I had come across this book some time ago, but got the opportunity to read this recently. This book, written by Ashwin Sanghi, has a mythological, theological and political feel that prevents the reader to remove his attention from the book.
The story deals with two parallel situations. One being the pre-Mauryan age, where a weak Brahmin's father is killed by a cruel king, and he seeks revenge. He realizes that physical revenge is neither feasible, nor effective,
so what he does is aim higher. He aims of revenge through an united Bharat, independent from the clutches of Alexander, the Great, trying to capture Bharat from the west and from the internal rivalries and civil wars, which seemed a seemingly improbable prospect then. Cunning, cruel and emotionless, yet a very efficient planner with high wisdom and educational background, he becomes the most worshiped strategist of Bharata. With complete absence of morals, what makes him great is his connections at high places, that he has made over the years by sheer blackmail and an undeviating aim- the aim of an united Bharat under his disciple, Chandragupta Maurya..
After almost three thousand years later, Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin Pandit uses similar principles on his road to political power in modern India. Could those techniques used by Chanakya still help somebody get infinite political power even today? Can he bring under his control, the whole of India? And how can he, an unimportant individual from a small town control the lives of so many..
If you love politics or want to even know a bit about how much dirt politics has in itself, yet it is played like chess, with utmost calmness and intelligence, but all the more cruelly and unforgivably, then this book is a must read. This book tells us that in the real world, whatever we see are not actually what happen, and there are more than a thousand reasons for each political activity, some of which cannot be even traced to, due to links which have gone "missing". The secrecy and mystery revolving around every incident described in the book makes it all the more unputdownable. It is so engrossing that even a slow reader will finish it within at most a week and the ending of the book makes it all the more special.
Happy reading folks.. :)
The story deals with two parallel situations. One being the pre-Mauryan age, where a weak Brahmin's father is killed by a cruel king, and he seeks revenge. He realizes that physical revenge is neither feasible, nor effective,
so what he does is aim higher. He aims of revenge through an united Bharat, independent from the clutches of Alexander, the Great, trying to capture Bharat from the west and from the internal rivalries and civil wars, which seemed a seemingly improbable prospect then. Cunning, cruel and emotionless, yet a very efficient planner with high wisdom and educational background, he becomes the most worshiped strategist of Bharata. With complete absence of morals, what makes him great is his connections at high places, that he has made over the years by sheer blackmail and an undeviating aim- the aim of an united Bharat under his disciple, Chandragupta Maurya..After almost three thousand years later, Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin Pandit uses similar principles on his road to political power in modern India. Could those techniques used by Chanakya still help somebody get infinite political power even today? Can he bring under his control, the whole of India? And how can he, an unimportant individual from a small town control the lives of so many..
If you love politics or want to even know a bit about how much dirt politics has in itself, yet it is played like chess, with utmost calmness and intelligence, but all the more cruelly and unforgivably, then this book is a must read. This book tells us that in the real world, whatever we see are not actually what happen, and there are more than a thousand reasons for each political activity, some of which cannot be even traced to, due to links which have gone "missing". The secrecy and mystery revolving around every incident described in the book makes it all the more unputdownable. It is so engrossing that even a slow reader will finish it within at most a week and the ending of the book makes it all the more special.
Happy reading folks.. :)
