Skip to main content

Book Review – Krishna Series: The Beginning by Kapil Dabur

Before we move ahead with the review, let’s understand Kapil Dabur’s new novel’s title. ‘The Beginning’ is the first book in Krishna Series. There have been many retellings from the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. The market has seen the upward trend from Amish Tripathi to Kavita Kane to now Kapil Dabur.


This novel is exquisitely built…from narration to pace to placing of characters. You will love the gradual divulgence of characters and their idiosyncrasies. Majorly, this novel covers the events and time period before the birth of Krishna in Mahajanpad. More or less, the story stages the backdrop for Krishna and Kansa.

The underlying fact is that in Mahajanpad, states are divided on the creed of Bhairavs vs. Vaishnavs. The former clan is cunning and outwardly devoted to Lord Rudra, who orients the karmic law of the world. However, Vaishnavs are true devote of Vishnu i.e. lord Rama. Both have clashing ideologies. However, to get benefit from trade and commerce, they have worked on a truce as not to indulge in any sort of war. But the inside information is that both strive hard to place their superiority over each other. In this case, if the new avatar of Krishna is born and takes side of anyone, it means they will be a clear winner in Mahajanpad. It summarizes the crux of the novel, as why all are keen to know who has broken the karmic law of Rudra.

This Krishna child is most sought after by many, especially by Bhairavs and their king Kansa. Though Krishna is an influence in the novel and there is hardly any attention-grabbing performance by him, the novel is dedicated to making of Kansa.

Yes, you heard it right. You might not have heard about Kansa’s good deeds before this novel. He was a kind-hearted man but his uncle Jarasandh’s greed and Vishvamitra’s enmity to Vashisth turns him into a monstrous villain. He turned quite a rogue king after death of his love Rati, and sister Putna. May be the next book in the series could highlight who was behind their killing. It would be fun if Kansa comes to know about his own people plotting against him?

Another aspect of the novel that might arrest your attention is inciting Kansa against Gokul community, where Krishna will be groomed up. In fact, this community plays the central role between Bhairavs and Vaishnavs. The former looks to decimate it while the latter wants to save it from injustice. Kingdoms are flawed, conspiracies are in the air, the next avatar of Vishnu will shake the fake lineage of Mahajanpad, Gokul community will gets its justice…for sure Krishna is right there at your door step!

The novel is more than what it looks. It’s a terrific tornado if you bundle up all of its conflicting aspects into one. Kapil leveraged simple language and lucid narration so that it neither looks a redundant retelling nor a heavy mythological fiction. He blends it with what people are looking nowadays. Undoubtedly, it puts a fresh cap on the mythological retelling genre. Easy to read and remember, this novel should be watched out for more updates. Highly recommended!

Buy your copy from Amazon/Kindle.

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 conversation fo
64 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r
23 comments
Read more