The Mahabharata Quest, The Alexander Secret by Christopher C Doyle

The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret by Christopher C. Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author, who started his career in the corporate world as a top notch business executive running businesses across the country, also has a passion for writing science fiction. His books have a peculiar blend of science with ancient historic events that evolve into a gripping page turner with sequels.

Storyline:

Vijay Singh, a prolific, intelligent US returned MIT student, is part of an Indo-American Task Force, that has been formed to explore the dangerous mission of a secret society called The Order, which has its origin in India thousands of years ago. He one day is suddenly visited by his ex-girlfriend Alice, a student of Archaeology and expert in Hellenistic (Greek) history. She narrowly escapes a murder hunt by some unknown professional killers after having discovered an ancient cube and artifacts, during the excavation of the tomb of Queen Olympias, in Greece, connected to her son Alexander’s, expedition to the East, to conquer the world. Coincidently, Vijay’s fiancée, Radha and her Indian Intelligence Bureau friend Imran, accidentally discover a secret, illegal genetic testing facility in New Delhi. This lab is later found to be controlled by the same secret members of the Order, involved in testing the effects of a dangerous bacteria and retrovirus on innocent people to make a drug that can cure all diseases and proclaim Immortality to humanity. Through this drug the Order wants to control the entire humanity, wiping off powerful Governments, across the world. The twist of the tale is that this particular bacteria and virus were found in the ‘mummy’ of Alexander centuries ago, who is said to have been infected after his consumption of a mysterious liquid in an ancient cave near the banks of Indus. This liquid is interpreted as the sweet nectar ‘amrita’, also called as secret of Eastern Gods, mentioned as that obtained through “Sagarmanthan” or “Churn of the Ocean” in the verses of ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. It is said to imbibe immortality to anyone who consumes it. But, unfortunately, Alexander could not benefit from this ‘amrit’ since he hasn’t consumed the right potion containing the retrovirus mixture. The members of the Order, kidnap Radha and force Vijay, an expert in solving riddles and clues, to follow a tedious path in present day Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, leading to several ancient caves containing this Amrit and the right mixture of the bacteria and retrovirus. Finally they gain access to the same and escape with the original samples of Amrit to test for viability, leaving Vijay and his team mates in the dark. To be continued in the next sequel.

Pros: A hair-raising thriller churned with scientific facts behind the great fairy tale of SagarManthan, mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The linkage of the tale to Alexander’s motive to conquer the rest of the world after defeating Darius of Persia, is really fabulous. The author must be appreciated for his extensive research on the facts behind this great secret. The description of the human genome and the various permutations and combinations of how genetic structure could have been re-engineered thousands of years ago with the help of such bacteria and retroviruses, leaves the reader awe-struck. In fact there all chances that the reader forgets about the fiction behind the story and would have been compelled to accept the logic explained as the real fact and not as a myth. The stark realities of how science was used by our ancestors when there were no considerable equipment related to finding microscopic organisms, have been strikingly elicited. A must read book by mythological fiction lovers. Bet that they shall remember the story for a long long period in their lives.

Cons: The excessive usage of medical jargon on genetics, could be difficult to understand to many non-biology students. Though there is a perfect sync between the story of Alexander’s conquest of the Eastern world and greatest Indian mythological fantasy story of Sagarmanthan mentioned in Mahabharata, there should have been some more emphasis on the Indian side. The story should have been completed in this book itself for better effects.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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