A River Sutra
collection of stories written in 1993 by Gita Mehta
A River Sutra is a collection of stories written by Gita Mehta and published in 1993. The book's stories are interconnected by both a geographical reference (the Narmada River and the Narmada River Valley), and by the theme of diversity within Indian society, both present and past. Unlike some of Mehta's previous stories, the ones in A River Sutra feature only Indian characters.
Introduction
A River Sutra is a novel by Gita Mehta that was published in 1993 by Random House of Toronto, Canada. It has received the greatest attention of all of Mehta's work, among other classics such as Karma Cola (1979) and Snakes and Ladders (1979). It is considered an accurate representation of Indian Culture, as it covers much of the culture of India, through its portrayal of music, religion, and major landmarks. The story is told in mid-to-late 20th century India and is set around the Narmada River in central India.
The story is told from the perspective of a retired bureaucrat who interacts with a variety of travellers and residents of the area, whose stories are relayed to the reader through a series of vignettes. Through these stories, the major themes of love, the Narmada River, desire, the human heart, lust, and religion are explored.
References
External links
Madhuri Bite, "An Exploration of Narrative Technique in Gita Mehta's A River Sutra", The Criterion: An International Journal in English, Vol.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4659234. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1993 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “A River Sutra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.