"YASHODHARA " is neither legend nor myth, neither history nor mythology. Not even a fable. It is pure fiction born from a woman's heart.

The scant mention of Yashodhara in the books that tell the story of Buddha does not do justice to one who was his wife for many years. It is hard to believe that the Compassionate One who set out to redeem mankind from pain and suffering could be the cause of the same to his own loving wife and a little son still in the cradle. We wonder, and become rather uncomfortable to think of a husband forsaking a loving and devoted wife and, what she went through in the years of suspense and aloneness, while her husband was in search of answers to the complexities of human suffering. We can hardly imagine the trauma of her life in the emotional void she had been plunged into by the one she loved most. How did she explain to her young son where his father was?

This book is an endeavor to attempt to give meaning to the life of a woman touched by Buddha. Since there is very little historical evidence to shed light, we can only guess what her life could have been, to steer her odyssey to a befitting end. Because Siddhartha is no ordinary mortal, his Yashodhara too must have been extraordinary and cannot be brushed aside in the pages of a book.

Even in imagination, Yashodhara has fascinated the author as a woman empowered by the love of a man who is God to millions of people across the world. Surely, she is more than we can visualize in our wildest dreams, but even this conjured up journey to her fulfillment has been a wonderful experience of discovering the 'woman' in every woman.