The Venus Of Konpara: John Masters

Set in the 1890s during the time of the British Raj in the fictional kingdom of Deori, the prince-heir has returned home from his education in England. As a sign of his Anglicisation he plans to build a dam and a cricket pitch on disused land in Konpara, a backward and neglected part of his realm. But when work begins, a fragment of an ancient statue is recovered. Such is its beauty and sensuousness that it is nicknamed the "Venus of Konpara" and the prince is determined to find the rest of the statue. Coincidentally, the prince has been seduced by a Dravidian dancing girl, who has become his live-in lover and who seems to have a mysterious control over the local people...and what is behind the disruptive sabotaging of the dig and sudden incidents that threaten the lives of all concerned with the effort to complete the Venus of Konpara?