Synopsis

The year is 340 BC. A hunted, haunted Brahmin youth vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father.

Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with a complete ab- sence of accepted morals, he becomes the most power- ful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the Great.

Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and suc- ceeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan empire.

History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya.
Satisfied—and a little bored—by his success as a kingmaker, through the simple summoning of his gifted mind, he recedes into the shadows to write his Artha- shastra, the ’science of wealth′.

But history, which exults in repeating itself, revives Chanakya two and a half millennia later, in the avatar of Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin teacher in smalltown India who becomes puppeteer to a host of ambitious individuals—including a certain slumchild who grows up into a beautiful and powerful woman.

Modern India happens to be just as riven as ancient Bharat by class hatred, corruption and divisive politics and this landscape is Gangasagar′s feasting ground. Can this wily pandit—who preys on greed, venality and sexual deviance—bring about another miracle of a united India?

Will Chanakya′s chant work again?

What the Critics Say

INDIAreads Reviw
"... But Chankya’s Chant is different from the other books in the genre. It is both historical as well as contemporary. For there run through the book, two parallel stories – one that is based in current times and another that dates back 2300 years. Taken individually both these stories are complete and do full justice to their own genres. And that is one of the strengths of the book. None of the narratives leave the reader feeling short changed. Both are fact paced, compact and use the language of the era they are situated in. In Chankya’s Chant they come together as two equals, their union sanctified by the (un)holy quest for power that consumes the main protagonists. The reader is left with the distinction impression that when it comes to politics and power play, not much has changed in the last two millenia...."
Read the complete review @ http://blogs.indiareads.com/views-and-reviews/the-chant-of-power-book-re...