Author Salman Rushdie's Victory City is set in fourteenth-century southern India. During the time Rushdie's novel is set, a war is going on between two kingdoms that have since been forgotten. That war, which is bloody and violent, is mostly pointless. Nothing is being solved by it and it causes only darkness, death, and destruction.
Victory City follows a young, nine-year-old girl named Pampa Kampana. Pampa has recently lost her mother, causing her tremendous grief and radically altering her life and who she is. But Pampa's life takes another turn for the worse when a goddess takes control of Pampa's body and forces her to be her vessel. In other words, Pampa and the goddess become one.
Pampa and the goddess can have a conversation with each other. The goddess promises Pampa tremendous wealth and power and respect. And very quickly, Pampa has powers available to her that are beyond her comprehension. Together, the two work hard to bring rise to a city called Bisnaga, or "victory city." Together, and only together the goddess says, they can turn Bisnaga into one of the most important cities in the world.
Eventually, they succeed in creating Bisnaga. Pampa's life is extended for over 250 years, during which time she grows and buildings Bisnaga into a wonderful city. Pampa spends almost all of her waking time within Bisnaga doing everything imaginable. For instance, she plants seeds to feed the citizens of her city and influence those in government. In the back of her head, though, Pampa always remembers the directive from the goddess which took control of her: create a city in which men and women are equal, the government is fair and just, and control the patriarchy.
Over time, Bisnaga changes fairly quickly. People die and are born. New things are built, wars are fought, and alliances—and allegiances—change. Perhaps most importantly, though, Pampa changes herself. Her job gets much harder and her role as the matriarch of Bisnaga becomes more difficult. Still, she can accomplish what the goddess set out for her to do. In the end, she has helped to create a society in which men and women are equal.
