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'Stree Sutra' is a mythological fiction collection that turns away from familiar epic heroines like Sita or Savitri and instead highlights demi-goddesses and obscure celestial women from India’s diverse traditions. The anthology, edited by Koral Dasgupta, features 22 authors whose distinct regional voices portray powerful female spirits as protectors of forests, rivers, mountains, and local communities.
South Asian mythologies and folkloric traditions are full of stories about women — both divine and monstrous. From the goddesses of Hindu and Buddhist myths, to the shape-shifting jinns of Islamic mythology and the many female spirits of regional folkloric traditions— petni and shakchunni in Bengal; yakshi in the coastal Deccan; and dayaan, chudhail, and pichal peri in North India and Punjab— the deep-rooted fear and awe of female agency, sexuality, desire, and rebellion in patriarchal societies have always found form in fierce, vengeful, celestial and supernatural female entities.
‘Stree Sutra’, an anthology of short stories edited by Koral Dasgupta, brings together twenty-two homegrown writers to explore lesser-known celestial women from the subcontinent’s rich mythological and folkloric traditions. Drawing from myths, legends, folktales, local beliefs, and retellings of the epics, the volume turns its attention to Apsaras, Yakshinis, Gandharvis, Kinnaris, Nagas, Naginis, Dakinis, Yoginis, and other powerful female entities from South Asia. Their divinity may remain open to interpretation, but what unites them is their significance: they guard forests, mountains, rivers, and the communities that inhabit them.
"Stree Sutra is a mythological fiction compilation which revisits interesting legends from popular and lesser-known beliefs emerging from India, some of which have even travelled beyond its borders. The collection does not include stories about popular women from the epics like Sita, Gandhari, Savitri, Subhadra, Surpanakha, and such. This is also not the space for daayans and witches, or other social and superstitious inventions that are used to trouble women. The women in this book may or may not be Devis, but their power and significance is no less."
Koral Dasgupta, editor and bestselling author of The Sati Series
Edited by Koral Dasgupta, bestselling author of 'The Sati Series', the anthology is rooted in the idea that divinity is shaped by the landscapes and lives of those who worship it. “This anthology illustrates that aspect of the human mind which nurtures an active, personal and evolving relationship with God. Twenty-two authors have come together to make their wonderful contributions, conveying how different one person’s God can be from another’s. The authors were specifically invited to write short stories on demi-goddesses and lesser-known women from Indian mythology,” Dasgupta says.
The collection brings together voices from different regions, cultures, and generations — including Anuja Chandramouli, Anand Neelakantan, Deep Halder, K. Hari Kumar, Kavita Kané, Kiran Manral, Mona Lisa Jena, Neil D’Silva, Saisharoopa Iyer, Shinie Antony, Sunita Pant Bansal and others — and allows each story to retain its own language, sensibility, and interpretation of the divine. Instead of forcing these varied perspectives into a single framework, ‘Stree Sutra’ embraces their differences as part of a larger portrait of India’s cultural diversity.
'Stree Sutra: Demi Goddesses of Indian Myth and Folklore' will be released around September 10, 2026.
