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The Last Suttee
The Last Suttee, is a novel about a woman’s struggle to put an end to the ancient ritual, suttee, meant for a widow to self-immolate on the funeral pyre of her husband. Kumud Kuthiyala has worked hard to put her early life in Neela Nagar behind her. As director of an all-girl orphanage in metropolitan Ambayu, she has become a warrior for women’s education and equal rights. With the help of her love, Dr. Shekhar Roy, she is vigilant in protecting her charges from outdated customs that victimize girls and women. Yet, despite her many successes, her past still haunts her.
A shocking phone call from an anonymous caller turns Kumud’s world upside down. A young bride from Neela Nagar has decided to self-immolate on the funeral pyre of her husband to commit suttee. Kumud has no choice but to return to the blue town to stop this heinous crime, disguised as a ritual.
Driven by a desperate need to end the barbaric ritual that has scarred her for life, Kumud leaves Shekhar and the girls behind, but as she travels to the town of her youth, a place where superstition and prejudice abound, Kumud is forced to confront not only the stubborn mindset, that a widow is more valuable dead than alive, but also the past she believed she’d left behind. Can she convince the town that their centuries-old tradition is cruel and savage? Can she change the minds of the people and their elders before it’s too late?
Buy The Last Suttee from Amazon.com.
The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey
A girl on the brink of womanhood, Shanti Bamzai has big dreams. Rather than enter into an arranged marriage she embarks on a journey into the unknown to chart her own destiny. She navigates Art College, a marriage of her own choice and motherhood. In India, she battles pressures of traditional expectations and her own burning desire to become an artist. A move to America presents exciting opportunities but Shanti is hemmed in by the restrictions of her upbringing. Her children become adults and her marriage becomes a shell of what it once was. Shanti must find the courage to step out of her husband’s shadow and into the life she always dreamed of.
Praise for The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey
The Immigrant Wife: A Spiritual Journey is beautifully written. I loved it! The story weaves many small strands into an intriguing tapestry, much like the paintings of our heroine, Shanti. And it paints a picture of life in two places–the beautiful valley of Kashmir and the beautiful hills of Western Pennsylvania. Shanti’s quiet determination to stay true to herself, her art, and her family is inspirational. A winner.
LAURENCE A. GLASCO (Author, Teenie Harris, Photographer: Image, Memory, History)
Find out more and read an excerpt
Available in paperback or iBook
Buy The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey from Amazon.com.
Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion
In this collection of stories, twelve different people from different walks of life discover how one chance meeting with a stranger can change a person forever.
Madhu B. Wangu eloquently draws from her own Indian-American heritage and examines the lives of ordinary people facing challenging circumstances — cruelty, prejudiced minds, twisted family relationships, unhappy marriages — and demonstrates how these situations transcend ethnicity and background as interactions with strangers force each character to look deep within themselves, often acknowledging painful truths and long-held secrets, in order to seize control of their own destinies and forge their own paths to independence and happiness.
Praise for Chance Meetings
Beautiful, lush, lyrical stories and rhythmic language transports and transforms — each story is an unforgettable journey.
Kathleen Shoop, IPPY Award-Winning Author of The Last Letter and After the Fog
A skilled practitioner, Madhu B. Wangu, writes from the marrow of her bones. In her collection, she conjures dream-like motifs of goodness, guidance, and the human condition. Her writing, infused with echoes of Hindu and Buddhist myths, is deeply satisfying and transformative.
Chance Meetings is an evocative and thought-provoking collection: A delicious blending of cultures, delicately rendered and rich with sensory detail.
Find out more and read an excerpt
Available in paperback or iBook
Buy Chance Meetings from Amazon.com.
A Goddess Is Born: The Emergence of Khir Bhavani in Kashmir
“This book on Khir Bhavani is indeed interesting and long over due. The great goddess has not received due attention outside of the Kashmir valley and the book will certainly help to overcome the lacuna.” — Dr. Karan Singh, Member Indian Rajya Sabha
“Madhu B. Wangu’s account of the emergence of new Goddesses, particularly Khir Bhavani in Kashmir, is fascinating, engaging and significant.” — Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
“Written by educator and South Asia Religion expert Madhu Bazaz Wangu, A Goddess is Born: The Emergence of Khir Bhavani in Kashmir is a meticulous and scholarly interpretation of an ancient Kashmiri scripture with its historic context, including visual representations and the Tulmul temple itself in order to reveal the inception of the Kashmiri Goddess Khir Bhavani. An extensively detailed, thoughtful and deftly researched account, A Goddess is Born is highly recommended for Asian Religious Studies reference library collections and reading lists.” — Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI, USA
$10.00 plus shipping
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Images of Indian Goddesses: Myths, Meanings and Models
, Abhinav Publications
“In her book, Images of Indian Goddesses: Myths, Meanings and Models, Madhu B. Wangu unfolds the grand narrative of the Goddess and juxtaposes it with the social position of Indian women. She addresses the knotty problem of the exalted and empowered Goddess, and the dominated and subjugated women. The author even offers a solution, that the mythical imagery of the Goddess can again empower the women through a process of internalization.” — Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts & Member Indian Rajya Sabha.
Buy Images of Indian Goddesses from VedamsBooks.com.
Buddhism
, Facts on File
“(P)rovides a detailed and quite comprehensive discussion of the religion and its influence on culture and history.” The book Buddhism was selected as one of the 1994 books for young adults by the New York Public Library.
Hinduism
, Facts on File
“Well written analysis…. (A) good choice for advanced students seeking an in-depth approach.’
CDs
Meditations for Mindful Writers III:
Generosity, Gratitude, Self-Compassion and Trust
This CD is the final set of meditations for writers of all levels, from the beginner to the professional, to motivate and inspire; to increase focus and productivity; and to make your life happier and more peaceful.
This CD contains five meditations:
Spaciousness
Gratitude
Self-Compassion and Forgiveness
Arriving Home
Breathing and Body Scan
Practice daily with one of the five meditations before starting a writing session. And see the miracle happen! You will find your concentration deepening, skills improving and productivity increasing. You will feel your life being enriched in more than one way.
Purchase and download the audio only, $14.99:
Meditations for Mindful Writers II:
Sensations, Feelings, Thoughts
This CD was inspired by Mindful Writers who have been practicing daily meditations using the CD, Meditations for Mindful Writers: Body, Heart, Mind. (See Below)
This CD contains four meditations:
Walking Through the Forest
Awakening the Senses
Blossoming Lotus Energy
Animating Seven Energy Centers
Practice daily with one of the four meditations before you starting a writing session. And see the miracle happen! You will find your concentration deepening, skills improving and productivity increasing. You will feel your life being enriched in more than one way.
Order the CD, with cover art by Manoj K. Wangu, $10 plus shipping:
Purchase and download the audio only, $9.99:
Meditation for Mindful Writers:
Body, Heart, Mind
This CD contains four meditations for writers: Body, Heart, Mind and the Complete Practice. These meditations make writers mindful of their writing and daily living. Its regular practice stimulates thoughts, feelings and insights that enhance the process of writing and self-knowing.
The Mindful Writers, those who have followed this discipline, affirm that its daily practice enhances creativity, improves productivity, gets rid of writer’s block and improves the quality of the day.
Order the CD, with cover art by Madhu Wangu, $10 plus shipping:
Purchase and download the audio only, $9.99: