Bhagavati

Thomas, a young English apothecary's apprentice, was sent to collect rare herbs in Africa and India, but was shipwrecked on the coast of India. Captured by the Inquisition in the Portuguese colony city of Goa, he has reclaimed his life by pretending to know the source of a mysterious powder, the Rasa Mahadevi, which can restore the dead to life."This colorful novel brings a lost world convincingly to life, exotic and dangerous, worth exploring for itself even though the final conflict still remains". — Locus on Bijapur