I have always admired Chanakya, when chanakya neeti was aired on TV I used to be glued to TV at the time of its airing. Loved his strong and cunning character so when I was contacted for the review request for Chanakya’s Chants I was both excited and skeptical. Excited because I was going to read about someone I loved, skeptical because I wasn’t sure the book will match upto the image I had of him.
Chanakya’s Chant is a book that takes the reader between two plots. One set in 340BC about 2300 years ago which is all about history and how Chanakya also known as Kautilya starts with the desire to avenge the murder of his father and how the desire becomes an obsession and he turns into a strategist whom history will remember, who will by his political tricks manage to prevent Alexander from taking over the entire Bharat and also who with great determination and yet some more tactics quite a lot of them grey in nature manages to start the build of Mayuran Empire under the leadership of his favorite pupil Chandragupta Maurya. The other part of the story brings us to the current time, to today’s Bharat. Pandit Gangasagar, who lost his father early in age learns about Chanakya and is totally inspired by him, he leaves the comfort of his job to enter the world of politics but not directly and just as his emotional mentor, he takes forward his pupil, his protégée Chandini Gupta. Its a well weaven story about how Pandit Gangasagar breaks every rule possible to take Chandni Malik to the position to Prime Minister.
The best thing about the book is the fact that the two stories go in parallel, there are yet differences in them, the decisions they make the same thought process but have totally different implications but in turn have the same nutshell result in the end. Its a book which is very cleverly keeps the reader hooked to it from the start till the end. The book highlights what we are seeing today in Indian politics that power is mostly not in the hands of but behind the person in power.…Its a clever, witty book just as Chanakya was 
and the book feels well researched
Last Words : An interesting well researched fast paced book about politics, strategy and history.
Rating 3.5/5
Book Chanakya’s Chant
Authors Ashwin Sanghi
I am going to get Chanakya’s Chant as I have always been inspired by this person who apparent reasons is famous till date.
I admire him too, and we are now watching the series all over again on DVD
Will pick this up soon
I really really admired this guy, He basically was the man behind the mauryan empire .. and what a shrewd man he was .. I rmemeber the serial you are taking of I watched every part of it .. and I like Swarams idea and probably will buy a DVD of it and see it all over again …
Book looks good
thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing. I was looking to order from flipkart, because I hardly get any books to read in Bahrain. Will take some from here and go. you got to guide me to buy the must haves for the season.
Thanks for the review….am thinking of catching up with this one.
Soon. 
An enjoyable read Chanakya’s Chant by Ashwin Sanghi. loved the way it balances two completely different storylines. I particularly liked the one written 2300 years ago.
Chanakya has been considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science..His Chanakya Niti is one of My favorite books… The Chanakya Niti can be read t my blog Miles To Go Before I Sleep
This sounds interesting, I’m surely going to pick this up.
It’s a gripping book…..Sanghi manages to keep you hooked right till the end….
I have been waiting for someone to review this book. I liked Chankaya series on tv too! so wanted to read the book.
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i think chanakya was the political sherlock holmes in ancient india.though i loved the chanakya series
but the new chanakya played on ndtv imagine is even better…………………
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Here is my review of the book: http://anuradhagoyal.blogspot.com/2011/09/chanakyas-chant-by-ashwin-sanghi.html
Have just finished reading the book. Grievously disappointed- neither story feels authentic; the character development is shallow, the conversation inane, the victories too easily attained. There is also no effort to match the conversational idiom with the historical context in which the stories are supposedly set, the time lines of both the story-strands are obfuscated due to the lack of attention to details and the inconsistencies (A few examples: “Ashoka trees” are referred to in the Maurya tale for e.g., while Ashoka was Chandragupta’s grandson, there is a reference to “Afghanistan” as well predating the first mention of that name by at least 2000 years, UP is supposed to send 85 MPs and Bihar 54- these are pre-2000 figures before the formation of Uttarakhand and Jharkhand respectively- but the other references to current events such as cash-for-votes, etc are very contemporary, to just name a few off-the-cuff, there are a myriad others). The dialogues are so uninspired as to be excruciating- they borrow liberally and unimaginatively from a random book of quotations and also the delectable BBC TV series “Yes Minister” and “Yes Prime Minister” for effect, and are served up simplistically without any respect whatsoever for the reader’s intelligence.
One wonders why the author could not have taken the effort to make the dialogues more original and effective by recasting whatever pearls of wisdom he found relevant to his tales in his own words, and in a much wittier manner.To the author’s credit, he does provide a list of references and acknowledgments for his research in which the reader’s suspicions are confirmed- that this novel was intellectually and in literary terms an effort steeped in complacence and mediocrity,(if not outright indolence) and by relying on regurgitation of popular quotes for inspiration fritters away magnificently, a great opportunity to not only revitalize, by retelling, an ancient Indian tale but also to comment with insight and wisdom on the murky world of contemporary Indian politics. Will be meticulously laying off Ashwin Sanghi’s works in the future.
- 1.5 Stars on Five!!
the book is very gripping and that is what matters
ashwin sanghi manages both sides of the story
can you do that better than him?
if you can then i will agree to you
Read it ….Good book….Sumtimes the plans to outwit the opposition in both the stories get a lil monotonous and maybe the characters sumtimes get a lil more since u flip from one era to another .
One Book for Life Success offers so much of wisdom – just awesome
The part of Gangasagar Mishra is too disappointing. not researched enough and written monotonously. the only way gangasagar knows to topple politicians is by capturing their illegitimate affairs on camera and supply to the media people. Another thing that is unconvincing is the book has been written bearing in mind that UP is the only state in India and holds the key to capturing the central politics. Power from states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka doesn’t seem to matter. Capture UP and you have Delhi is what is bombarded in the book. Deeds of Gangasagar Mishra are in no way noble and only depict him as just another hooligan who tries uplifting the people in his spare time. Elimination of his rivals is always a cake walk for him even though the rival is PM of India.
Not worth reading i would say, 2.5 stars for chankya’s story and 0 for Gangasagar Mishra’s.