Yayati
by V.S.Khandekar
Rightfully hailed as one of the ggreatest literary works in the history oof Marathi publishing ‘YAYATI’, is an inintriguing philosophical portrayal of human life as it flows from aattachment to detachment. Yayati, a hedonistic man who have been rreefused to be breast-fed by his mother in the fear that it’ll spoil her physical beauty, and experiencing ththhthe crippling power of death when his father Nahusha dies untimely. Yayati goes on a self-destructive spree for eighteen long years wherein he unabashedly indulges inininin every immoral activity possible. His craving for a different woman destroys his relationship with Devayani and even Sharmishtha. Unable to bear the pathetic degradation of his daughter’s marriage, Sage Shukracharya curses Yayati to a thousand years of old age! Jolted with the thought of losing his virility, Yayati pleads with his young son Puru to exchange their youth with him. Khandekar’s novel makes strong commentary on topics like the sanctity of marriage, fidelity, loyalty, adultery, hedonism, lack of responsibility, and such other myriad emotional feelings.
