When Saudamini loses her husband, she is banished to the city of widows, Vrindavan. Or Braj, the playground of Krishna, the blue-necked god whom the novel is named after. The beautiful and lonely Saudamini – some say she is the author Indira Goswami in many parts – finds her new home both attractive and repulsive, as the beauty and the squalor, the spirituality and the decadence hit her in equal measure.

The lush descriptions of the ritialDespite the fig leaf of withdrawal from the world, Saudamini discovers that all the physical and emotional aspects of life are strongly present – from sex to love, from friendship to hostility. But underlying them all is abject poverty, which forces the widows to forego meals to save money for their funeral.

Part documentary, part fiction, this 1976 novel is a trademark work of social reality fused with individual sorrow from the Assamese writer.

Published in 1976. Translated from the Assamese by Gayatri Bhattacharyya, published in 2013.