Daughter from wishing tree
by Sudha Murty
Book Review:

The first book that I read was "The Daughter from a Wishing Tree" which showcases different kinds of stories about women in Indian mythology. The author of the book is Sudha Murthy. She is an Indian educator, author and philanthropist. She is also the Chairman of Infosys Foundation. Sudha Murthy ma’am was awarded with Padma Shri by Government of India in 2006.

The book "The Daughter from a Wishing Tree: Unusual Tales about Women in Mythology" is an excellent book. The collection of stories features enchanting and fearless women who frequently led wars on behalf of the gods against asuras. Women were the backbone of their families and makers of their own families. There are many fascinating stories of women in our mythology like Parvati, Lakshmi, Ashokasundari, Mandodari, Damayanthi, Arundathi, Sanjana and many more.

I felt very excited to know about the things like, “How the river Ganga took its birth?”, “How did river Saraswati and river Yamuna started flowing on the earth?”. These help us to know the true origin of their existence on earth, their importance and value.

My favorite line in this book is " Knowledge with compassion is the supreme power that is helpful to mankind". These words were said by Vashista when he was conveying the importance of knowledge to Vishwamitra. Vashista says gaining knowledge is more important than earning more wealth, and expanding the kingdom. The knowledge we gain in our life's should be useful and helpful to others.

Another interesting story I felt the best was about first clone in the world created by Sanjana. Sanjana was responsible for the birth of Shani God. I was really surprised when I read the story, because we usually have very bad opinion about Shani God as he creates lot of problems in life and makes our life miserable. But, once if we read this story and know about his birth and the problems he faced in his life, our opinion towards Shani God will change.

Each story in this book will make us learn some important principle and value required in our life. It is important to know

- How small & ignorant actions impact our life. The author has clearly explained it with example of Sukanya story.

- The difference between jealousy and devotion. "Devotion is more important than possession".

     -      About generalization of things.

     -     The meaning of true love.

     -     The importance of mental health condition.

     -     How the actions we do impacts the whole family to suffer. It is clearly explained in the book with help of Nala’s story.

       I enjoyed reading this book very much and I am excited to read many such stories of Indian mythology. Knowing the strengths and mystery of women in Indian mythology gives a lot of inspiration to us. Thank you so much Sahadev sir for giving me this wonderful opportunity to read a book of Sudha Murthy ma’am.