Tears from the Mother of the Sun

Tears from the Mother of the Sun
A Secret History of the World

Author: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Illustrations: Amruta Patil

Esoteric legends that track history across multiple continents and planes of existence

– Synthesizes ancient mythologies across time, space, and cultures to resacralize the human experience
– Written as a novella interspersed with metered quatrains in the tradition of medieval Persian belles-lettres
– Includes full-color paintings of key figures and motifs, including Sita, Yggdrasil, the Minotaur, Quetzalcoatl, and the Three Marys

In this globe-spanning chronicle, Pir Zia, leader of the Inayatiyya, sets forth an astonishing sequence of legends revealing little-known connections between ancient cultures and spiritual lineages.

Framed as a dialogue between the Iranian epic poet Firdausi and his tutelary daimon, the novella follows the tradition of medieval Persian belles-lettres in which prose passages are punctuated with metered verses. The daimon reveals to the hitherto depressed poet the inner history of the world as reflected in the missions of a succession of sages moving through Earth’s lands and ages. Readers will learn of the creation of the universe, the war of the angels and the jinns, the exile of Adam and Eve, and the deeds of Melchizedek and Enoch. Explore the rise of the Nephilim, the advent of ancient civilizations, the origins of the Abrahamic faiths, and the history of the Grail and Emerald Tablet. Beautiful paintings by Amruta Patil bring the legends to life.

The cumulative effect of the traditions synthesized here is a resacralization of the human experience across time, space, and cultures, achieved through an unexpected marriage of myth and history.

“A succession of interwoven stories that form a history of spiritual traditions across the planet over the course of succeeding eras. I tried to show in the book the way in which cultures always have a sacred foundation and how these cultures are inextricably linked to each other and don’t exist in isolation. The various spiritual traditions of the world are all expressions of the planetary spirit. I share this through stories which are traditional stories that I tell in my own voice and make connections between the stories that haven’t previously been made in the past.” – Pir Zia Inayat Khan

“A breathtaking, fresh, and ancient mystical biography of the world. A hypnotic weave of words and images leads us to that twilight place where history meets mystery, and tale meets truth. A tour de force where words find their place on the page with sacred inevitability.” – Arundhathi Subramaniam, poet and author of When God Is a Traveller

Specifications:

Cost: $24.99
Pages: 256
Book Size: 6 x 9
ISBN-13: 9798888501825
Imprint: Inner Traditions
On Sale Date: February 3, 2026
Format: Hardcover Book
Illustrations: Full-color throughout