A RIVER SUTRA by Gita Mehta...

A RIVER SUTRA by Gita Mehta (Vintage: $11; 291 pp.). The Narmada River in central India is said to flow past 400 billion sacred places; the narrator of this sensual novel is a former bureaucrat from Bombay who has retired to an old hostel on its upper reaches. His bungalow becomes a place for travelers to recount their tales: A fiery martial artist-ascetic recants his renunciation of the world to care for his adopted daughter; an Englishman seeks to exorcise the passionate female demon that has possessed him; the son of a fabulously wealthy diamond merchant gives up his worldly goods to become a mendicant pilgrim. Mehta examines love in India’s diverse cultures as her characters’ stories blend like the streams that flow into the holy Narmada.