Dr Devika Rangachari is an award-winning writer, whose book, Queen of Ice (Duckbill), was on the White Raven list, won the Neev Book Award for Young Adults and has been optioned to be made into a movie/television series. Her other books include Queen of Earth (Parag Honour List 2021), 10 Indian Monarchs Whose Amazing Stories You May Not Know, Tales of Love and Adventure, Swami Vivekananda: A Man with a Vision, Harsha Vardhana, The Merry Mischief of Gopal Bhand, The Wit of Tenali Raman and Growing Up (on the 2002 IBBY Honour List). She is currently the recipient of a prestigious national fellowship awarded by the Ministry of Culture to research aspects of gender and historical fiction in Indian children's literature. Devika recently completed her postdoctoral research on gender in Indian history. Her published thesis is entitled From Obscurity to Light: Women in Early Medieval Orissa (Seventh to Twelfth Centuries AD). Her doctoral research was published under the title Invisible Women, Visible Histories: Gender, Society and Polity in North India (Seventh to Twelfth Century AD). She has also published widely in academic journals, participated in national and international academic conferences, and been the recipient of several prestigious academic fellowships.
As the mare gathered speed, the young woman's hair streamed out in the wind and a smile crossed her face. The tears on her cheeks had dried by now and she felt a slight lightening of her heart. It was always wonderful to be out on Sarangi, away from the confines of the palaces and the hundreds of eyes that watched her every move with interest and curiosity-and lately, with pity and sorrow. Later, she made herself comfortable under an old neem tree and, picking up a stone by her feet, began to scratch patterns on the ground with it. The stone was oddly smooth and rounded and luminous-almost like a baby's face. Like the beautiful face of her infant son that had glowed with calmness even in death. The tears threatened to fall anew but she blinked them away and dug the stone into the dust fiercely, forcing patterns into the hard ground. There had to be a reason for this; there was a reason for everything. She would know what it was in time, but for now she would not allow herself to break down. She had endured much thus far; she would endure this loss too. In due course, she got to her feet, mounted the mare and turned her around. "They will be wondering where I am at the palace, Sarangi, she murmured. A queen's work is never done. I don't even have time to mourn-I must plan ahead for Jhansi. The mare whickered in sympathy.
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