version of the story of Nala & Damayanyi was, over the course of 3,000 years, made part of The Mahabharata, one of the great Bibles of India. Shakespearian in scppe , it is filled with mythological & mortal beings, gods & tricksters, kings & queens, princes, princesse,, heroes, heroines, swans & saints and, of course, two star-crossed lovers.

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.

A career journalist, Bustos has worked as a reporter and photographer for The New York Times, The Denver Post and dozens of newspapers and magazines across the U.S. The first woman political columnist for The (Santa Fe) New Mexican, she also an documenteds state participation in the nation's worst -- most atrocity-ridded -- prison riot. She has two children and an adopted son in Nepal.