My First Book Review: Chanakya's Chant


Title: Chanakya’s Chant
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Self-purchased copy

Synopsis:
The novel has two stories running in parallel. On one side is the story of the well known strategist in ancient India - Chanakya, determined to take revenge of his father's murder and nurturing the dream of a united India under the rule of an able king. He saw the qualities he desired for a king in Chandragupta Maurya and trains him. The duo finally with Chanakya's wisdom are able to defeat the Macedonians and lay the foundation of an undivided India. On the other side, is the story of a strategist in modern India -Pandit Gangasagar, who saw the qualities of an able leader in a poor slum girl-Chandini Gupta and wants to make her the Prime Minister of India. Whether he succeeds in doing that or not is something to find out after reading the book.

Discovery:
I discovered this book around three years back, when happened to see many commuters in my bus route to office reading it. My first thoughts -it is a historical book on Chanakya's mantras/quotes on success through "Kootneeti" (politics/diplomacy) .I hadn't guessed it would contain another fiction in it.

My View:
The era of Chanakya has been depicted intricately and beautifully ,so much so that it made me wonder if it is accurately extracted from history. It definitely shows the tremendous hard work and research by the author to give the feel of authenticity to the readers. The author has successfully conveyed that attaining political supremacy was a game of treachery, deceit, manipulations, diplomacy in ancient India and nothing changed even after 2300 years.

Chanakya no doubt had a great role in leading to Chandragupta's rise to the throne of Magadha. But on reading the novel it seemed to me like  Chandragupta was a dummy in his teacher's hands who just happened to win the throne due to the tactics and games played by his guru with no effort from him as a real mighty warrior.
The modern day Chanakya in the form of Pandit Gangasagar is exaggeratedly shrewd , someone who is a terrific plotter, always four steps ahead of his enemies and doesn't falter at any step-kind of a one-man show. I would have found it more interesting if both the warring sides were shown equally talented.
The end is interesting as it binds the stories of the two eras .

As I started reading the book, it reminded me of bollywood movie - "Rang de basanti" which with back flashes showed how the modern day revolution against corruption is similar to the revolution for Indian independence . At one point in the story, I could not stop laughing when a quote reminded me of the movie "Om Shanti Om". The quote is said by Chankaya - "Everything is always all right in the end. If it isn't all right then it isn't the end". The dialogue in the movie -"Humhari zindagi mein bhee end tak sab kuch theek ho jata hai , aur agar theek na hoo, Too woh end nahi ,picture abhee baaki hai mere dost ... "

The book is a lengthy read - around 448 pages long and the pace is moderate. I won't say that this is a thriller, as everything seemed quite predictable.


Quotes from the book:
The quotes in the novel are mostly borrowed (Acknowledgements and References has the repository), following are few of my favorites:
  • "Any clod could have the facts-having an opinion was an art"
  • "It never paid to let others perceive what one's true feelings were. Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead"
  • "A man who opens his mouth too often may end up meeting a tragic end, either from indigestion or execution"
  • "One does not need to pluck fruit from a tree that is about to be chopped down. The fruit will fall by themselves. Focus on the bigger purpose and the rest of your manifesto will follow as a matter of course"
  • "When anybody says, "it isn't the money, its the principle", they actually mean that it's the money"
  • "Wise men think all they say, fools say all they think"
  • "Worry is like a rocking chair, it keeps you in motion, but gets you nowhere"
  • "Man's way leads to a hopeless end but God's way leads to endless hope"
My rating: 3/5
 

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