Tales From Kathasaritsagara By Somadeva

The original author in Sanskrit Somadeva was a Kashmiri Shaivite Brahmin who lived in the eleventh century during the times of King Anantadeva. The book is said to behave been composed in around 1070 AD for the wife of King Anantadeva, Queen Suryamati. However Kathasaritsagara is only one part of the larger text called “Brihatkatha” written by Gunadhya, a mythical figure from Lord Shiva’s abode. 

Translated by Arshia Sattar, a PhD holder in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, teaches Indian literature at several institutions in India and is contributes to several journals and magazines. She has been working with the Valmiki Ramayana for thirty five years.

Story Line:

The book is divided into 10 parts each consisting of many chapters that make one story each. The 10 parts Kathapitha, Kathamukha , Lavanaka, Madanamanchuka, Ratnaprabha, Alankaravati, Shaktiyashas, Shashankavati, Padmavati, Vishamashila are all interwoven around Naravahandatta, one of the seven eternal rulers of Vidhyadharas. They are entwined within each other in such a way that one story leads to another story and then another and another. Its like an endless thread of stories one within each other that have morals attached to each and every story at the end. The reader enjoys them while reading and imagining how ancient tales used to be narrated over bed time or by gurus to their disciples/students. At some point or the other, I am sure that the reader misses the point where he started and may have to go back to find the previous reference. Its such a complex web of stories that is exciting to sail through. Though there have been some stories taken from Panchatantra and Vikram Betaal, most of them might be new to the reader or never heard before, even from our grandparents. The best part is to know how Gods and Goddesses (particularly Shiva and Parvati) were part of the daily life of commoners as well as the elite across the country, as they very frequently interact with them whenever they are propitiated or wished. I started thinking as to whether Shiva and Parvati and other Gods were actually humans with some magical powers, who were worshipped as Gods later. In fact all Gods seemed to be Super Humans. Out of all, one story really surprised me to the core. This story in Alankaravati is about Sita and her two twin sons. Here Sita is said to have only one biological son called Lava with Rama. His twin brother Kush is said to be made by Valmiki out of the blades of Kush grass, later projected to the world as twin brothers born to Sita. This needs more research and facts brought out by experts. Definitely there must be some concrete evidence to prove this when such tale has been in circulation in the 11th century itself. Rest all stories seemed to be real folklores that bring out the real lifestyle, cultures and traditions of people and kings who lived in not so ancient times. Most of the morals of the stories are relevant even today and have great impact on today’s lifestyle of general public in the country.

Pros : The collection of stories have great significance and relevance to how society was functioning in those times. Though there is a mention of Chaturvarna system in force actively, there seemed to be no major hatred or exploitation by the upper castes over lower castes. Moreover, both good and bad people have been portrayed equally with relevant stories with morals ending in a tragedy for the bad ones. On the lighter note, one can find across the length of the book, scores of beautiful novel Hindu names for their new born sons and daughters. Also, I loved how Gods are portrayed as not the invisible ones but those who regularly interact and invite deserving mortals to their abodes to and fro. Wish it could be the same today also. This I think used to motivate those who were narrated these stories to be virtuous and pious in order to be in the good books of the powerful Gods and Goddesses.

Cons: There seems to be a lot of literature that belittles women throughout. Most of the stories are having some reference or the other to portray women as the lustful ones and those who were not faithful to their husbands or one man, but always luring other men for physical pleasures. This is very disturbing to a rational reader. Men on the other hand were shown as loyal to their wives and lovers but fought with each other just to win over their faith on their spouses. Was this the kind of society that existed at that time? Food for thought.

My rating : 2.5 out of 5

The Fisher Queen's Dynasty Written By Kavita Kane

The Fisher Queen's Dynasty by Kavita Kané
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kavita Kane, a senior journalist for over two decades quit her job to become a writer on Indian mythological fiction. A pet lover and post graduate in English Literature & Mass Communication, she has over four best selling books in her kitty till date. And probably more to come.

Storyline:

This is the story of Satyavathi, the unceremonious Queen of the Kuru dynasty. Not much about her is discussed when it comes to Mahabharata, though she is one of the root queen of the infamous Kuru dynasty, which later perish in the great Kurukshetra war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Satyavathi, also known as Matsyagandha (the girl who has the scent of a fish), or Kali (the dark one) was the abandoned daughter of Uparichar Vasu- the King of Chedi, born to a fisherwoman. She goes through the hardships of poverty in the fishermen village but carries the zeal and burning desire to become a Queen, one day. Shantanu, the mighty king of Hastinapur, the most powerful kingdom of the land, once while wandering across encounters the beautiful Satyavathi and falls in love with her.
Opportunity seemed to have struck Satyavathi, to cherish her long pending wish. Her father Dasharaj, loses no time in striking a deal with Shantanu. For him to agree to the marriage, Dasharaj demands that neither Shantanu’s already existing multi talented warrior son and Crown Prince, Devavrat, nor his offspring, should ever ascend the throne of Hastinapur or be in competition to the same in future, against the offspring of Shantanu and Satyavathi. Devavrat agrees to this condition and pledges that he shall never marry. He thus becomes Bhishma of Mahabharata. Later, after Satyavathi’s marriage to Shantanu, she will never be able to live happily due to this guilt of her backdoor entry as the Queen of Hastinapur. Later she gives birth to two sons, Chintragad and Vichitravirya who happen to be not so healthy and successful rulers of Hastinapur. Bhishma, the grand Regent of Hastinapur continues to protect the kingdom from its dangerous enemies ever since. Satyavathi, ultimately, commits suicide, unable to bear the burden of curse on her for having deprived Bhishma, the right to be the King of Hastinapur and also for not having been able to give the rightful and healthy warrior princes, as heirs to the Kuru dynasty.

Pros: Any story is always interesting when narrated from the vanquished side. This is one such part of the origin of the grand Hindu epic, Mahabharata, wherein very little is spoken about this great iconic character, of Kuru dynasty. The author, has brought about every emotion out of a woman who was abandoned at her birth, taken by the most powerful king, sustained as a Queen of the most powerful kingdom, becomes the matriarch of a powerful dynasty but ultimately succumbs to the guilt of usurping her position in the wrong way. A woman’s angle is very well elicited in every chapter of the book. Satyavathi, who is perceived as a clever, ambitious, but wicked woman in the regular citation of Mahabharata of every Indian home, shall garner sympathy and love, if one reads this book.

Cons: The author seems to have missed a chord in maintaining a steady tempo in the flow of the book. There are some instances in-between when the reading gets boring and the reader tends to see the page number.

My rating is 3 out of 5


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Don't Tell the Governor Written by Ravi Subramanian

Don't Tell The Governor by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author is a well known star writer from South India, also known as John Grisham of India, who spent most of his professional life in senior positions of Indian national banks, after his management degree from IIM, Bangalore. His previous books have National award winning status. His fans and film producers eagerly wait for his next creation always.

Storyline:

India would never forget 08th Nov,2016, when its iconic Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetization of Rs.1000 and Rs.500 notes with immediate effect on his address to the nation on television. This book’s storyline revolves around this daring incident, fictionalized in the author’s style.

The much flaunted Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Aditya Kesavan, brought in as a replacement to the earlier Governor, handpicked by the Prime Minister of India, gets involved in a secret love affair with Pallavi Soni, a model cum not so successful film actress married to an ambitious businessman, Vicky Malhotra. It all starts well when Vicky starts some ambitious projects in India like an online E-Commerce portal, a stake in one of the star teams in IPL Cricket, and Suyog Monthly Gold Scheme. He befriends Aditya in one of the company’s high level parties which leads to Pallavi getting physically attracted to Aditya and later falling in love with him. All goes well until all of Vicky’s businesses crumble, due to lack of customer patronization and change in Government policies. Vicky abandons Pallavi, when it was found that Indian Government was about to arrest Vicky for huge bank defaults. This is when Aditya comes to the rescue of Pallavi for the repayment of the 300 crores, due to the banks, by using his power as an RBI Governor. He diverts that amount secretly from the amount paid by the Government to a terrorist organization of Pakistan to get hostages released from an Indian Airlines hijack event. The story ends with a bang when the Prime Minister announces demonetization of high denomination currency one day suddenly, thus invalidating all the money siphoned off by Aditya as well as that paid to the terrorists. Aditya is caught off hook when the PM forces or rather blackmails him to approve this demonetization as an RBI Governor in return to squash his theft charges on him.

Many other characters like Dhanish Khosla, who works as a lobbyist, under cover for the PM to unearth such secret deals in his Government, Mehul Modi, who escaped the country after defaulting more than Rs.5000 crores to the banks, De La Spire, a Swiss company which supplies currency paper to print Indian currency have been juxtaposed to create some spice in the story. The overall experience of the much talked about demonetization is rolled into an interesting story covering many recent events that stormed the headlines of press /media but forgotten by the people of the country.

Pros : The author very tactically put forward how Government of India manipulates the so-called autonomous apex body Reserve Bank of India to fund the former’s financial emergencies, just like a fly in the bottle. Also, one gets to know how the terrorist organizations in Pakistan are being funded through fake Indian currency for infiltration as well as destabilizing the economy. The book has hair raising twists and turns. The author links different events in the end with proper justification for every wrong action. He once again proves the fact that the wrong doers cannot get away forever but one day will be brought to justice either by God or fate. The famous saying “Never Sleep with Someone whose troubles are more than yours” is quite relevant to Aditya’s sexual perversion towards Pallavi that ultimately led to his professional as well as moral downfall. I bet that this book if made into a film would fetch huge profits to the Bollywood industry.

Cons: There are some open ends left in the story when it comes to Vicky and Mehul that ran away with huge money defaulted from the banks. Maybe, its because similar situation are still unsolved, in the current scenario of such real life characters in recent Indian financial scandals. The Indian monetary policy and loopholes in the banking industry are shown to be quite weak and prone to easy money laundering by clever businessmen, which might not be very true always.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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Who were the Shudras? Written by B R Ambedkar

Who were the Shudras? by B.R. Ambedkar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dr.BhimRao Ambedkar, born in a Dalit family, considered as the architect of Indian Constitution, an eminent jurist and well known politician has made his mark in the multi cultural country like India with his very high intellectual insights into many social problems of the country much before anyone else could foresee. He fought for the rights of the socially backward classes (dalits) and received Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award from Indian Government in 1990. Unfortunately he succumbed to diabetes in 1956 at Delhi at the age of 75.

This book, one among the many, written by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, is one of his most criticized books by the highest of the Indian Chaturvanya or the four classed society, the Brahmins. Throughout the book, the author lashes out at the Brahminical theory of origin, of this unreasonable caste system that according to him has been forced upon Indian society by the so-called learned and the pure blood. Various examples have been cited wherein he proves the fact that this system was not existent at the time of Vedas but only later incorporated into them, in order for the Brahmins to protect their identity and supremacy in the society. It was through this ideology that the author brought in, the some of the fundamental rights like Right to Education, Right to Freedom, Right to Property etc, jotted down in the most elaborate written Constitution of the World’s largest democracy. The author has gone to the extent of studying Vedas, Puranas, and Shastras of ancient Indian history in order to dig the origin and application of the Chaturvanya sytem, wherein Shudras or the Untouchables were placed in the lowest category of this unscrupulous caste system and denied all basic rights when compared to the other three castes - the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vysyas. He goes to the extent of even studying and comparing the same kind of system existing in the Roman (Caput and Existimatio) and Greek ancient cultures but with a complete different motive and results. He also proves how the different manuscripts of Hindu religion differ about the same Chaturvanya, none considering Shudras as an inferior caste compared to the other three. The author opposes the Brahminical tyranny in denying the rights of a Shudra even to utter Vedas, enter temples, perform Pujas, own property or even to marry an upper caste man/woman. Finally, the author goes on to highlight the assumption that the Shudras were actually Kshatriyas (rulers or kings) but only later divided into two and pushed to the fourth class, because of the oppressions and indignities subjected by Shudra kings on Brahmins. The author finally infers the vengeance of Brahmins against Shudras, right from the age old rivalry between the Vasishta (Brahmin sage)and Vishwamitra (Shudra sage)during the Vedic ages. Accordingly, the Brahmins successfully pushed Shudras to the Untouchable or inferior position by imposing the denial of Right to Upanayana (study Vedas) on the latter, with which the Right to Education and the Right to Own Property automatically stands cancelled. Thus, making the Shudras the least powerful and at the mercy of the other three upper castes.

Pros : This book must be read by every Indian in order to know how the social fabric of this country has evolved over a period of time. It is an honest attempt of the author to bring to light the hard facts of favouritism brought by some on their likes and tyranny brought about on the others based on colour of the skin, physical appearance, nature of work they do for their living etc. The reader would appreciate the efforts of the author in comparing the different contexts of various ancient Hindu manuscripts to prove that the so called Shudras or Untouchables of the country were actually once the Rulers of the country. A must read book by every history, politics, sociology and anthropology students.

Cons: The author sometimes seemed to be totally biased while writing this book, maybe due to his personal experiences during his childhood and professional life. His hatred towards Brahmins flows like lava out of an active volcano when it comes to his views on suppression of his birth class but ignores the good effects that the same caste system has, in binding this multi cultural country, into a single harmonious social fabric over millennia. If the author was right about the Brahmins, I still doubt how Lord Krishna, a Shudra by birth, became one of the most revered Gods of Hindu religion.

My rating is 4.25 out of 5


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The Search for Ravana's Lanka Written by Sukanya Agashe

The Search for Raavoaona's Lankaa: The Geography of Vaalmaiki Raamaayaona by Sukanya Agashe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author, Sukanya Agashe, is a Post Graduate in Microbiology with a Ph D in the same field. She won many literary awards for her books written out of her interest on Indian mythology. This book is one such outcome of her decade old research on the search for the true location of Lanka, mentioned in the great Hindu epic Valmiki Ramayana.

This book, to me, seemed to be one of the most treasured hunt for the original Lanka mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana, written by Sage Valmiki. The author has gone through various literary works and research papers of famous researchers in this field and compiled the same into one such book, for the reader to have an idea and prove that today’s Sri Lanka is not the original Lanka of Valmiki’s Ramayana. The author has left no stone unturned in finding out the truth behind the origin and end of Ramayana by referring to each and every manuscript starting from Kishkindakanda, Balakanda, Sundarakanda, Yuddhakanda, Mahabharatha, Puranaas, various Sanskrit slokas written by ancient sages of Hindu historical findings and the research papers of famous foreign researchers like M.V Kibe, Cobden Ramsay, Mark Collins etc. Starting from the importance and location of Sala Trees in Ramayana, the author went all out in mentioning the minutest details of animals, birds, soil, plants, rocks, mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, climate, caves, seas etc mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana and many other such manuscripts, and ancient literature
that link to Ramayana, in order to trace the original Lanka.

Ultimately, the reader shall be glued to the book, when the author prefers to adopt the actual route taken by Rama and Lakshmana to find out Sita, starting at Ayodhya that really gives a kick to the research. The author follows the route and gives various illustrations and examples to prove the fact that the actual Lanka of Ravana, is not that which everyone assumes and believes to be the present day Sri Lanka but is located somewhere in the middle of India between Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh states.

Pros : Any reader who has a keen interest in Hindu mythology finds this book highly interesting as the origin and location of some of the most interesting and controversial mythological places like Panchavati, Dakshinasagara, Mount Chitrakuta, Jambudweepa, Kishkinda have been revisited in this book. The never-ending thirst of the author to find the exact location of Lanka is elicited by her enthusiasm in referring to umpteen number of research papers of various Indian and foreign stalwarts in this field. Utmost care has been taken to convince the reader that the exact location of the actual Lanka is given with Google coordinates and of course with a disclaimer. Illustrations and Maps in between are the highlights.

Cons: The author seemed to have started with a bang but lost somewhere in the middle with too many Sanskrit sightings from various ancient texts that confuses the reader only to revert back to the original track later by focussing on the Original route taken by Rama and Lakshmana from Ayodhya to Lanka. As usual, this book might not be of interest to the staunch Hindu believers of Valmiki Ramayana and who have mentally fixed their Lanka as present day Sri Lanka.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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