Nights of the Moonless Sky: A Tale from the Vijayanagara Empire : Archway Publishing : 9781480895768 : 1480895768 : 11 Dec 2020 : It is the sixteenth century in South India and the Vijayanagara Empire is in the throes of a succession struggle that threatens to disrupt the peace of the realm. Far away from the chaos, the splendorous estate of Madhuvana sits in relative heaven where its seventy-year-old patriarch, Rajanna, has just died. After elders decree that his widows are to perform an ancient ritual in which a widow is cremated alive, the lives of three people intersect. Aadarshini is Rajanna's twenty-two-year-old third wife and mother of his heir. Azam Khan is Rajanna's trusted bodyguard, left rudderless after the death of his master. Prabhakara Swami is the enigmatic temple priest who holds the strings that control the fates of others. When Aadarshini is thrust into a forbidding darkness, she discovers what it means to become the hero of her own story as destiny tosses her around