Warning: This review contains spoilers.
Nearly a year after the release of her breathtaking novel, The River’s Daughter, author Punita Rice brings readers back into the town of Jaraan with the prequel, The River Goddess. Set centuries before Sahira even existed, The River Goddess tells the story of Naga, the serpent and water goddess, and her love, her grief, and her perseverance.
The story begins with an introduction of the gods. Naga was the goddess of water, and her siblings were Aag, the god of fire, Havaa, the goddess of wind, Zamīn, the goddess of earth, and twins Raat and Din, the gods of night and day. Aag had always loved Naga in a way that was beyond family. The two would meet every day, and Aag would dry Naga’s clouds, and the two would bicker playfully. One day, however, Naga decides she wants to leave to the mortal world to learn and spend time with the mortals. This angered Aag to the point of negotiating a wager—if Naga could remain in the mortal world for a thousand years, Aag would stop harming mortals for fun. But, if Naga should forfeit within those thousand years, she must use her powers to flood the mortal world.
While living amongst the humans, Naga meets a mortal prince, Rajan, of Jaraan. The two fall in love, and Naga is infatuated with his devotion to her. The pair spend stolen moments together in the forest, falling deeper in love, and eventually, Naga becomes pregnant with a half-mortal child. Watching from the skies, Aag is infuriated by Naga’s love for a mere mortal, and he begins to dry her clouds, her rivers, and her oceans. With the world in despair and desperation, Aag gives Naga an ultimatum—allow him to kill Rajan and save all mortals, or forfeit the wager, consequently killing the mortals, but keep Rajan alive. When her mortal lover hears of her choices, he easily makes the decision for her, and the grief that ensues literally flips the world for the gods. Naga’s distress is immeasurable, and though she lives a fulfilling life with her and Rajan’s daughter, she is never able to stop carrying the burden of losing the love of her life.
Though the story is short, its impact is clear. Naga’s origin story explains how The River’s Daughter, Sahira, became the daughter of the river, and how Naga became the ripples in the water and the serpent’s mouth. Rice does a wonderful job creating the universe. Details paint the picture of each god’s realm, and small actions and reactions to one another help illustrate their mannerisms and relationships with one another. Action paired with descriptors emphasize the soft fluid movements of the water and the harsh rage of Aag’s flames.
In a world where most believe Naga to be a villain, her story reveals her to be a mourning lover and a mourning mother. Even through her sadness and heartbreak, she is a benevolent goddess, looking out and caring for the mortals. In her darkest moment of despair when Rajan’s life faded away, her tears and screams turned into torrential rainfall and thunderous flooding. However, that was brief for she refused to endanger the very mortals Rajan had sacrificed himself to save. Instead, she was clear-headed enough to focus her rage on her siblings. She destroyed each of their dwellings, making sure to take extra care to ruin Aag, Raat, and Din’s homes with the same precision they used to ruin her happy life.
Through her origin story, readers are able to see Naga as more than just a goddess making thoughtlessly threatening the mortals’ way of life. Even as the men of Jaraan began to suppress the women of her bloodline and restrict their movement, taking them away from their rivers and serpents, she didn’t lash out. Instead, she focused on living her life with her own daughter to the fullest, and once she felt the grief of losing her daughter, she decided to retreat in a way that would still protect the mortals from herself. Her thoughtfulness and kindness was present even in her darkest moments.
Naga’s backstory is evidence that she wasn’t a villain in anyone’s story. She is a victim of circumstance, who loved and was betrayed by her own family. Even then, she never gave up on the mortals, even when they themselves turned their backs on her. She quietly continued to live for Rajan and for their daughter, and even once both were gone, she still persevered and waited for the next daughters of the river to come find her. Naga’s story is not one of cruelty; it is one of compassion even when the world didn’t honor her with the same. It was finding strength in adversity, and being selfless even in her lowest point. It was knowing loss was on the horizon, but still loving wholeheartedly anyway.
