(Disclaimer : This is a sponsored review written by the author as part of the promotions of the new book The Krishna Key and sponsored by the blogging platform – Blogadda)
An ancient manuscript with a secret of history changing proportions, an ancient sect of serial killers hell bent on protecting that secret, lots of dead bodies scattered around, a prime suspect who is a professor of ancient history and a race against time to decipher the secret and clear his name?
Sounds familiar? No it’s not the Da Vinci Code, nor even Angels and Demons, this is the latest example of Fan fiction in the path of Dan Brown by Ashwin Sanghi, whose Rozabal shrine, dealing with the last resting place of Jesus Christ (if you didn’t read that one, it is in Kashmir), was a bestseller and even optioned by UTV, with a rumour suggesting that Hrithik Roshan will play Jesus (how cool is that?). Sanghi returns again with his new book the Krishna Key based on the premise that the God Krishna was an actual historical figure who lived in the times of the Mahabharata or the time of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization also known as the Indus Valley civilization till now.
The concept of the archeologist hero has been around for a pretty long time ever since the duo of Spielberg-Lucas showcased the history-mystery genre with their first Indiana Jones and the raiders of the Last Ark. It was cleverly exploited by a lot of other authors including Clive Cussler with his Dirk Pitt/Steve Austin series which were mass bestsellers in this category. But all of them had a western bias and rooted around in ancient Greek and Roman history, for to be frank, the United States of America has been around for a scant 400 years and not much of ancient history can be located in a country which is not ancient. This retelling of the glories of the golden age of Europe awaited its counterpart of Indian history and Sanghi has filled the need.
This book contains a lot of, and I do mean a lot information on ancient Indian history, including the astonishing facts that the people of the Saraswati civilization, when that mighty river dried up in the pre-Vedic times (due to a nuclear war/holocaust?), migrated both east and west- the eastern people becoming the Vedic civilization of the Ganges basin also known as the Aryans while the western branch of migrants reached the Euphrates delta to form the subsequent Sumerian civilization and expanded to form the Egyptian, the Jewish and later the Arabian civilization (with little linguistic gems like the name ALLAH is derived from the Vedic Goddess ILA thrown in). In essence Sanghi says, India is Asia and Asia India. Add to this the astonishing news that the myth of Atlantis originated after the sinking of the city of Dwaraka under a tsunami and the Lord Krishna was both a divine being and an actual human whose DNA still exists hidden somewhere to be resurrected by future generation, you have a nice mix of intriguing hypothesis and mysteries thrown in.
The story starts with a professor of ancient history Saini being accused of murdering four of his colleagues, each of whom happen to own a partial piece of a seal, an artifact excavated from the Indus-Saraswati city of Kalibhangan and is a key to unraveling the secrets of Lord Krishna; buried till now. The professor along with his buxom PhD student/assistant Priya races against time to prevent the murders (which he doesn’t), recover the pieces of the seal (which he does) and unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, hot on his tail are a hard biting policewoman Radhika who seems to harbor a personal grudge against him and a member of a cult who imagines himself to be the Kalki avatar and goes on a serial killing spree. Throw in a mysterious Mataji, who every time she spins a prayer bead, does a cold blooded murder and a mafia don who is after the secret too, various bumbling policemen and a heart stopping betrayal halfway throw the book and you have a lethal mix of fast moving story and interesting plot line.
For the rest of the story, to find out if Krishna really existed? Is his DNA still available? Was Harappa devastated by an atomic bomb (the ancient bhramastra)? And why was the temple of Somanth of special significance to all the Muslim invaders of India, who kept on razing the temple to the ground every time it was rebuilt and why Sardar Vallabhai Patel rebuilt it again as his first act of ruling independent India? To learn all that and more you have to go buy this book and read. For 250 rupees you get a lot of stories, enough for four books rolled into one. Yes, its that long and a little judicious editing would have made it a more crisper read and prevent the inevitable sag in the middle pages. So buy this book, read it and learn to your astonishment that Mount Kailash is actually a man made pyramid, the first ever built pyramid in the world, covered by snow and find out what it contains hidden inside. And No. It does not contain the Krishna key.
P.S. This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!
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