Victory City

Victory City is a 2023 novel by renowned author, Salman Rushdie. Published in the aftermath of an August 2022 knife attack against Rushdie, Victory City is presented as a translation of a fictional Sanskrit epic text. The narrator imagines a feminist utopia that emerged hundreds of years ago in the Indian subcontinent, inspired by the Empire of Vijayanagara.

This study guide uses the 2023 Penguin Random House edition.

Content Warning: The source text contains mentions of sexual abuse and misogyny.

Plot Summary

Victory City is presented as a summary of a long narrative poem titled the Jayaparajaya, in which a poet and prophet named Pampa Kampana tells the story of the rise and fall of the Bisnaga Empire in southern India. Pampa begins the poem with the story of her tragic childhood. When she is nine years old, her town loses a battle. The women of the town throw themselves on the massive funeral pyre that is built after the battle. Pampa watches her mother throw herself on the flames. Shortly after, while wandering alone, a goddess named Pampa Kampana enters the little girl’s body and gives the girl her power and her name.