Catch Chanakya (Itihasa #1) Authored By Ashok K. Banker Depicted In E-Text

Gupta, an elevenyearold young genius from a village called Chanak is the protagonist of the story and the most amusing character in the book.
He has the wisdom and knowledge which could challenge even the greatest gurus of his times,
Vishnu Gupta and his family including her father, mother and three sisters leave for Pataliputra, the capital of the Magadha Empire for attending an intellectual conference.
The great Nanda empire has an evil Prime Minister named Mahaamatya Kartikeya but majorly known as Rakshasa, He suspects Vishnu to be his future rival and so took steps in advance to eliminate any future rivalry with him.

The story begins with an interesting and whimsical account of the little Vishnu and his entertaining tactics to avoid sitting in the gurukul.
The character of Vishnu is well evolved through the book and turns out to be the most clever and witty one.
It was so humorous to read about how he denoted the boys in his age group as The Children! as if he was already a grownup man.
But in cleverness, sure the hell he was,
The character of Chandra was also found in the book and it was pleasing to read about his childhood as well along with the Chanakya.

The writing is convincing and eloquent making the reader fully engrossed in the book, I loved reading this very first installment of the Itihasa series by the author and very much eager to read the next book.

I will definitely recommend this book to all the readers and specifically to the lovers of this genre.

More like a.star rating for this one, I was expecting the world when I recently began reading this title, Ashok Banker doing a series on Chanakya seemed exciting beyond belief, I am a bit disappointed after finishing the book though, It seems overedited, and as if the writer is in extreme hurry to finish writing the book, There is no stay or "thehraav", and everything is over simplified and sometimes spoon fed, To me it seems that this book is for children, and not even young adults, I am definitely going to give the franchise a shot though and surely purchase the next instalment, I am hoping that because the protagonist is still very young in the first book, the material is therefore from that perspective and will only get better, craftier and more intense as the books follow and as Vishnu blooms into the great Chanakya.
The book also seems like it has ended very abruptly, like the writer just ran out of battery on his laptop before actually finishing the manuscript and it somehow just went into print.
It is too quick a read, devoid of any great incidents and even the "big" incident that the book ends with is not resonant of the wit or charm of Chanakya, even a young one.
Hopefully the laziness will recede in the forthcoming stories, You might have read many books on Chanakya but none of them concentrates on his early life, There is not much known about the childhood of Chanakya, Ashok Banker uses his imagination to create his childhood days,

The story is more character driven, Banker concentrates on the characters of Vishnu Gupta and his antagonist Mahaamatya Kartikeya, In fact he put extra effort in the antagonist character, He is dangerous, nasty and cruel with no possible trace of human emotions, I always has this creepy feeling whenever he comes into the picture,

Your mind will blow away when these two comes face to face,

There is also a third character that of Chandra which will sure to gain more prominence in the coming book.
As of now he is a thief but brave and intelligent,

Plot is of secondary importance, The author seems to be reluctant in getting into shastrath or scriptural debate, Any other author would have written a full fledged chapter on the debate, But Banker refrained from doing so, There were a few thriller scenes which will heightened your feelings of suspense and excitement,

Overall it was a good and crisp read, The author's writing was lucid and descriptive, Chanakya, is the first book in the trilogy and it lays the foundation for the next books, Everyone is more or less aware of the political and economic acumen of Chanakya in the Mauryan empire but hardly anything has been written about his early years.
Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta with an extraordinary prowess to grasp the teachings of historical literature often stood out in his peer group.
His mentors and gurus were not only dumbfounded by his capacity to learn the difficult shlokas and versus but also failed at times to answer the very many doubts and questions.

Vishnu Guptas mundane life in village takes an important turn when his father comes to Pataliputra to attend a conference of learned scholars from all over the country.
What these naïve citizens did not know was that the kingdom which was famous for its glamour and greatness also had an underbelly of violence, crime, injustice and cruelty.
The empire was being run parallel by two rulers a clueless emperor who thought he controlled the kingdom and a “Rakshasa” who remained obscure but had a minute grasp over every single element.
With his unscrupulous means, he makes sure that the real power remains in his hands, Vishnu Gupta and his simple family are pulled in the vortex of this dark side of the city.
Vishnus sharp intellect does not fail to realize that the only way to remain safe and bring about the desired change in the society is to stay back.
Thus begins the journey of seven year old Brahmin lad to become the remarkable individual that changed the course of history in the coming years.

In Bankers typical writing style, he keeps the story simple yet interesting, a real pageturner if you will.
You might have heard the anecdotes earlier but they still seem new, Overall, the book is captivating and can be finished in a couple of days, This first book of the trilogy has certainly done a great job of leaving us craving for the next ones in the series.
I, for sure, will eagerly wait for what Banker has to tell us about Chanakya,
'It's one thing to stand out in a certain situation where he has to use his intellect for some purpose, and quite another thing to simply show off just to get his own way.
'

'If he can't use his great intelligence to get what he wants from life, then what good is it being so intelligent'

From this book.


I remember, many years ago, it was a day when I had nothing to read so I picked a non fiction based on Chanakya.
Unexpectedly, I liked it.

'If I liked Chanakya's thought, I'm going to like this historical fiction based on Chanakya, ' I thought
when I heard about this book,

Vishnu Gupta, a seven years old, extraordinarily intelligent boy, He lives in a small village and knows all the scriptures Knows more than his Gurus, His only friend in the village is Vaishali,

This is the first book in the Itihasa series, so it is basically about little Chanakya.
And his journey from Chanak village to Patliputra to Magadh Rajmahal, How he impresses, rather surprises everyone and how he meets 'Chandra' and when he realizes that Magadh is a corrupt/unjust state, he decides to fight for justice, secretly.


The writing is neat and simple, There are so many thoughtprovoking one liners, Overall, it was nice read and I'm definitely going read the second part to know about the grownup, Vishnu Gupta aka Chanakya.
Pick it if you like Historical fiction, STORY: Ashok K, Banker in the first installment of his historical fiction series, the

Chanakya trilogy, introduces us to the legendary figure as a young boy ofyears age, also called Vishnu Gupta.
Far from his home, in the city of Pataliputra, there's a minister MahaAmatya Kartikeya who rules by brute force and evokes great terror in the minds of the citizens.
When Vishnu and his family head to Pataliputra for a congregation, his life gets bound in the chains of wanting to protect his family and doing the right thing.


REVIEW: I've always been intrigued by Indian historical fictions related to characters from the epics.
And this one was such a wonderful read! I finished reading it in one day, The plot presents certain broad themes of battle between good and evil, importance of knowledge, tradition, monarchy etc.
But the narrative that fills in the blanks is so refreshing because it draws a profile of an individual we've come to see as a masterthinker, a guide to Bindusara and Chandragupta Maurya.
So to read about Chanakya as ayear old was so fulfilling,

He has been portrayed as a boy who was extremely intellectual and had great powers of logic, understanding, far superior than the gurus and adults of that time.
At times the maturity he displays can stupefy you after all how often do you find children or even teenagers nowadays with such clarity of thought.
The pace of the novel is fast and gripping, There are a few Sanskrit terms used here and there, but they enrich your reading experience all the more.
The language used in this novel is quite suitable for intermediate readers, If you are not very well versed in English, you might want to keep a dictionary at hand.
That said, you must read Chanakya by Ashok K, Banker. It is a splendid read, one that I highly recommend! I simply CANNOT wait for the second book in this trilogy.


RATING:,out ofstars

WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF IT: An engaging tale of how Chanakya's intelligence held him in high stead and brought him face to face with corrupt leaders.


Thank you Writers Melon and Westland Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.
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