SITA UNDER THE CRESCENT MOON : A WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR FAITH IN PAKISTAN BY ANNIE ALIKHAN (HARDCOVER) OLD

In present-day Pakistan, in the far corners of lyari in Karachi, or hingol in Balochistan, or thatta in Sindh, tightly knit groups of women keep alive the folklore, songs and legends of sati—their name for Sita in the Ramayana. In Sita under the Crescent moon, Annie Ali Khan travels with women devotees, those without resources, on pilgrimages to retrace the way they worship the goddess. Who are these pilgrims? How did this relationship with Sati start, and why is she so significant? Even while narrating the stories and experiences of these pilgrims, Sita under the Crescent moon shows how worship has changed mind-sets and altered many of the mores of the land. The sacral sites, made up of clay and thread, grant a woman power and autonomy to fight her circumstances and transcend her worldly lot if not all the time, at least in prolonged moments of worship that take her to a different, uplifted spiritual Zone and a new understanding of the world.