Tuesday, December 18, 2018

BookMarks #48: Chanakya’s Chant

Title: Chanakya’s Chant 
Author: Ashwin Sanghi 
Genre: Historical Fiction 
Setting: Mauryan Empire & Modern India 
Published: 2010 

Summary 
In the 4th century BC Chanakya plots to overthrown the Nanda dynasty from Magadh and install his protégé Chandragupta Maurya on the throne. In the 20th century, Gangadhar Mishra attempts to put Chandini Gupta as the Prime Minister of India. 

BookMarks 
An interesting way to tell a story. There are actually two stories running here in parallel, separated by a timeline of two and a half millennia. One is a fictionalized take of the ascendancy of Chandragupta Maurya to the Magadh throne and the other a modernized version of the same, set in 20th century India. 

Key message of the book is while settings may change, the basic politics remains the same. Use every means to pin down your opponent while moving up the ladder yourself. And it is the backroom players who play the key role in propping up their candidates. 

Overall quite an engrossing account! 

Previously on BookMarks: The Time Machine 

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