The Krishna Key is a thriller by Ashwin Sanghi who has authored the bestselling Rozabel Line as also the award winning Chanakya's chant.It is of 475 pages.It is by Westland books.It has many black & white illustrations in keeping with the character of the book.
The tale is about a boy, who is indoctrinated from his school age to believe, that he is the Kalki avatar & hence, must eliminate all who are up to mischief.This is done by a mother figure, who in turn has been manipulated by a don.It is also the story of five friends who are working on various quests in India.There are other characters like the lady Inspector Radhika -sniffer Singh , Priya who is the doctoral student of a Professor,Rathore,Radhika's assistant,Garg-Radhika's boss ,Sir Khan,etal.Basically ,it is the story of India from times immemorial ! Bodies start falling from the very start & the tale has many surprises as also shocks to keep one engrossed.
The author has done lots of painstaking research to come up with this tale, which combines geography,history,numerology,astrology,linguistics, genetics,nuclear science,etal.This book dwells on the mythical Saraswati river which once flowed in present day Rajasthan.It also connects the dots amongst the various Harappan civilization sites,the migration of Indians from there & how Indians have remained custodians of their culture & legacy.It spins an interesting view about how Shiv & Vish are one & the same, apart from a rearrangement of letters.It makes one wonder, if Kailash parbat is man made or natural. It surprises, by informing that Indians knew many things about nuclear energy ,radiation & means to protect against radiation.In short,Vedas have much to reveal about what the West is discovering in science & technology today !
It dwells heavily on Krishna's account of the Mahabharata- in fact, this runs simultaneously along with the thriller & makes the book all the more readable.The past & present are juxtaposed brilliantly to give us a mystery.The Mughals,the Rajputs,theYadavas, the Kshatriyas et al are all brought together to show how all are connected with each other & with India's ancient wisdom which was so rich ! It continues to guide us today.Ashwin Sanghi seems to be been inspired by Dan Brown in penning this novel.
The Sanskrit shlokas & the black & white illustrations are added attractions of the book.They are a necessity & make the book worthwhile.
The story made me so proud of my cultural heritage as an Indian.At times,the facts get so overwhelming that one seems to be gasping for breath ! Were our forefathers so intelligent ? Then, why have we remained so backward today ? We seem to be content, living on our past glories.We must reclaim our glory seems to be the author's message for his readers.For, as he reminds us ,more than once ," ....the philosopher is more important than the stone ."
There was a dearth of Indians writing thrillers .For this reason also , I would recommend this book.
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