A fantasy of epic proportions and quite a page-turner

IT IS SAID that as a child JRR Tolkien missed reading an epic—say something similar to a Mahabharata, Ramayana or even a Beowulf—which was exclusively ‘English’. That lacuna, it is said, led to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. What began as a children’s project, ended up being just the sort of saga which Tolkien had missed while growing up. A reason why Lord of the Rings becomes significant while looking at Krishna Udayasankar’s Govinda, is because Udayasankar applies a similar formula, like Tolkien, to weave her magical tale. Tolkien, the master of his craft, constructed a counter-mythology from pagan elements, already present in local myths and lores, into an universal tale immersed in ever-lasting themes such as conflict between good and evil, heroic quests, marvelous journeys, abduction, rescue and romance. Udayasankar takes the Indian fascination for magic, incarnation, renunciation, friendship, and of course, romance, to the next level. She pulls a desi trick— takes the Mahabharata (already a rich tale) and makes it a bit more human, and thus quite believable. Govinda, as Udayasankar has promised her readers, is the Book One of the Chronicle Series, which may end up being a five-book-long saga. The writer has her next two books all planned in which we hope she will continue to carry her magical tone. Now, for a bit of truth. Due to time constraints, the book lies on my bed-side table with end pages untouched. All right, I lied. I have no bed side table. I have no way of figuring out what kind of a cliff-hanger Udayasankar leaves her readers with. Even if I did, I could not write about it. However, what I can write about are the moments—and the book has quite a few—in which Udayasankar catches us by surprise. For one, she grabs her readers’ attention when she introduces Panchali (Draupadi). As Udayasankar said during an interview, “Panchali is every woman. She is beautiful and accomplished, but she is ordinary in the sense that she faces her fair share of highs and lows. And she does not always succeed. But that is not due to the lack of trying.” Udayasankar’s Panchali (she is a central character in the plot) is believable. An archer, a rider and a woman with a refined mind, she is as different from Draupadi, as Govinda is from Lord Krishna. Other characters— Shikhandin (who the author admits she enjoyed writing a bit more than the others)—gain far more prominence in Govinda, than he had in the Mahabharata. For those who do not have a basic idea of the original epic (beyond the tele-serial, Amar Chitra Katha and abridged versions i.e.), Govinda may appear confusing. The characters are known by their lesserknown avatars—Krishna as Govind Shaurya, Kunti as Pritha, Draupadi as Panchali, Yudhistir as Dharma. Udayasankar has done an impressive amount of research to build her world, a project she began in 2008, while she ‘had the idea of the book ever since she can remember’. The twist in this brilliant tale comes from the concept of the firewrights. In her interview Udayasankar called the fire-wrights ‘experts’ with special powers—they lend that magical oomph to an otherwise familiar story. At the core of this saga is the power struggle between mystical firstborn dynasty of scholar-sages—descendants of Vasishta Varuni— protectors of the Divine Order on earth and the Angirasa Family of Firewrights (weapon-makers) who has defied them. In the aftermath of the centuries-long conflict between these two orders, the empire of Aryavarta lies, a shadow of its former glorious self. The book begins with the death of the last secret keeper of the firewrights which leads to a series of events. And in the midst of it is Govinda Shauri (Lord Krishna—less divine and seeming more manly), cowherd-turned-prince, an army commander in Dwaraka, who uses his political canny to counter deception and treachery. If you do crave for a bit of murder, romance and political manipulation Govinda (as the jacket cover reads) is indeed your tale. At the end, a good mythical-fantasy saga is about a bit of fun. Well, Udaysankar’s Govinda is a lot of it.