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
