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Halfway to the heavens, in a realm hidden by clouds, a divine beauty—a yakshini—is facing a sentence for her folly. Down on Earth, a couple in Maharashtra is expecting their seventh child and is performing a special yajna to fulfil their desires. By a strange quirk of fate, these two distinctly different lives are soon to be intertwined. Fifteen-year-old Meenakshi is no ordinary girl. Blessed with celestial attributes, she has beauty that would rival a goddess’, a unique communion with nature and a supernatural being living inside her. Even so, Meenakshi lives amongst men and eventually, the evil eye falls upon her. That’s when the yakshini inside her awakens. As the yakshini takes control, Meenakshi is catapulted into a world of passion and violence that even threatens her husband life. Neil d’silva’s yakshini is a toe-curling, spine-tingling tale where mythology comes deliciously alive on the page. With its fantastic creatures and unforgettable characters, the book highlights the tussle between the supernatural and the human, sure to enchant all readers.
From the Publisher
In Conversation with Neil D’Silva
1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am an ordinary family guy from Mumbai, living with his wife and two kids, whose one claim to fame is that he made the radical decision to change career tracks at the age of 39. I shut down my successful coaching class of eighteen years and turned into a full-time writer. I am happy that I heeded my inner voice, and as my first novel, Maya’s New Husband, hit #1 on Amazon India (horror), I knew I had it in me. As I wrote more books and poured my heart and soul into them, various opportunities came to me—major publishers, screen adaptation deals, litfest invites, invitation for a TEDx talk, and more. I am in a happy space right now as an author of eight books.
2. Tell us a little about the book, Yakshini.
Yakshini is the story of a girl named Meenakshi growing up in a male-dominated rural society and facing the brunt of it. However, Meenakshi has a secret—there is the spirit of a Yakshini inside her. At first, the Yakshini is protective of her, dishing out brutal punishments to her offenders. But, gradually, the Yakshini begins to take over every aspect of Meenakshi’s life, and thus, proves to be a curse more than a blessing.
My inspiration for Yakshinicame from varied sources, from the sordid tales of molestation we read in the papers to movies like Zakhmi Aurat and Mardani to Goddess Durga herself. At its very core, Yakshini is a story of empowerment.
3. What made you decide to blend in horror and mythology in Yakshini?
It began with my fascination in the legend of the Yakshini. Our lore tells us that they are demi-goddesses governed by Kubera himself. They live as his denizens in Alakapuri and at times, visit the earth when they are invoked by humans. However, they might not always fulfil the desires of the human invoking them.
For this reason, Yakshinis fall entirely in the grey spectrum—they are neither totally good nor totally evil, which is grist for a beautiful tale of psychological horror. They are projected as unreliable and unpredictable beings. Invoking them can be dangerous. There is always an anticipative fear about Yakshinis. Like my other novel Pishacha, I saw great potential for subtle understated horror with Yakshinis, and that is how the story shaped itself.
4. Your books deal with either horror or the supernatural. What drew you towards those subjects?
I grew up on a fare of both the supernatural and outright horror genres. I used to devour horror novels from the age of 13, my earliest ones being Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Picture of Dorian Grey, among others. I was also introduced to the work of the Ramsays quite early in my life due to my father’s freelance work of subtitling movies from Hindi to English. Even then, instead of being frightened of them, I was fascinated and wanted to create those worlds.
At the same time, I was a huge fan of the Amar Chitra Katha comics, which were my first foray into mythology. While the rich mythology was a source of awe and inspiration for me, I also read about the darker creatures — asuras, vetalas, pishachas, yakshinis. Later, as I read more on local legends and lore, I found myself getting attracted to the downright horrifying ones — bhoots, pretas, chudails, dakhinis. We have such interesting characters in both our mythology and folk lore, but our contemporary stories aren’t doing justice to them. Japan and Korea, and many European and American countries, are known for incorporating their horror lore in their stories even today. Vampires, werewolves, and zombies are known all over the world. But our Indian lore also has equally fascinating and terrifying entities that should be known better. My books like Pishacha and Yakshini are small attempts to put the spotlight on these creatures from our lore.
5. Please provide one excerpt from the book.
The breathing of the men closed in on Meenakshi. She tried to look at the carnival ahead, but something was turning within her. She felt it—it was the throbbing under her skin that had begun to scare her these days. The breathing of one man in particular stood out. It hit right into her ears.
‘Look behind you, fool!’ There it was again—that voice from inside her. It stilled her heart. She realized she was pinned. The man right behind her was touching her. She was scared to look, but she felt his grubby hand on her waist now. Creeping. Crawling. How oblivious she had been! Blame it on the crowd or the show, but she hadn’t realized it until she had been warned by her inner voice. But now she knew. It was happening, and then she felt that man’s pressing into her. She looked back and saw the man’s grinning teeth and a whiff of his bad breath ran up her nose. He nodded and winked at her, as if to say—‘You are enjoying it too, aren’t you?’
‘The bastard…’
No, she did not say that! It was the voice, the voice.
‘You stay put, Meenakshi. I will take care of this.’
The next moment, she felt a tingling in her fingers, and she was filled with dread as the Yakshini took over her once again.
Publisher : Rupa Publications India (1 January 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 264 pages
ISBN-10 : 9353336740
ISBN-13 : 978-9353336745
Item Weight : 263 g
Dimensions : 13 x 1.68 x 19.7 cm
Country of Origin : India
Net Quantity : 1.00 count