Chanakya's Chant

Writing any book on ancient India is hard enough. The richness of her history would leave the author in a quandary as to what to include and what to omit. Add to that the difficulty of weaving in a credible story line and the issue is further compounded. On top of this, include a parallel mirroring story-line of modern India and you have your work cut out for you. Ashwin not only manages to do all the 3 above, but does it so effortlessly, you almost believe that this an autobiography and not a work of fiction. Each page and story-line grips the reader. For those who say the story-line about modern Indian politics is too contrived, it really isn't. Modern Indian politics is very much the game of roulette portrayed in the story.Iam a huge fan of Indian historical fiction, mostly because there are so few credible works on the subject. This one was an incredible treat. This was my first Ashwin Sanghi book, and I look very much forward to reading the rest of his work.If the author himself is reading this review (as unlikely as it may be) please find yourself a new editor. The book could have been edited better in far too many places to mention here.However it does not take away from Ashwin Sanghi's ability to give the reader a visual insight into India's rich and incredible past. Who knew that the Indian empire once stretched from Tajikistan to Bangladesh? Or that Magadha had the most powerful military on earth?This book is indeed a treat to the senses.

This is Sanghi's second novel I read, after his more recent 'The Krishna Key'. Frankly, I was disappointed. Average ratings suggested that Chanakya's Chant is better received than Krishna Key, and it was with that expectation and excitement that I purchased this. But, as I mentioned, this is disappointing.The historical part depicting Chanakya is relatively grippier, but the modern day narrative is too contrived, naive and amateurish. The modern tale reads more like an ordinary Bollywood script with politics as a background and scheming, dirty, evil, corrupt characters for the various roles. More often than not the quotes, sentences and dialogues are a simplistic and literal translation of spoken Hindi into English, which leaves a lot to be desired. Add to that numerous, purportedly high wisdom one-liners to be found in almost every paragraph, all of which make Gangasagar (the modern 'Chanakya' in this novel) sound too unreal. However cunning and shrewd a person may be, I doubt they converse in such an unreal manner through quoting quotes every second breath.Further, there are too many sub-plots and small incidents that keep getting narrated, making the plot very confusing and complex. As it is the reader has to keep track of two parallel times, and to add to that numerous complexities is unnecessary. Things could have been kept a lot simpler, and leaner, and the book therefore ought to have been about a 100-150 pages shorter.While I like the overall idea and concept behind this novel, the treatment, narrative and the language are a big let down when judged in the context of the high expectations set for this novel from an author who clearly is vastly gifted and different from the ordinary.

Beautifully written book.Polictics is a Genre which is difficult to get into and make interesting.Most of the times you predict what might happen and get it right.In this book I was surprised by the twists and turn and cunningness of both CHanakya and Gangasagar.The link between the 2 characters is awesome, Chandni and Chandragupta are postrayed nicely too.The characters are so well defined and writen, you just keep going and going into the book despite it being a long book.The langauge is smooth and transition between various episodes is nicely done.I liked the way the 2 stories run in parallel and portray the growth of the 2 leaders.Politics can be a beautiul tool to help the country grom or Kill it. I like the way chankya says "Leader is not the server of the population but a master, he just portrays that he is the server" also keep 10% money for yourself but give the rest out to people. You should make money but help the country grow so that you can make more money.The Hook and Crook methods of getting votes is nicely described.I just hope current say politicians help the counrty grow and also the people, I dont care if they get kickbacks and make money as long as People grow and are well offI full 5/5 from meDevil D

I just completed Chanakya Chant.Couldn't stop reading it. It is an amazing piece of work! Congratulations!Your writing was such that I was transported into that place and time. Bravo!Months of research seem to have gone into it. And his insight into how politics works is amazing.How did the author manage to imbibe so much of Arthashastra and remain unaffected?

I am not skilled enough to write the words that would intelligently review this book. All I can say that it's really good. A story based on Ancient India's political machination (based on Arthashastra -please see wiki for details and definition) with a running parallel to modern India' politics makes it a great read. Highly recommend it to both Indians and non Indians.This is not a history lesson it's historical fiction and is juicy and well paced...Game of Thrones, but different :)

This was my first experience of this author and maybe I should have started with another book. I liked the beginning but struggled to keep up with the characters, switch in history and lost interest. I quite liked some of the styling at the start but it seemed to drift in terms of plot and motivation. I wanted to like it more than I actually did, although some of the plot was inventive. I will read some more from the author and hope it retains the flavour and feel of India without being too pretentious.

It is a book which puts an Indian economist and intellect Chanakya in the front seat and how Chanakya raises his protege Chandragupta Maurya as the uniter of the Indian states, this is a part of history circa 2000 years. The book runs parallel to a modern day persona called as Ganagasagar who is like Chanakya, the king maker.Alexander the Great has been shown in a very crude fashion, the taste of which was a little sour for me because I am a big fan of Alexander the Great, and hence others have not liked this book. But it is a decent book, fast paced and typically Indian.The way the story moves along is like an Indian movie, you can not take away the Indianess out of this book. So if you are looking for something decent to take you back in history and how history repeats itself, this might interest you. But do not forget to take things with a pinch of salt!

This book is a page turner! A superb insight into the working of a great mind, and its relevance to current state of politics.

Kept me interested all the way through, very good story telling , nice political game playing, some history revisited. Surely recommended

Pacey, flowing political thriller loosely based on the Great Chanakya. Excellent for anyone interested in Indian politics, Macchiavelli, Yes Minister and so many more themes that are meshed together in this book.