The Krishna Key: Book Review!

Genre: Thriller, Fiction

“Five thousand years ago lived a man called Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu,who promised to return in the dark age of Kaliyug in a final avatar to punish the wicked and cleanse the world. But someone has beaten him it to it…"

So says the trailer, yes, this grand extravaganza of a narrative has an audio-video teaser that promises a riveting read.

People have long anticipated the return of ‘Vishnu’ (not Krishna) in the last of his avatars named Kalki. No one knows how and where he will come, let alone how he would look like. Taking advantage of this obscurity as the past news stories reveal,  several mortals emerged as THE avatar and sought respect which was reciprocated as people did begin to follow and worship them. While this was all a hoax to fulfill one’s personal desire of being treated as a god and be loved by all, et al; Ashwin Sanghi has thrown a possibility how this platform of claiming-to-be-god could be used by someone, read a fanatic, to cause destruction and unrest and to even justify his actions in His name.

So, now we have a scene of murder and the one held guilty is a respectable professor of mythology from one of the best colleges in Delhi. To clear himself of all charges he takes a journey of decoding the truth behind the murderer while in pursuit of the Krishna Key.

I noticed how several reviewers have simply called the Krishna Key as preachy and trashy, how the story line can be confusing and how it unsuccessfully attempts to intrigue the reader .

But I beg to differ from everything said about it. In my opinion the story is fluid as we go along solving the murder mystery with Professor Saini to places of importance to Lord Krishna – from Kalibangan to Mount Kailash which can prove to be quite exploratory for those who have only heard of these places in fables.

As for the regular flashbacks into the Mahabharata era while some readers may well be able to connect it to the parallel present day story others may find them as unwanted breaks in their primary plot. Every chapter opens with an interrelated piece of mythological occurrence.

Equipped with a number of images and figures so as to aid the reader in understanding the plot, the author has evidently put in long hours of research in order to make it as authentic and convincing as possible.

Carrying on with the legacy of indulging in thriller mysteries based on mythology from the The Rozabal Line in 2007 that was about Jesus Christ’s tryst with India; to the award winning Chanakya’s Chant this third installment by the author penetrates also into the Bhagvad Gita apart from its titled hero.

I would give three out of five stars to Ashwin Sangha’s The Krishna Key for the sheer efforts put in by him in the research and let alone in the logical compilation of the pictorial representations. This is definitely a must read for all those who enjoy suspense thriller supplemented with aplenty treats of folklore and mysticism.



This review is a part of the http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank" > Book Reviews Program
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