Chittacobra

In 1979, Mridula Garg released her third Hindi novel, Chittacobra, the story of an intense love affair between a young Indian woman—disconnected from her home, social milieu, marriage and husband—and a gypsy missionary from Scotland. There was an uproar—the novel was branded obscene and the police came to arrest her. But the controversy also took this remarkably frank and sensitive exploration of love and desire to many thousands of readers. It became, and remains to this day, one of the most celebrated works of contemporary Hindi literature.

Mridula Garg’s brilliant new translation brings this extraordinary book—as bold and distinctive in literary style as in its theme—to a new generation of readers.