Of the seven books that comprise the Valmiki Ramayana, the Uttara Kanda is the final and perhaps the most problematic: Rama banishes his beloved Sita into the forest; Rama kills Shambuka, a low caste man practising austerities that are above his station; Rama is reunited with his sons during a sacrifice at which he loses his wife forever; Rama watches over the death of his devoted brother Lakshmana who knowingly submits to a curse that will take his life.

In Uttara, Arshia Sattar exquisitely captures the heady delights of the original text in all its sensuous, colourful detail—frenzied battles, simmering intrigue, lustful demons and the final and tragic act in Rama and Sita's love story. But the Uttara Kanda raises more questions than it answers, and Sattar’s accompanying essays skillfully explore the shattering consequences of Rama’s actions even as they unravel the complex moral universe of the Ramayana.