The lotus and the wardrum

By Prasanta Kumar Panigrahi

On the banks of the Mahanadi, in the temple city of Pushpagiri under the Somavamshi kings of 10th century Odisha, a physician's daughter and a prince speak their first words across forty feet of river water.
He draws the river instead of the boats upon it. She answers his question in letters traced in sand. What begins as a chance exchange at dawn becomes two months of secret palm-leaf letters, stolen hours in a kadamba garden, and a painter's oath made at midnight -- all under the shadow of a political alliance that has promised him since childhood to a Kalinga princess.
When border fires blaze and the war drums of the Vindhyas sound, duty calls Prince Vikramasena away to the northern campaign, while Mrinalini, daughter of the royal physician, must weigh her heart against her family's honour and the king's wrath. Between them stand a kingdom's fragile peace, the ambitions of courts, and a marriage that cannot be refused.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GR3QQHGG
• ISBN13: 9798250577083
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"