Monday, June 14, 2021

BookMarks #84: The Vault of Vishnu

Title: The Vault of Vishnu 
Author: Ashwin Sanghi 
Genre: Fiction, History 
Published: 2020 

Summary 
An account of a medieval Buddhist’s monk journey from China to India to acquire secret powers. Meanwhile in the modern times, the Chinese are keen on acquiring the same and showing off their powers to the rest of the world. 

BookMarks 
The book is a gripping tale with some surprising and not so surprising twists. Also, I guess this is two stories running in parallel. There is the historic one of Huen Tsang’s journey to India. And then there is the mystery of Chinese super soldiers who had come at Doklam. Meanwhile the Indian establishment with the help of other powers try to get to the bottom of it and uncover a connection going back to the Pallava empire. 

Overall, an interesting narrative merging history with modern intelligence services and myths with biotechnology. Although a word of caution – the author has mixed facts with myths and fiction to create a story. Hopefully it is just taken as that and not anymore. He does give references to actual historical texts but they have to be treated with caution. Especially in today’s times when people believe as per their confirmation bias. 

Previously on BookMarks: The Great Train Journey 

Also by Ashwin Sanghi: #48 – Chanakya’s Chant

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