India’s Best-Selling Theological Thriller
“… Dan Brown has an Indian challenger in Ashwin Sanghi” – The Week.
Read “The Rozabal Line” by Ashwin Sanghi. I finished reading it today, yes, finally! The first and most important thing about this book is the abundance of interesting data in it, which arouses interest, curiosity, forces us to know more about it and to continue reading. Most of the time, I found myself searching the net for all those facts that I read in the book, and that made my experience of reading the book healthy and satisfying. Thanks to the author, for the 15 pages of ‘Notes, acknowledgments and references’ well compiled at the end of the book. What impresses one the most is the scope of the dedicated research carried out by the author. Although the book feels like a Dan Brown novel or a James Patterson novel at first, it gradually manages to demonstrate its originality in concept and content. It feels great to hold a book (and read it too!) Of international standards with Indian roots.
The characters I enjoyed reading about were Father Vincent Sinclair, his Aunt Martha, and his friend Terry Acton; Their conversations were very interesting and the past life regression and future projection episodes that involved them were exciting. The Japanese assassin, the villainous methods, and Swakilki’s ordeals came as a sudden and unexpected surprise every time. I enjoyed reading about Kami- the Japanese gods and goddesses trapped in the cycle of birth and death, and their presence in history; on the Buddhist monk’s search for the next Dalai lama, the reincarnation of the previous one; about Bhrigu Samhita, one of the oldest documents in Hindu history, a database of more than half a million horoscopes that accurately predict future events, originally compiled by the son of (god) Brahma, and is almost destroyed for the Muslim invasion of the Nalanda library; on the Inquisition of Goa, the torture inflicted on Hindus and Muslims to force them to convert to Christianity, for the propagation of Christianity, the violent birth of a religion; and about Jesus, the Hieros Gamos ritual (which means death and resurrection), the entire Israeli episode.
Ashwin Sanghi’s debut work is truly commendable; much larger than you’d expect from a banker’s first attempt at writing. The first book from him that I read was “The Key of Krishna”. And that one book had made me a devoted fanatic. Now, “Chanakya’s Chant” is waiting to be read on my bookshelf.
The cover of the book is a beautiful blood-red jacket with the author’s name embossed in white and the title embossed in gold, and an image of a cross lurking near the periphery. The striking relief is also present in his other books. The cover itself gives a feeling of “suspense”. Issued by Westland ltd, it is priced at Rs 250.
