The time: The transition years\n between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. The space: The fertile\n delta of the Cauvery. The backdrop: The early stirrings of a freedom struggle\n against British colonialism in South India. Nothing can disturb the serenity\n of Tiruvaiyaru, South India, until Panju, a brilliant boy from an orthodox\n family, decides to join the revolutionary freedom movement. His actions\n affect not only him, but those he holds close—his sister Janaki who, breaking\n age-old tradition, aims to become the first local woman with a college\n education; his father Sambu who finds himself getting waylaid from his\n spiritual quest and the beauteous temple dancer Ranjitham, who covets Panju.\n As Panju’s decisions come with ripple effects, Sambu, Ranjitham and Janaki\n are compelled to make compromises they had never bargained for. Like the\n Cauvery—who exhausts herself to a mere trickle to enrich those around her—the\n characters in the novel must learn the true meaning of sacrifice. With a cast\n of unforgettable personalities, Songs of the Cauvery is a poignant meditation\n on grace, virtue and renunciation.