Love and Samsara

"Rodrigues uses subtle metaphors of haunting memory to dramatize the Portuguese penetrationof the Arab trading world of the sixteenth century." -Jaysinh Birjepatil, author of The Good Muslim of Jackson Heights Love and Samsara is an epic diorama of the world in the early 16th century, stretching from Europe to Asia, taking in Brazil, Africa, the Middle East, India, and then the lands below the wind, the monsoon countries of South East Asia. The hero, a renowned Arab ship pilot, hunted down for eloping with a Jain girl, escapes from their assassins by guiding Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese ships to Calicut, the major emporium of the spice trade. Only later does he realize the tremendous significance of his innocent betrayal, for it leads to the Portuguese imperial domination of the oceansea. This marks a turning point in history, a time when the modern world becomes inexorably linked with power-gunpowder for cannon, printing for the spread of knowledge, and astronomy for a new understanding of the heavens. A time also of significant encounter among the world's major religions-Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism-with their complex languages, philosophies and theologies. Here is a samsara crowded with adventure, history, tragic love, philosophical speculation, religious confrontation, suspense and mystery, that reaches its climax in 1510 with the Portuguese conquest of Goa. "This is fiction at its best, a masterful multi-layered epic novel, compelling and lyrical at the same time that will challenge and delight any devotee of the genre and of the English language." -Roberto Severino, Professor Emeritus of Italian, Georgetown University "The most epic novel written about Goa." -José Pereira, author of Suárez: Between Scholasticism and Modernity