Mauri-Saiswaroopa Iyer

Book: Mauri
Author: Saiswaroopa Iyer
Publisher: Bloomsbury India

Have you heard about Mauri from the Indian Epics?

Mauri by Saiswaroopa Iyer is the story of the titular character who vows revenge after her world is shattered after her father’s death. Mauri is torn away from everything she had once loved. Anger has replaced every emotion within her, and she seeks only one thing-to kill her father's killer. Even if the man is none other than Krishna Vaasudeva, the man whom people worship as God. Someone is standing in the way though, reining in her bitterness when she is least prepared for it-the rakshasa prince Ghatotkacha! But by the time love sprouts within her, Mauri has gone too far in her thirst for vengeance and has endangered Kamarupa, the high seat of the Supreme Goddess. Can Mauri fight her own monsters and defend the temple? Can Mauri save herself and Ghatotkacha before both their worlds are destroyed?

The story traces an interesting plot, one that is not commonly known, and the author has done her research establishing a plot that is interesting and takes mythological events into consideration. The plot is engaging, and since there are quite a few nail-biting moments, the reader is captivated into the story of Mauri and her thirst for revenge. The subtle references to social norms and a commentary on them through the eyes of various characters is nicely done. Having said that, and having read the author’s previous work, this book does fall short on a few aspects. The background story as to what leads to Mura’s death has been skipped, apart from a few references, which creates a void, and the readers connect to Mauri remains incomplete. Secondly, the book moves too fast for the complex plot and thus a few of the aspects that should have been focused upon get missed. The climax, again, while well executed, seems hurried and I felt it could have been done in a better manner.

Coming to the characters, Saiswaroopa’s strength lies in finding characters from the epics and weaving a story around them that is mostly hidden from the people. In this case also, Mauri’s character has been developed steadily from childhood to her young-adult stage as she goes through various emotions and events in her life. Ghatotkacha’s character was an interesting surprise, and I loved the way his story was developed. I would have loved to see a bit more of Mura’s and Dhrati’s character develop and add a bit more background to the events that occur.

Overall, a good book that explores the story nicely, and it scores a 4.06/5 for me.

Thank you Bloomsbury India for providing me a media copy of the book in exchange of an honest review. 

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India here.