Book Review : 7 Secrets of the Goddess

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The author Devdutt Pattanaik has made a name with his numerous books on Indian mythology.He is a doctor .And yet, his flow of words never does reveal that he has been anything else, other than a weaver of tales ! His numerous books include 7 Secrets of Shiva,7 Secrets of Vishnu,Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art among others.His latest is "Shikhandi : And other tales they don't tell you ."

 This book is published by Westland Books.The cover illustration is the Calendar print of Balambika ,daughter of Humanity.The image of Balambika is extremely attractive.The book is of 259 pages & is priced at Rs 395/- only.Every alternate page has photographs of idols,or calendar art or other paintings depicting the various Goddesses & Gods.this makes the book highly interesting & visually appealing.All the photos are captioned for better understanding.

 The book begins with Author's note on Reality & Representation.In this ,the author reveals that representations of Gods & Goddesses in Hindu mythology mean many things.Literally ,they signify something.And symbolically ,it refers to something else.Context is equally important.There are 7 chapters in the book each revealing a particular Goddess's secret.The book concludes with symbols of Goddess & a note on Acknowledgements.

 In this book,the author tries to determine the reason behind the worship of Goddesses,their depiction ,their power,their position ,etal.The narration is crisp & taut.He narrates many stories like that of Annapoorneshwari,Kanyakumari ,Bhu Devi,Shri Devi & many more.He incorporates even Greek,Polynesian ,Egyptian mythology to trace the origins of worship of Goddesses.There seems to be a common thread across mythologies across the world.He states why particular animals like tiger,swan ,elephant,are associated with Durga,Saraswati ,Lakshmi & what the said animals symbolise. He says that the Goddess represents nature & God ,the mind.Mind cannot exist without nature .Yet nature can exist without mind .This is a very feminist statement empowering women !

 He states that Vedas were full of rituals.Puranas which came later talked of bhakti & devotion.Gram devis were the Goddesses of the early communities.As society developed further,a sense of property arose.This led to the women being claimed as property by men.So ,the seeds of patriarchy were sown thus.The patriarchal attitudes became stronger when Hinduism was attacked as being pagan by Christianity & Islam.Christanity & Islam had Men as Gods.There was no feminine deity in these religions.In Hinduism ,there were many Goddesses & this was not taken kindly by Muslim & Western raiders & This led to purdah,etc.This led to more subjugation of women.Later ,scientific thinking & Liberals saw new light in Hindu practices & rituals.Yet ,Mahabharata & Ramayana are seen as enforcing patriarchy.This was never so .There are many versions of Mahabharata & Ramayana .We believe in plurality unlike Western culture.

The author concludes that we must expand our mind to appreciate various thoughts.This will make us outgrow gender.A must read to unravel the traditional worship of the Goddess ! 

Book review : The Krishna Key

The Krishna Key is a thriller  by Ashwin Sanghi who has authored the bestselling Rozabel Line as also the award winning Chanakya's chant.It is of 475 pages.It is by Westland books.It has many black & white illustrations in keeping with the character of the book.


The tale is about a boy, who is indoctrinated from his school age to believe, that he is the Kalki avatar & hence, must eliminate all who are up to mischief.This is done by a mother figure, who in turn has been manipulated by a don.It is also the story of five friends who are working on various quests in India.There are other characters like the lady Inspector Radhika -sniffer Singh , Priya who is the doctoral student of a Professor,Rathore,Radhika's assistant,Garg-Radhika's boss ,Sir Khan,etal.Basically ,it is the story of India from times immemorial ! Bodies start falling from the very start  & the tale has many surprises as also shocks  to keep one engrossed.

The author has done lots of painstaking research to come up with this tale, which combines geography,history,numerology,astrology,linguistics, genetics,nuclear science,etal.This book dwells on the mythical Saraswati river which once flowed in present day Rajasthan.It also connects the dots amongst the various Harappan civilization sites,the migration of Indians from there & how Indians have remained custodians of their culture & legacy.It spins an interesting view about how Shiv & Vish are one & the  same, apart from  a rearrangement of   letters.It makes one  wonder, if Kailash parbat is  man made or natural. It surprises, by informing that Indians knew many things about nuclear energy ,radiation & means to protect against radiation.In short,Vedas have much to reveal about what the West is discovering in science & technology today !

It dwells heavily on Krishna's account of the Mahabharata- in fact, this  runs simultaneously along with the thriller & makes the book all the more readable.The Dwarka ruins,the Somnath,temple  & its architecture & sculpture speak  volumes, if only we could stop & decipher.The past & present are  juxtaposed brilliantly to give us a mystery.The Mughals,the Rajputs,theYadavas, the Kshatriyas et al are all brought together to show how all are connected with each other & with India's ancient wisdom which was so rich ! It continues to guide us today.Ashwin Sanghi seems to be  been inspired by Dan Brown of The Da Vinci code fame in penning this novel.


The Sanskrit shlokas & the black & white illustrations are  added attractions of the book.They are a necessity & make the book worthwhile.


The story made me so proud of my cultural heritage as an Indian.At times,the facts get so overwhelming that one seems to be gasping for breath ! Were our forefathers so intelligent ? Then, why have we remained  so backward today ? We seem to be content,   living on our past glories.We must reclaim our glory seems to be the author's message for his readers.For, as he reminds  us ,more than once ," ....the philosopher is more important than the stone ."

There was a dearth of Indians writing thrillers .For this  reason also ,  I would recommend this book.

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