Book Review - The Palace of Assassins - The Rise of Ashwatthama



Book Review - The Palace of Assassins - The Rise of Ashwatthama

Me :- So, I am reading this book based on life of Ashwatthama

Mom :-Aha..he is one of 8 Cheeranjivee ..

Me :- Just like Hanuman ? 

Mom :-Yes..if I am not wrong, the lore is that he was cursed to be immortal.

Me :- Why was he cursed ?

Mom :- I don’t know much about the story, but I think Lord Krishna Cursed him.

Me thinking to myself-  Why would anyone want to meet a cursed Cheeranjeevi.

I slept with ricocheting thoughts in my head about Cheeranjivi, curses, Hanuman &Aswathhama and chance encounters with them.

I started reading the book, gripped by its narrative so much, that I even tried to draw Ashwatthama , of course limited creative abilities came in between . 

There are many interpretations &existence of various philosophies of Mahabharata and its epic characters. One can perhaps ignore the lore where the straight forward tale unfolds or one can perhaps just dive into the story the way it is, not to look beyond it.

“Palace of Assassins” By Aditya Iyengar introduces us to Ashwatthama lying famished, fading in a desert. He discovers to his much chagrined memories and a conversation with a voice inside his head, that he is cursed with being a leper and immortality.

Ashwatthama then recollects the events before this curse, where the Kurukshetra war has just ended and the Pandavas are rejoicing & Ashwatthama has lost both his guru and father Dronacharya and his friend Duryodhana. To revenge their deaths, Ashwatthama plans a heroic yet dangerous venture of killing of all the Pandavas. Unfortunately to his horror, while executing this plan, he kills 5 young Pandavas in their sleep. Krishna, then in all his anger & wrath curses Ashwatthama with immortality , leprosy & a person whom everyone will hate & Despise. Lord Krishna then embeds a red color gem stone on his forehead. And here is where the story begins.

Ashwatthama staggers in the desert, until he is found by a woman named Kasturi. She nurses him back to health and a hope that life will be ok even after all the disfigurations of being a leper. One fine day, when Kasturi&Ashwatthama goes to market , Kasturi to sell the hand woven baskets she sells for a living and Ashwathhama on the pretext to find a Vaidya to heal his leprosy, while his true mission is to find a way to slain all the Pandavas.

In the Caravan, he befriends Senapati, who is the survivor of the Kurukshektra war. He convinces Ashwathhama to join his motley crew of warriors to avenge the death of their families in the war & for Ashwatthama to gain Syamantaka a stone which has the power to end one’s immortality or prolong someone’s life.

The adventure here begins with Senapati , his crew &Ashwathhama. Together here they make plans to take over Syamantaka stone & kill all the Pandavas. The psychological ordeal which Ashwathhama goes through is described aptly & one can almost feel the turmoil going on his mind.

Their adventure begins by fighting off a powerful magician "tatvakarman" named "Maraan". He is protector and possessor of a stone "Kalkamani". This stone possesses the power of turning its holder into wraith to create havoc and destruction of greatest degree. More adventures follow, before the final veil of the Revenge unfolds before the reader.

Senapati, Ashwathhama&Senapati’s team of warriors finally battle out all the obstacles and reach Indraprastha – the city where Pandavas live  & here is the where the final chapter of the story unfolds & perhaps begin too.

The relationship between Dronacharya& Ashwatthama is of a dual nature, father & Son and Teacher & Student. It is reflected throughout the whole book.

Subtle romance between Kasturi& Ashwatthama is penned beautifully by the author. Aditya Iyengar ends the book at a point, where this book can have an interesting sequel or perhaps book on a anotherCheeranjeevi.

Aditya Iyengar sketches out the book beautifully. No character or incident feels far fetched. The writing is to the point & it makes an interesting and gripping read. Aditya Iyengar has definitely done his work on setting up an authenticate architecture for Ashwatthama’s tale.

The book is for everyone. I could extract different meanings out of it, the battle between good and bad, greed and power, to forget and forgive, work on our repents. But at the end of it, it’s a heart touching story about a man misunderstood.

It’s a coincidence, that the characters endowed with superior warrior skills, bestowed with super power are always misunderstood or outcasted from the royals in epic Mahabharata. Karna too  was also one of them.

These few lines stayed with me even when the book was over.

“Dronacharya :- Why Do we die ?
Ashwatthama :- I don’t know
Dronacharya :- We die so we can live again. Death holds no fear for the warrior. Neither does the afterlife. In all our reincartions, we take our chances & we learn from them….”

“The future is not a single path. It is a maze of hundreds and hundreds of doors. You pick one and walk down a path and pick another & hope it turns out right.”

Book Name :- Palace of Assassins- The Rise of Ashwatthama

Publishing House :- Hachette India

ISBN :- 978-93-5195-082-0

No. of Pages :- 223

Book Source :- Flipkart Book Review Programme

Order Book From :- Flipkart

Alternative Reading after completing this book would be ShivajiSawant’sMrityunjay

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