56 pages 1 hour read

Salman Rushdie

Victory City

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 1

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Birth”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Content Warning: The section of the guide contains mentions of sexual abuse and misogyny.

The narrator of Victory City explains that the story is adapted from an “immense narrative poem” (3) by a poet and prophetess named Pampa Kampana, who died at the age of 247. The poem was found in a clay pot. It was originally written in Sanskrit and titled Jayaparajaya, which means Victory and Defeat. The poem spans 24,000 verses and describes the rise and fall of the Bisnaga Empire, a unique empire that appeared in Southern India in the 14th century. The narrator admits to not being a scholar or a poet. As a result, Pampa’s story will be retold in “plainer language” (4).

The story begins in the 14th century in what is now the south of India. An old king named Kampila Raya rules over the tiny principality of Kampili, which is where Pampa is born and raised. When Pampa is nine, the Kampili army is defeated in a lopsided battle with a much stronger army representing the sultan in Delhi, to the north. To the people of Kampili, this battle is cataclysmic, but from a broader

blurred text

blurred text

Related Titles

By Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

East, West

Salman Rushdie

East, West

Salman Rushdie

Study Guide

logo

Good Advice is Rarer than Rubies

Salman Rushdie

Good Advice is Rarer than Rubies

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991

Salman Rushdie

Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

Joseph Anton: A Memoir

Salman Rushdie

Joseph Anton: A Memoir

Salman Rushdie

Study Guide

logo

Knife

Salman Rushdie

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

Salman Rushdie

Study Guide

logo

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

Shalimar the Clown

Salman Rushdie

Shalimar the Clown

Salman Rushdie

Study Guide

logo

The Enchantress Of Florence

Salman Rushdie

The Enchantress Of Florence

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

The Golden House

Salman Rushdie

The Golden House

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Salman Rushdie

The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

The Moor's Last Sigh

Salman Rushdie

The Moor's Last Sigh

Salman Rushdie

Study Guide

logo

The Satanic Verses

Salman Rushdie

The Satanic Verses

Salman Rushdie

Plot Summary

logo

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

Salman Rushdie

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

Salman Rushdie