In Kashmir, there is a famous town called Pravarapura. Its name is a byword for worldly pleasures. The Courtesan???s Keeper is the first English translation of the thousand-year-old little-known Sanskrit satirical novel Samaya Matrika by Kshemendra, an eminent writer from eleventh century Kashmir.

Spread over eight chapters, it is one of the picturesque social satires he wrote apart from many celebrated works on religion and poetics.