Hampi, 1509. Through a serendipitous twist of fate, a carefree Prince Krishna finds himself crowned Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara empire. This means he must marry a royal princess and beget an heir to the throne. But Krishna is secretly in love with a devadasi, a temple dancer. Torn between Princess Thirumaladevi, the woman who complements his royal persona, and the graceful dancer Chinnadevi, the woman who completes him, between his need of an heir and his promise to be intimate only with his beloved, Krishna faces a rare conundrum for an emperor who can have almost anything he wants.

This is also the story of an emperor who builds Vijayanagara into a capital strewn with stunningly beautiful temples and palaces, bazaar streets and festival squares, who fights many battles, defeats the kingdoms of Kalinga and Bijayapura, and creates perhaps the largest empire known to the medieval world.

Even while Krishnadevaraya straddles his world like a god, he dares to be human; for he braves the very fury of the gods to love, and then to lose, to regret and then to learn to live again.

About the Author: Malathi Ramachandran is a writer of historical fiction and a self-confessed Indophile. Her fascination with India s rich and colourful past, and her love of travel, have inspired her to explore different parts of the country where she often discovers little-known stories that lie buried under the narratives of history.

Her novels take us centuries back to recreate legends of people who lived then, exploring their dreams and defeats, their triumphs and troubles. These stories, steeped as they are in the social and cultural norms of the time period and set against a backdrop of actual events of history, create remarkable verisimilitude of the era.

Hampi is her sixth historical fiction, following such acclaimed titles as The Legend of Kuldhara (2017), Mandu (2020), and Begum Hazrat Mahal (2023).

Malathi has also published middles, features, and short stories, some of which have won prestigious prizes. Her novel Mandu received The Coimbatore Literary Award for Best Historical Fiction.