Book review by Rubina Ramesh, The Book Club:

I have read The Madras Mangler by Ms. Narayanan. She had given me quite a bit of chills and thrills in that read. When I got the copy of Pradyumna, a mythology no less, I was a bit surprised. The genre-jumping author has a talent which very few authors can only boast of. Adding to her list is an upcoming romance by Harlequin, India. So keeping her versatility in mind, one must confess, we have very few authors who explore multiple genres with such an ease.

The Story

Is one which many of us have heard as ‘grandparent’s tale’, cuddled in our blankets during the cold wintry nights. I did. My tryst with mytho started with Rick Riordon. Not very authentic but he got me interested in the mighty ones above us. Pradyumna or rather Kama is my personal favourite. Not because of Kama Sutra, but due to the pain he has endured in love, after being the God of Love. Strange how the Greeks, Romans and we Indians have the same sagas for our Gods. Cupid or Kama both come out as star-crossed lover of their respective realms.

“He could no longer see anything. His senses were fading. He was plummeting into a dark abyss.”

Ms.Narayanan takes us in a journey where Lord Kama is reborn as Pradyumna and fate plays a role by sending him to fulfill his destiny. Rati too has taken the form of Mayavati as she waits for her lord to reach his age of maturity.

Here comes a quirk of nature. The lover has to take the role of the mother. Ms. Narayanan has mixed facts with fiction in creating a challenging situation where Mayavati would maintain her chastity till Pradyumna does not accept her. (Please keep your feminism aside when you read mythology.) Mayavati is presented as the favorite queen of the Asura Kaalasura and an over protective mother to Vama aka Pradyumna. Her protectiveness is seen as incest by a few. But as a reader, we already know from the beginning that she is Rati.​

Weaving of Tales

​Ms. Narayana has woven many small-small tales together, though the central character is Pradyumna. Stories of Ghatotkacha, Abhimanyu, Krishna etc are all in relationship with Pradyumna. Though the story starts as a love story between Mayavati and Vama, the focus is not romance. It covers many a topics like the rise and fall of the Yadus, death of Abhimanyu and of course an untold one – the clash between the two brothers – Samba and Pradyumna. ( I’m sure Ms.Narayanan is planning the second part as I write this review.)

Essence of mythology

In a mythology, authors have to maintain the authenticity of the period. In this regard, Ms. Narayanan has not disappointed me. The clothing, the dialogues were in lieu with the times. It shows the great research work done by the author.

“Peacocks danced on the lawns and called to them as they entered the palace. Strings of pearls dangled from canopies above and ornate seats were laid out in the spacious halls.”

Fact vs Fiction

No two authors can be compared. But in the genre of mythology there are two sects of writers. One who has more fiction and less facts like Amsih Tripathi and Rick Riordon and one who has more facts with tiny bits and pieces of fictions woven in the story like Devdutt Pattanaik. Ms. Narayanan belongs to the latter. My only peeve would be, as a lover of mythology, I wanted some of the re-telling part to have been more imaginative. Yes of course, the presentation is unique to the author, but parts where Gandhari broke down or Abhimanyu met his death, was more of a re-telling rather than weaving in of imagination that would transport us to the battlefield.

But again parts where Mayavati faces the Rakshashas or is presented as a jealous mother. Or even the hatred between Rukmini and Jambavati has a lot of emotional drama – enough for one to visualize the scenes. Very well written.

Reasoning for the 4-star rating:

The editing is superb.
Transitions of Maya to Rati and Vama to Pradyuman and then to Kama are well written.
Re-telling the episodes in Mahabharata by keeping the characters larger than life. We need that in a mythology for these are the characters we look up to. Keeping them ordinary will take away our visualisations of these characters.
The blending of reality with myth and that of a fiction with facts needed a a bit more difference in its ratio. Which is more is for you to find out as a reader 🙂
There are some parts where the nesting of the stories is complicated. I would have loved to follow Pradyumna in a more linear path.

Recommend or not: Yes. A must have for all lovers of the mythology genre.

Line that stayed with me: I will not dishonour my queen who brought me back from Yamaloka.’he says. Then he gets married in the next scene. Men!! I tell you.