Publisher's Synopsis
A modern classic that derives its title from an ancient myth associated with the Churning of the Ocean, in which Lord Vishnu had been less that fair in his dispensation to the Asuras, supposedly the progenitors of latter-day Dalits. Through this novel, Gurdial Singh emphasizes that just as the Asuras had to depend upon the arbitary dispensation of the Lord, in the same way the modern Dalits have to depend on the mercy and compassion of the village overlords.