Pages

Sunday, 24 November 2019

Shikhandini-Warrior Princess of the Mahabharata-Ashwini Shenoy

Book: Shikhandini-Warrior Princess of the Mahabharata
Author: Ashwini Shenoy
Publisher: Platinum Press (Leadstart Corp)

India has a long history, and even longer epics. With multiple characters and multiple POVs, every retelling of those epics presents a new picture of what could have happened during those times. In the recent times, a lot of retellings of the Mahabharata have come up, with some wonderful and amazing storylines and plot points.


Shikhandini-Warrior Princess of the Mahabharata is the story of an often sidelined, yet critical character, Shikhandini. Born as the Princess of Panchala, her name is still uttered in whispers, but was it just her gender that defined her, or was there more to her story? Ashwini Shenoy takes up the story of Shikhandini and traces her life’s journey through the times, how she was prophesized to be the one to avenge her ancestor Amba by slaying the Maharathi of Hastinapur, Bheeshm. The book begins with her birth, and how one prophecy changed her life. She was trained to be a warrior by her father and her Grandfather, just to achieve that transgenerational vengeance. But destiny has funny ways of influencing events. Had it not for her destiny, would the Mahabharata have a different story? The book explores her life, the sacrifices that she did to fulfill her destiny and how patriarchy forced her hand at different stages in her life to make her take tougher decisions. The book is a vivid retelling of the epic, from Shikhandini’s POV, her transformation from a Woman to a Man and how she paid the ultimate price.

Written in a simple manner, Shikhandini is a story that catches the reader’s attention from page 1 itself. The plot is written in a sequential manner with some of the incidents overlapping and this has been given a good treatment and nowhere does the story looks rushed. The book envisages the mythical technologies as scientific marvels and there are hints of a science fiction element in the book as well. The story also brings out the ill-effects of patriarchy that were prevalent, in fact still are, and how those rules make a person have to take life-changing decisions. Ashwini has addressed this topic very beautifully and this is what forms the soul of the book.

Talking about the characters, the central character of Shikhandini is crafted in detail with each nuance of her personality coming to fore at different and apt times in the story. The character of the king of Panchala has been expertly handled and how duties of a king overshadow the ones of a father is shown in a heart wrenching manner. The other characters are also praiseworthy and talking about others might prove to a spoiler, but each of them has a distinct identity.

Overall, Shikhandini-Warrior Princess of the Mahabharata is an engaging read and a definite recommendation from me if you like mythological fiction. The book wins over 4 stars from me.

No comments:

Post a Comment