Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Just one word for the book…. Masterpiece!
I am in awe of this Author now. this is my second book of his and the best in this genre by an Indie writer.
The author has brilliantly vacillated between two timelines which are about 2300 years apart. The first being 340BC the period of Chanakya and the second was todays times the protagonist now being a brahmin named Ganagasagar Mishra.
Chanakya was known to be cold, calculated, cruel, ruthless and without any morals when it came down to political and economic strategizing manipulations. He had succeeded in uniting the entire Bharat against the invasion of the might Macedonian Alexander the great. Brilliant planning for years and magnificently sensational execution saw Chanakya’s protégé Chandragupta Mourya occupy the mighty throne of Magadha and the mighty Mouryan empire. He eventually retired to write the ‘Arthshastra‘ which is a beacon of financial strategies even centuries later.
History repeats itself and in what way!! in a stark metaphorical reoccurrence, Ganagasar Mishra plays a vital role to propel the rise of his protégé, a certain slum-child. She plays by his books and sees a meteorical rise to become the most powerful woman in Indian politics.
The author has brilliantly covered the unadulterated and palpable but eerie similarities in Indian politics between the two timelines. Be it caste system, hatred, corruption, greed, sexual deviance, venality, betrayal, or the divisive strategies these are the breeding grounds of the ambitious and precociously talented species like Chanakya or Gangasagar Mishra. The novel is gripping and fast paced with conspiracy theories firmly holding the intrigue in place. It promises to scatter the reader emotions all over the place but at the same time converges them to make you like the protagonist irrespective of all his flaws. A look indirectly into the bizarre Indian politics!!!
Available in both Paperback and kindle format.
