About the Book: From the author of There’s Gunpowder in the Air and Imaan, Footnotes to the Mahabharata offers intense, insightful poetry from the vantage point of the women whose lives were irrevocably shaped by the epic’s central men. Arjuna may be the revered hero—but how did he appear to Alli, whose dignity he stripped? Krishna may be divine—but did he not sometimes ignore injustice? Yudhishtira may stand for truth—but did he truly defend his wife? Bhishma may have sacrificed everything for duty—but what of the suffering that sacrifice sowed? Through powerful, questioning verse, K. Srilata gives voice to the grief, complexity, and suppressed narratives of mothers, wives, lovers, and daughters caught in the shadow of Mahabharata’s heroes