Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age - the Kaliyug. In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar. Only, he is a serial killer.In this heart-stopping tale, the arrival of a murderer who executes his gruesome and brilliantly thought-out schemes in the name of God is the first clue to a sinister conspiracy to expose an ancient secret - Krishna’s priceless legacy to mankind.
Historian Ravi Mohan Saini must breathlessly dash from the submerged remains of Dwarka and the mysterious lingam of Somnath to the icy heights of Mount Kailash, in a quest to discover the cryptic location of Krishna’s most prized possession. From the sand-washed ruins of Kalibangan to a Vrindavan temple destroyed by Aurangzeb, Saini must also delve into antiquity to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice.
The plot involves different pieces of the seal which must be brought together to solve the puzzle. Each part of the seal is in the possession of four different people who are descendants of Yadava tribes. The tribes are Saini, Satvat, Varshney and Chhedi. The author narrates a detailed version of the post-Mahabharatha history through the protagonist, a distinguished professor of history, who himself happens to be a lineal descendant of Krishna being from Saini tribe of Punjab. The book also contains the author’s version of the Krishna Avatar at the start of each chapter from the birth to the death of Vishnu’s 8th Avatar. The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi brings you an exhaustively researched whopper of a plot, while providing an incredible alternative interpretation of the Vedic Age that will be relished by conspiracy buffs and thriller-addicts alike.
Sanghi stated that he wanted to do a story in connection with the Mahabharata, but not retelling of the epic which has already been done and undertook a month’s research, saying that he had to be extremely cautious in dealing with this topic as we put a premium on personal belief and faith. He chose Krishna as one of the books’s themes because Krishna is a perfectly grey character.
In a Dan Brownesque style, Sanghi takes you on a fascinating journey, revisiting every landmark vital to the plot detailing it with every possible evidence mankind can lay its eyes and hands upon. The narration is dramatic and one gets the feel of watching a movie in a theatre. The reader is made to swing between the past and the present in a comfortable manner, when moving back into the lives of the characters, providing a rational basis for their behaviour and actions.
The twists and turns are many and evenly placed at the correct moments when the reader would be in need of one. The reader is hinted at the twists quite often as the story proceeds. When it’s time to unveil the sudden turn of events, it is done and extracts are quoted from the preceding part of the story to enable one to immerse in the joy of having noticed them earlier or signalling the reader to take note of details atleast from then.
