Page 388 - EW September 2023

Books

Rajya. On the other hand ing national governance
the modernist Ambedkar charter infused with the THE MAHABHARATA QUEST:
had contempt for the coun- modernisation ideals and THE KHANDAVAPRASTHA
try’s regressive villages respect for individual — as CONSPIRACY
where casteism remains opposed to community Christopher C. Doyle
deeply rooted. “What is the — rights that Ambedkar WESTLAND
village but a sink of local- stood and fought for all Rs.499 391 pages
ism, a den of ignorance, his life.
narrow-mindedness and In the confrontation
communalism,” he said in between Gandhi and
November 1948 after Gan- Ambedkar, it is now clear had just a few writers, like This fast-paced
dhi was assassinated and that the Mahatma’s belief K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Sri thriller blends
the Constituent Assembly that Hinduism would re- Aurobindo and TP Kaila- mythology, science
was debating formulation form and eradicate the evil sam who attempted this. fiction and historical
of the Constitution. caste system and accept Christopher C. Doyle has facts so smoothly that
Ambedkar’s bitterness Dalits as equal citizens of gone a step further; having the reader feels this is
towards the Hindu shas- India has proved naive, studied the Mahabharata a factual account with
tras which Gandhi refused while Ambedkar’s worst for 15 years, he makes an air of verisimilitude
to condemn, flowed from fears have come true. good use of incidents in the
his lived experience of Atrocities against Dalits epic to build up his series
being born into the shudra across free, independent of thrillers. is a linguist and Sanskrit
or untouchable caste with India make headlines in Doyle gives the cor- scholar, and Imran Kidwai,
deep roots in the Hindu everyday news. Their only rect chronology of events an officer from the Intel-
varna system. From his protection is the nation- through a close reading ligence Bureau, help him.
youngest years he was bat- building egalitarian ideals of the Adi Parva, the first In The Alexander Secret
tered by his Dalit status — that Dr. Ambedkar infused book of Vyasa’s Mahab- (2014), the first book of
made to sit on the ground into the Constitution. harata. Many years after The Mahabharata Quest,
in classrooms, obliged to A compelling biography Indraprastha was built and the team tries to find the
drink water from reserved in which the author has the new kingdom estab- hidden cave which contains
glasses and dine in special written favourably about lished, Krishna and Arjuna the elixir of immortality.
plates. this under-rated builder were approached by Agni, Clues lie in a new read-
Even after royal bene- of modern India who the god of fire, who wanted ing of the Mahabharata
factors — the maharajahs phoenix-like, has risen in to recover his lustre by combined with a small
of Baroda and Kolhapur — public esteem, attaining ‘eating’ the Khandava cube found in the tomb
awarded him scholarships cult status. forest and all its creatures. of Alexander’s mother. A
to graduate from Columbia DILIP THAKORE Doyle provides a scien- mysterious organisation,
University, London School tific explanation for why the Order, is on the same
of Economics and Gray’s Engrossing Krishna and Arjuna set quest, but with nefarious
Inn, London enabling him fire to the forest, killing all intent. Other countries of
to successfully practice law its inhabitants. Only five the world join India and
in India, he continued to faction birds, Takshaka’s son and the US in setting up the
endure the degradations the Asura Maya escaped Global Task Force (GTF)
of caste humiliation at REATING fic- the conflagration. to fight techno-terrorism.
the hands of illiterate and tion, poetry and The main characters of In The Secret of the Druids
ignorant upper caste Hin- Cdrama based on the The Mahabharata Quest (2016), links between Dru-
dus. It was only years later Mahabharata, Rama- series were first introduced ids and the Mahabharata
after he had established yana or the Puranas is in The Mahabharata are revealed. The GTF un-
himself as a leading lawyer a well-established tradi- Secret (2013). Vijay Singh ravels the mystery behind
and economist that he was tion in Sanskrit and the attempts to understand Julius Caesar’s repeated
accorded the respect that Bhashas. Indian English the cryptic emails his invasions of Britain, while
his education and erudi- novelists and poets have uncle Vikram Singh had foiling the evil plans of the
tion deserved, and invited turned to reinterpretations sent him before he was Order.
to chair the committee that of Hindu mythology in a murdered. Vijay’s child- This book has the GTF
drafted the Constitution big way only in the 21st hood friend Radha, her investigating a deadly dis-
of free India, an outstand- century: the 20th century father Dr. Shukla, who ease. Doctors have not been

388 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2023