Book Review - The Forest of Stories by Ashok K. Banker

‘The mother of all tales’, ‘epic’, ‘grand’, ‘compendious’, ‘massive in scope, unrivaled in ambition and unequalled in length’. ‘While it is called the Fifth Veda, it is at once equivalent to all the Vedas’. ‘What is not found within it is to be found nowhere else. And all that is elsewhere is here.’ Mr Ashok K. Banker has indeed used precise words in his book ‘The Forest of Stories’ in which he starts to retell the Mahabharata.  

I have in the past read several wonderful interpretations of the Mahabharata by authors such as C Rajagopalachari, Kamala Subramaniam and others but enjoyed Mr Ashok’s Bankers interpretation more than I did theirs because of the riveting and interactive narrative style, new stories I was not formerly cognizant of and minute detailing.

Content

At the ashram of Kulapati Saunaka, near the historic battleground of Kurukshetra, arrived Sauti, the renowned raconteur. He had braved fierce jungles to reach the ashram to pass along the news of the demise of the revered author of Mahabharata Sage Vyasa and spread the story of the epic Mahabharata. In Mr. Banker’s rendition, we readers get to be a part of Kulapati Saunaka’s ashram where Sauti is narrating his tale to the acolytes of the ashram.  It is this narration that has made for a gripping story almost as though it has been narrated by my grandma when I was a child. 

In this first part of a series, tales of valor, invincibility, power, revenge, violence, love and lust of the devas, asuras, sages, kings and other beings are graphically described in a seamless flow. Amongst the stories, I quite enjoyed the vivid delineation of Parshurama and his bloodied axe with which he slaughtered Kshatriyas or the warring clan. Despite the gruesome violence the tale entailed, the character seemed surprisingly calm as befitted him. The stories of Bhrigu, the revenge of Ruru and Janamanajaya against the Nagas or Snakes were new to me as was the story of Garuda. The book ends with the famous romance between Shakuntala and Dushyant. It is quite apparent that the book has been well researched and it is intriguing to trace the history of the dynasties of the various sages, kings and other beings in this book.

What differentiated this series was the fact that Mr Banker has not jumped headlong into the tale of the Kauravas and Pandavas but has given ample context in this book. The author has done great justice to the tale by splitting the epic into multiple books. In fact, this book does not even reach the part where Satyavati meets Santanu that is the starting point for most other condensed Mahabharata interpretations. Despite having read so many versions, I loved the fact that many of the stories in the ‘ The Forest of Stories’ were new to me.

Narration

The author has used Sauti’s narration superbly in adding that jazz of drama, violence in battles, the horror of killing, the eloquence in speech, power of mantras, and vivid imagery. This style has rendered an interactive discussion between the acolytes and Sauti answering several questions that we readers may have and stressing on what the Mahabharata highlights. I appreciated the use of good language that fortunately did not mix in Hindi or other languages that are in vogue in English books.

Verdict

This book is indeed a treat to all mythology fans and I give it 5/5 stars. Now that this book has me hooked, I certainly look forward to continuing the tale in forthcoming books in the series – ‘The Seeds of War’ and ‘The Children of Midnight’

About the author

Ashok is an internationally acclaimed author of mixed-race and mixed-cultural parentage based in Mumbai, India. His Epic India Library is a lifetime writing plan that aims to retell ALL the major myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in an interlinked cycle of over 70 volumes. This includes the Ramayana Series, Krishna Coriolis, the Mahabharata Series, the contemporary thriller Blood Red Sari and other works. His books have sold over 1.2 million copies in 12 languages and 56 countries worldwide. With the launch of his own AKB eBOOKS imprint he became India's first bestselling ebook author as well as publisher and bookseller.

Thanks BlogAdda for selecting me for this review. It certainly opened a whole new world that I had missed out on!

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