The Ivory Throne

I'm someone who hates to read thick books and that too about history. The more the number of pages, the more I repel from picking up that book. :). But Ivory Throne was an exception. I read somewhere that, its better to read the first 5 pages of a book before buying it. If we feel a connection during those 5 pages, then definitely we will finish the book else we will not. This logic helped me to go with Ivory Throne. On seeing the book, I thought I made a mistake. How big this book is :-O. I might end up using this as a pillow. But the first few pages itself, proved me wrong. Hip hip hurreyyyyyy, I started loving this book. I couldn't keep it down. Whenever I get a short break from my tiring schedules, I will start from the book marked page. It took almost a month to finish the book. 

This book revolves around the life of Senior Rani (Sethu Lekshmi Bai). Senior Ranis life was a roller coaster ride. The author Manu S Pillai took 6 years to finish this book. And that effort is clearly reflected in this book. Before dwelling into the life of Senior Rani, the Author clearly explains the history of Travancore, so that the reader will get a clear picture of the scenarios that existed. Ivory Throne can be used as a reference book for people interested in history. This book exposes us to lots of shocking incidents and family politics , which are hard to believe . But the bitter truth is we have to believe whats written, because all the incidents mentioned in this book are based on solid proofs (mostly in the form of hand written letters). My 5 stars for Ivory Throne too. 

Jaya Mahabharata and Yuganta

 ' Yuganta ' by Irawati Karve : Status 'Checked' . A different approach to the epic Mahabharatha, by brilliantly dissecting the lives of few characters . Devdutt Pattanaik's  'Jaya Mahabharata ' was my inspiration to read Yuganta. Also I heard good reviews about it through few of my friends.

Irawati's work is entirely different. Yuganta is not telling us the full Mahabharata chapter by chapter. It's more like looking at Mahabharatha's characters from a third angle. We can  easily find the pros and cons with each character, irrespective of the greatness of that person. Best example is 'Bhishma'. Before reading this book, I was blindly in love with the charatcer Bishma. This book forced me to look at him, through all the angles. This in turn , showed me the flaws of the character.Many of his deeds, which I once looked upon proudly (as a symbol of a strong man), now lies in front of me as unjustifiable or shameless .

But there are 2 contradictions in Yuganta. I wonder how this went unnoticed. 

1) In one of the chapters, the Author says Vidur died before Dhritharashtra, Gandhari and Kunti. But in another instance its shown as Vidur died along with Kunti.

2) In another chapter Author says that , pandavas constructed the secret tunnel to escape during palace fire. But in another paragraph Author says, Vidur send his trustee to construct a secret tunnel for the pandavas to escape during fire.

If we ignore the above 2 mismatches, the rest of the book is a good read. 

Coming to Jaya Mahabharata by Devdutt, Oh God, WHAT A BOOK. WHAT A BOOK !!!!!

I will give 5 stars for this book. Jaya Mahabharatha clearly reflects Devdutt's hard work. Hats off to him for the efforts he had taken to make this book a real gem.Each page gives lots and lots of information. I had a feeling of seeing the characters in real, in front of me. That's the effect of Jaya Mahabharata. 

Those who really want to know what Mahabharata is all about , in the simplest form, go for this one.