Skip to main content

Book Review: God Chronicles #1: Of Swarga by Ranjit More

Now and then, Indian mythological fictions are flocking the contemporary Indian literature arena, and these books are being noticed by huge masses, as they are rooted to our ethos and values, especially related to religions.


So, today we have this amazing mythological fantasy fiction, God Chronicles #1: Of Swarga written by Ranjit More. It’s a first of its kind story featuring Swarga (heaven) as a backdrop. This short and crisp novella is about the world of devatas. King Indra rules Swarga, and he has set an invisible line as a barrier that no one dares to cross, and those who do, they are executed.

The story kicks off with a young man who tried to get the water of Ganga falling from the sky to cure the leprosy of his ailing father (though he is a devata, but got cursed). And for that he had to cross that invisible line. But well before his plan could materialize, he was killed by the king.

Is the king Indra a righteous devata? Does he think of the well-beings of all residents of Swarga? You can find out if you continue with the book.

Well, next, this news saddens Kratu, one of the top-rated ministers in the court of King Indra. On the other hand, below Swarga is the planet earth where humans live and they are being fed to worship the King Indra above all and it is being done by one of his ministers named Sudyumn. When the followers of King Indra increased on the earth, this causes an event of celebration in Swarga. Kratu is reluctant to this fact. It becomes evident that Sudyumn is all set for an appraisal by displacing Kratu.
However, soon when Sudyumn is appointed as the supreme minister in the court, Kratu revolts, and here onwards his days not only changed but seemed petered out.

The story becomes quite interesting after this point. For being a protester, Kratu is being imprisoned and death seems the only punishment for him. Well, with some twists and turns, Kratu manages to come out of that hell and starts his journey for the betterment of people. There is a lot of drama and action is involved, which totally seems credible and is of potential to make this book unputdownable.
What will Kratu achieve, is rest of the story and how? Without giving away much, we can express that this novella is way different than other mythological fiction written so far from the perspective of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Since the book is short, one can finish reading it in one go. At times, the author has given too much emphasis on the subjective details of ambience and characters, but the overall charm in the novel covers up well for all specks of pitfalls. 

Ranjit as an author, for this mythological fiction genre, is a promising talent. And it seems he possesses good knowledge about Hindu mythology and religions and gods. We are sure, he will make a resilient comeback with another dashing novel. So far, this one was too good, and can be read by all.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should ...
68 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversatio...
64 comments
Read more

Character Sketch of Binya from ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular children’s story. It features Binya as the main character, though there are other important characters as well, but the story revolves around Binya and her little beautiful umbrella. The story is widely popular among children, thus it has also been included in the schools’ syllabus all across the country. Since it is often taught in the school, thus the character sketch of Binya is often demanded by students from year to year. Character Sketch of Binya from The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond Binya is the main character of the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond. Her full name is Binyadevi. As in the hills or anywhere in India it is a kind of trend to call children with their short nicknames. Binya’s elder brother’s name is Bijju, whereas his real name is Vijay. Binya aged eleven is a hilly girl. She lives with her small family in the hills of Garhwal. Her father died when she was two years of age. For sustenance, the...
41 comments
Read more