Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi - review

Two stories almost 2300 years apart depicted side by side.

The book is about the father of Economics Chanakya who existed in India around 300 BC and a modern man - GangaSagar Mishra in the not so known Kanpur town of India. 

Chanakya  vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father. Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with complete absence of accepted morals, he becomes the most powerful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the great. Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and succeeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan empire. History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya. Satisfied-and a little bored-by his success as a kingmaker through the simple summoning of his gifted mind, he recedes into the shadows to write Arthashastra, the science of wealth.

Gangasagar Mishra on the other hand takes up the challenge of making the slum dog a corporator. He manages to get the daughter of his guru to be brought up by this slum dog so that some time in future this will prove to be a political advantage. He grooms her to be the most powerful woman of the modern India. 

The book is too much of a description and almost predictable. But it is a little bit educative too. So read this at your own risk. 

Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi - Review

There are 4 elite citizens in 4 parts of India with whom one Anil Varshney has trusted the 4 seals of Krishna era. They are all killed including Anil Varshney but Ravi Saini is spared. So Saini sets out an adventurous trip to find out who is killing Varshney's associates.

One day, Saini is at college when he is arrested for the murder of his friend Varshney. Saini's pupil - Priya Ratnani  come to his help and they break away from the prison and go to meet an underground radio active expert with whom Varshney has entrusted one of the 4 seals. Before the Saini troop visits the radio active expert, he is killed and his seal is stolen. Saini's own seal is confiscated by the police. Now they reach the next two friends with whom the seal is believed to be lying. In the mean time they escape twice from the strict lady police officer.

One Taarak Vakil who is trained from Mataji - apparently (Priya Ratnani) is sent to steal away the seals and murder the possessors. The same mataji is associate of Saini's quest for the truth.

The Mataji has a underworld don - Sir Khan's connection who claims to  be the descendant of Krishna. He explains Priya how the descendants of Krishna were distributed on the banks of river Saraswati and northwords and how they migrated to Afghnistan and became Aryans again settling down in northern India.
Sir Khan says that he was entrusted by his father a base plate which can house 4 seals of Krishna era. He wants Priya to delve on that and bring back his praised possession along with the 4 seals.

They search at Somnath temple, Mount Kailash and taj mahal based on the radio active fields at these places.

The message of the book is that Krishna really existed in the banks of River Saraswati in the period 300BC. He built the city of Dwaraka and after migrating from mathura. He also built the Somnath temple which was later ruined. The Mohammud of Ghazni invaded India and the Somnath temple in order to steal the Syamanthaka stone(Philosopher's stone). According to the book, Ghazni too is a descendant of Krishna who knew the power of the Syamanthaka. So he ruined the temple, searched for it, found it to be the creator of the magnetic force that keeps the Shiv Ling in the air suspended position. He took it back to Afghanistan which was later brought to India and was transferred from generation to generation.

The book looks like an Indian version of Da Vinci Code with all the thrills and chills. But it is much slow paced and demands all your patience to complete. I wish I could read this book faster.