In the grip of lust, acting against the norms of Kshatriya dharma, Karan Vaghela, the raja of Gujarat, abducts the beautiful Roopsundari, his prime minister Madhav"s wife. Fuelled by a desire for revenge, Madhav escapes from the capital Anhilpur Patan and makes his way to Delhi, in a journey fraught with dangers and obstacles. On reaching Delhi he persuades Sultan Alauddin Khilji to invade Gujarat. The Sultan"s invasion is successful. Patan fort is destroyed and left in ruins. Karan loses not only his kingdom but also his wife Kaularani and, a few years later, his daughter Devaldevi as well to the Turkish sultan. The humiliating defeat of Karan forever ends Rajput rule in Gujarat, signalling the end of an era and the dawn of a new age. // Rich in psychological insight and imbued with a poetic vision, Nandshankar Mehta"s Karan Ghelo tells the spellbinding tale of a man who tragically failed his land and its people.

The first Indian headmaster of an English-medium school in Surat, and later Diwan of Bhuj, Nandshankar Mehta (1835"1905) was a strong advocate of social reform. Karan Ghelo, the first modern Gujarati novel and his only work of fiction, draws heavily on bardic chronicles and historic texts. // Tulsi Vatsal, a graduate of Oxford University, is an independent researcher, writer and editor. She has authored a number of books on Indian history and culture. Her latest book is Sahib, Bibi, Nawab: Baluchar Silks of Bengal 1750"1900. // Aban Mukherji is the author of Soonamai Desai of Navsari: A Biographical and Autobiographical Sketch. She is currently co-editing a nineteenth-century Gujarati text, Mumbaino Bahaar.