A finely observed comedy of manners, this novel presents an imaginative and poetic play on the symbols of Hinduism in a secular and cosmopolitan society. Devan, a teacher of Hinduism to rural Indians, finds his life turned upside down when he leaves his village and family and heads to the urban, cosmopolitan capital of Georgetown, Guyana. In a city that is ethnically diverse, he meets members of the wealthy and politically cynical Indian elite—an experience at odds with the ardent simplicities of his teaching—Devan is exposed to the dangers of religion when it is made to serve the needs of ethnic assertion. With a blend of humor and sobering insight, this novel explores the friction between religious fundamentalism and cosmopolitanism.