Sunday 4 November 2012

The Krishna Key

Title – The Krishna Key
Author – Ashwin Sanghi
Genre – Thriller
Publisher – Westland Ltd
Rating – 2/5

Ashwin Sanghi

When I read “The Rosabal Line”, I thought it was a poor imitation of the Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”; when I read the “The Krishna Key”, I thought it was a poor imitation of “Angels and Demons”. The parallels between “The Rosabel Line’ and “The Krishna Key” are unmistakable.  Even if an author is writing in a particular genre, the author needs to innovate! Both books feature an age old mystery based on religion in which 21st century people get involved. In “The Krishna Key”, various professors of history and archeologists with radical views explain the plot’s historical and mythological significance throughout the book. While this explains the background, it hampers the pace and after a point becomes plain irritating. 
The death of Anil Varshney, a linguist and symbolist who was working on deciphering an ancient seal found at the Indus Valley site, sets the local police humming. Their prime suspect is Dr. Ravi Mohan Saini, a professor at St. Stephen’s college, Delhi.  Dr Saini is suspect because he had met with his friend on the day of the murder and the murder weapon found at the site – a scalpel with the inscription R M. 
In true C.I.D style, the police led by Inspector Radhika Singh barge into Dr. Saini’s class and declare his arrest warrant. While a shocked Dr. Saini, accompanied by his dedicated doctoral student Priya, is being taken by the police, he recounts his last meeting with Anil Varshney.  Varshney had claimed the arid Rajasthan dessert to be the site of a great civilisation around the river Saraswati. He had entrusted a seal and an encrypted note to Dr. Saini. He had also told Dr. Saini that identical three seals had been found and sent to three of their closest friends. All four seals on their base-plate, which Varshney had procured, would provide the key to unlocking Krishna’s mythology.

The actual three headed seal and some pottery discovered at the underwater city of Dwarka
However the murderer who believes himself to be the tenth avatar of Vishnu i.e. Kalki in Kalyug had conveniently placed himself as the driver of the jeep in which Dr. Saini and Anil Varshney were travelling. The killer egged on by the elusive Mataji goes on a rampage killing the other two trustees of the seal and also manages to procure the base-plate. However even with access to privileged information on the Krishna legend, the killer – Tarak Vakil and Mataji cannot still decode the Krishna Key. But why are the killers in search of the Krishna Key? The answer lay in the finding of the Syamantaka – a stone with alchemic properties capable of producing a hundred and seventy pounds of gold each day! The quest is on by two parties – Dr. Saini, his doctoral student Priya and Inspector Radhika Singh on one side and Tarak Vakil and Mataji on the other.
The quest leads the parties through Somnath temple, once the abode of the Syamantaka from where it was taken by Mohammad Ghazi to Afghanistan, to Mount Kailash – believed by the seekers to be a man made pyramid and the possible current abode of the Syamantaka, to the Taj Mahal – believed to be the alternate current abode of the Syamantaka.

Somnath temple
Taj mahal with Kalash cupola
Pyramid shaped mount Kailash


As thrillers go, we have an imposter. Priya and Mataji are the same and she shows her true self when she thinks she has all the information she needs in her quest for the Syamantaka and leaves with Tarak Vakil for Mount Kailash, closely followed Dr. Saini and Radhika Singh. In true Bollywood style, a life endangering situation at Mount Kailash brings Dr. Saini and Radhika Singh together as lovers. So while they do not discover the stone they do find love. The duo head back to Agra in quest of the stone.
However love enables Dr. Saini to view the quest from a more philosophical angle aided by the saying of mysterious sadhus repeating that the philosopher is more important than the stone. The alchemy they discover is not in turning base metals to gold but in turning the base metal of the human heart to gold through Love!
Even if one reads through the never ending historical discussions and theories of ancient Indians practicing embryo implants, aeroplanes, reclaiming land from the sea to build a city and harnessing nuclear sites, the philosophical ending is a big let down.  All this running around... and then the learned professor is content to enjoy the sunset at Taj with his new found love!
While the book fails to meet expectations, it hounded me enough to make enquiries (of course on the net) on the veracity of Sanghi’s claims in the book. I read through various accounts of the Saraswati valley excavations and underwater explorations for the lost city of Dwarka. A river Saraswati did flow around the time of the Indus valley civilisation but whether this settlement was part of the Indus Valley civilisation or a vice versa is still being debated by archaeologists. Evidence of the city of Dwarka found through underwater explorations of the city off the coast of Gujarat is undeniable. As written in the Mahabharata, the city was built on land reclaimed from the sea; proven by building blocks used for the city discovered!
Map of the Indus valley and Saraswati civilisations

Underwater explorations of the submerged city of Dwarka

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