The Krishna Key – Book Review

The Krishna Key – Ashwin Sanghi

When I hear Ashwin Sanghi, I get reminded of Chanakya’s Chant and the masterpiece it was. Knowing  history thoroughly well and drawing parallels requires great deal of research and amazing creativity. If you think that is difficult try being a conspiracy theorist. Digging into history and mythology, drawing parallels, using existing places, artifacts and research data and making a story around it is indeed a commendable job. Kudos to Ashwin Sanghi for that.

The story is a first person narrative by Krishna and the author has maintained the same style of writing as before. alternating between the distant past and a present day parallel. The book is a great read for those who would like to know more about Mahabharata and Krishna’s life history. Very enlightening in terms of research related to Indus Valley Civilization and the third(invisible river) of the rivers from the Triveni Sangam, “The Saraswati”. The facts are provided in such a way that leaves you wondering if the work indeed is a work of fiction. The pace of the book is pretty decent.

That was for the good part. The not so nice part is the book holds your attention in the beginning but fails as it progresses further. Much like a great movie before interval but starts failing just after it. I was disappointed with the ending. Not because of it’s spiritual ending (the author is free to write an ending that pleases him) but because there was no clarity about what happens to Taarak Vakil, the supposed tenth avatar of Krishna or the Kalki. Also, I felt the author is trying to string too many conspiracy theories into one book when he also brought the Taj conspiracy into picture. When I started reading I was happy that India has found it’s very own “Dan Brown” but at times he sounds a tad too Dan Brownish. The striking similarity between this work and a Dan Brown work is a little disappointing for me personally. Also, Confusing Radhika for Priya in some pages, isn’t great editorial work. I found three such instances in pages 301, 389 and 456 where Radhika is mentioned as Priya. Especially the first one, I was reading fully engrossed and the line said “Priya had then been lowered to the base of the mountain” and I was caught off-guard. It took me a moment and re-reading a few lines again to realise it is a mistake. Nonetheless, it had already done the damage by interrupting the flow.

Overall, though the book is a great read and does give you a lot of ‘aha’ moments and I would definitely recommend the book. Though packed with history doesn’t make you feel overwhelmed. Especially if you are an aficionado for history or conspiracy theories, you must read this.

Book: The Krishna Key
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Pages: 464 pages
Cost: Rs.250 (Flipkart offers it at Rs.175 with discount)
Publisher: Westland (2012)

Final Verdict. 8/10

P.S: On a somewhat related note, I would someday like to see a program on history channel, a theory based on this book. That would be an indication that India has truly arrived on the political scene.

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