“You can exorcise the devil. But how do you rid yourself of a god?” asks Maharaj Kumar, a character based on Raja Bhojraj of Mewar, whose new bride refuses to go to bed with him because she’s in love with Krishna. She’s Meerabai who renounced the world to become a poet and a saint.

But what do we know of her life before that? Did we know that she’s not a myth and that she actually existed in flesh and blood somewhere in the sixteenth century and was married to this Rajput price?

Kiran Nagarkar's Cuckold is a historical novel on the life of Meera, her affair with Krishna – a scandal for which she was criticised and persecuted – and the predicament of her husband who felt betrayed by none other than the blue-bodied god himself. “His obscurity has been used delightfully by Nagarkar to weave a believable, human tale of people who made history, but weren't necessarily the geniuses we make out of them in retrospect. He pierces the typical Rajput valour narrative and poses uncomfortable questions about wars, politics, family and love,” says a reader.

Cuckold was written in three instalments of 45 days each and is Nagarkar’s quickest work. But when the book was released, it did not get any recognition. “It bombed completely. It took a long time to find readers. But I consider it an absolute classic. If nobody agrees with that, it is too bad,” the author announced.

The book was eventually translated into several languages and fetched Nagarkar the Sahitya Akademi award in 2000. Written in a modern voice, it gives us an enjoyable slice of unrecorded history – what might have been – and keeps us guessing about what really happened and what us made up. “To its loyal fans, it will always be a brilliant novel that didn’t receive its due,” wrote Sue Dickman in Bloom.

Published in 1997.