Children Of The Lion

A monumental saga of passion, love, war and redemption from the best-selling author of The Jam Fruit Tree. ‘She will grow to plunder the senses of man and yet reject all that man can offer.’ This prophecy by the wise men at the birth of the princess Sihavathi of Vanga comes to pass when she turns seven. It is announced that she is ‘in her flowers’, and soon she has grown to know man. Myth combines with historical fact as the author recreates the story of the conquest of Lanka by Sihabahu and Sihasivali’s eldest son, the disgraced and banished Vijaya. In conquering the island, Vijaya is fulfilling the Buddha’s prophecy—that the truant prince would make for himself a kingdom on the island where Buddhism would take root and flower for all ages to come. The narrative goes on to describe the ordeals of Vijaya’s successors in their attempt to become the undisputed rulers of Lanka. There are tales of the glorious reign of Panduvasudeva, of his beautiful queen, Bhaddakaccana, and of the daughter born to them—the exquisite Ummadacitta, the princess whose beauty drives men mad. A foretelling at her birth terrifies her brothers and drives them to madness and mindless slaughter, for it is said that her son will kill his uncles and reign supreme. This prediction is fulfilled by Pandukabhaya, and a new era of peace is ushered in that leads to the establishment of Buddhism in the kingdom by Asoka’s contemporary and friend, Devanampiyatissa, and ends with the battle between Lanka’s most famous king, Duttha Gamini Abhaya, and the ‘usurper’, King Elara. After a bloody victory, Duttha Gamini Abhaya begins the long and arduous process of winning Lanka back for the Lion Kings. Richly textured with a remarkable grasp of history and myth, Children of the Lion is a tour de force of the imagination. Praise for Carl Muller ‘Don’t try to analyze it all, don’t try to rationalize whether it all happened as it did, just lie back and relax to Muller’s music with words.’ —The Hindu