Author
Dharamvir Bharati
Dharamvir Bharati
Dharamvir Bharati (1926–1997) was a pioneering Hindi novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, journalist and editor, and a leading figure in Hindi literary modernism. Born in Allahabad, he did his MA and PhD in Hindi literature and taught at the university there before moving to Bombay in 1960 to edit the Hindi weekly Dharmayug, a post he held until 1987. He authored five poetry collections, three novels, four short story collections, a verse play, essays, reportage, literary criticism, a memoir and translations. His reportage from the 1971 Indo–Pak war, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, remains a landmark in Hindi journalism. Under his stewardship, Dharmayug became the most widely read periodical in the country, establishing his name as a writer–editor who shaped a new journalistic idiom in Hindi. His awards include, among many others, the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours, in 1972, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1988. He passed away in Mumbai at the age of seventy.
Translator
Rahul Soni
Rahul Soni
Rahul Soni is a writer, editor and translator. He is currently Editor-at-Large at HarperCollins India, where over the past few years he has published several award-winning books by authors both established and new. He has previously been associated with the literary agency Writer’s Side, the writer’s residency Sangam House, the international journal of translation Asymptote, and Almost Island, a journal of avant-garde writing. He was also co-founder of the pioneering multilingual literary journal Pratilipi, and its publishing imprint Pratilipi Books. His translations include Shrikant Verma’s Sahitya Akademi Award–winning poetry collection Magadh (Westland India, 2023 / And Other Stories, 2025 / Liveright, 2026), International Booker Prize–winner Geetanjali Shree’s novel The Roof Beneath Their Feet (Penguin India, 2023 / And Other Stories, 2026), Pankaj Kapur’s novella Dopehri, a selection of Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry A Name for Every Leaf, and Anurag Minus Verma’s picture book for children Moon Pizza. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Granta, The Poetry Review, TLS, Asymptote and Indian Literature, among others.
Original language
Hindi
Publishing status
Translation extract
About the book
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About the book
The Seventh Horse of the Sun is a formally inventive literary novel set in the city of Allahabad in newly independent India, whose themes include love, class, caste, gender and the nature of storytelling. The novel opens with a brief ‘Prelude’, where the narrator recalls Manik Mulla – a worldly-wise older friend and mentor-like figure – who entertained the narrator and his friends one summer by telling them a series of stories over seven afternoons. Each afternoon brings a new story, told in a different style and with a different central character, often circling back to familiar figures: Jamuna, a spirited young woman torn between love and social convention; Tanna, the troubled object of her affections; Leela, his wealthy, enigmatic wife; Satti, the soap-maker’s fiery daughter; and Manik himself of course. Their lives intersect across the stories, revealing hidden connections and perspectives.
What our readers say
The Seventh Horse of the Sun draws on oral storytelling traditions to create a series of interlinked tales, each nestled inside the next one like a series of matryoshka dolls. Rahul Soni’s elegant translation of the Hindi classic captures the biting satire, the sharp wit and the quiet pathos of the original.
Rights available
World English