Chanakya's Chant - A book review

“ Chanakya’s Chant” by Ashwin Sanghi
Publisher: Westland
Price on Flipkart: Rs. 146

Reviewed by Gopinath Mavinkurve
Twitter Id: @gopinathmm

We often talk about how politics is a dirty game being the last resort of a scoundrel. It’s about the manipulative moves on life’s chessboard in order to get ahead in power struggles, which cannot be achieved without sacrificing your own pawns to strike the deadly blow at your opponent’s powerful pieces. The book presents two such plots – one a fictional account of the machinations of the scheming Chanakya about 2300 years ago and the other of a modern day politician, Gangasagar Mishra – both Kingmakers in their own right. While Chanakya has to deal with the monarchs in the Bharat of yore, such as Chandragupta Maurya, Paurus and the ambitious Alexander, who sought to rule the world by conquering the rulers of our lands, Gangasagar Mishra takes it upon himself to install a woman, Chandini Gupta as the Prime Minister of a democratically elected government. In the process, both the protagonists exploit the weaknesses of those in power to bring them down, while promoting their own protégées in their positions.


The book provides several crafty pre-planned moves to dislodge the opponents through wily means. “Politics is not just about pulling each other’s hair”, says another reviewer. I would like to add: It is about getting to the opponent’s testicles, as the book tells us. The book is overloaded with several wisecracks, many of which, one would get a feeling to have read somewhere! Although the author does credit the borrowed quotes from well-known figures of all times at the end of the book, in my humble opinion, there is an excessive adaptation of such smart-alec quips attributed to both the protagonists – at some junctures, without any relevant context - only diluting the original content, which is amply provided by the author in the fictional account of kingmakers’ extensive plotting, dealt with in great detail. This, however, is the only irksome aspect.

The book is a certain page-turner. The reader is held firmly in a vice-like grip by the author, as he swirls in the web of stories - unto the very end, where the link between the separate plots is revealed! All in all, a well-researched, well-narrated fast-paced thriller not to be missed! Do read it!

Rating – 3.5 / 5