My review of Chanakya’s Chant – By Ashwin Sanghi

Historical fiction is one genre where my exposure has been extremely limited. The only other book that I have read in this genre is ‘Cuckold’ by Kiran Nagarkar which was a fascinating read. Some of the other books which I have read fall under the mythological fiction and would not qualify as appropriate points of reference.

My expectations from Chanakya’s Chant were limited when I started reading. The book had a long list of recommendations from various people. I did not want to set my expectations too high and then find the text difficult to live up to it. However, as the plot began to unfold, my expectations kept rising. As it moved from one plot to the other, I began challenging the author’s skills to upload the suspense to some up with scenarios which were deeper. Thankfully, he managed to keep the excitement up till the very last page.

The book runs two parallel narratives: the first which is set in the modern day politics of India and the other which goes back around 2300 years when Chandragupta was crowned as the emperor of India. In one there is Pandit Gangasagar Mishra from Kanpur as the master plotter who guides a young slum girl from being nobody to acquiring the highest position in the Indian democracy; in the other we recount the story of Chanakya who trains Chandragupta and also plots the situations around him to make him the emperor of Bharat.

While one is historical fiction created around an actual person, Chanakya, the other plot is completely a figment of the author’s imagination. It is interesting to note that at no point in time does one understand the difference between reality and fiction in both the narratives.

Most India’s are aware about Chanakya and his ruthless intelligence either through reading the multiple books/ translations or through watching the television series which was aired. Bringing Chanakya’s narrative alive was a challenging task. However, this is nothing compared to the manner in which the author has brought alive the character Pandit Gangasagar Mishra. He is a person whose story is set in the modern day India as we know today, with people whom we relate to, with politics that we have seen or at times find difficult to believe and a sense of reality in the manner in which he behaves. Not even once did I think that this person is any less capable than what Chanakya had been. This is where I feel that the author has done a remarkable piece of work.

I guess that everyone believes that politics is a murky affair and that nothing tends to come in the way of ambition to achieve power. In the course of our lives, we do come across such politics in limited form in our own surroundings. However, the manner in which it is illustrated in this book, that it runs so deep, is like an eye opener.

It is also interesting to see how human beings have the ability to predict what other human beings think and thus manipulate their actions, is something that this book demonstrates fabulously.

I am all praise for the Ashwin Sanghi after reading this book. The language is extremely easy to read and the plot development is logically so strong, that one cannot think of it as fiction. That is the ultimate victory for a good author I feel.

My best wishes to the author and all success on this book. As I look up on the internet to place an order for his other books, I would like to recommend this to everyone who reads this article.

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