River of Ink

Description:

"In thirteenth-century Sri Lanka, Asanka, poet to the king, lives a life of luxury, enjoying courtly life and a sweet, furtive love affair with a palace servant, a village girl he is teaching to write. But when Magha, a prince from the mainland, usurps the throne, Asanka's role as court poet dramatically alters. Magha is a cruel and calculating king--and yet, a lover of poetry--and he commissions Asanka to translate a holy Sanskrit epic into the Tamil language spoken by his recently acquired subjects. The poem will be an olive branch--a symbol of unity between the two cultures. But in different languages, in different contexts, meaning can become slippery"--Amazon.com.

subjects: Translations into Tamil,  Poets,  Man-woman relationships,  History,  Sanskrit poetry,  Kings and rulers,  Fiction,  Fiction, general

Places: Sri Lanka

Times: To 1505