Dalrymple's first travel book in a decade explores how traditional forms of spiritual life in South Asia have been transformed in the vortex of the region's rapid change, through the stories of nine people whose lives have followed a different religious path. They include a Jain nun, a devadesi (temple prostitute), an illiterate goatherd in Rajasthan who alone keeps alive a 200,000 stanza sacred epic, and a prison warder from Jerala who for 2 months of the year is a temple dancer and is worshipped as an incarnate deity. Extraordinary stories, beautifully told.

A completely original, informed, well-crafted and beautifully written book about Modern India.