Review: The Myth of Hastinapur

The Myth of Hastinapur by Rahul Rai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again.

That is their mystery and their magic.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

Mahabharat is an epic which inspired generations and writers. Rahul Rai also tried to weave stories around the happenings of Mahabharata. We want to hear these stories countless times.

But this book is different in a sense that this does not follow the tradition interpretations and explanations. It sees things from many different perspectives and from different characters (many of them imaginary or lesser known) point of views.

The book also tries to interpret things from caste point of view. How divided the society was along caste lines? “Radheya” i.e Karna is known as Soot putra and when he turns out to be a great warrior he is called a Kshatriya.

“Dance of death” tells story of two friends who fights from different sides as foot soldiers. They say that the war is just an ego clash between Kauravas and Pandavas.

The story I like the most is “A Father’s Debt”. This is the story of Hidimba’s son Ghatokatcha and his son Barbareek. Bheema never meets them after he abandons Hidimba in forest. But when Pandava come to know of Karna’s Shakti they need Ghatokcha. Bheema shamelessly send messenger to them to fight from his side. Both of them are killed and this is totally unfair.

There are many other stories and in the end line between black and white blurs. Even Krishna is not spared. I liked some parts of the book immensely and some not so much. I will not go into the details of that and let each reader decide for herself. This is a mixed bag. 3.5/ 5 stars.


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