The Rozabal Line
India’s best-selling theological thriller
“…Dan Brown has an Indian challenger in Ashwin Sanghi” – The Week.
Read “The Rozabal Line” by Ashwin Sanghi. I finished reading it today, yes, finally! The first and most important thing about this book is the abundance of interesting facts that it contains, which arouses interest, curiosity, forces to know more about it and to continue reading. More often than not, I found myself searching the net for all the facts I read in the book, and that made my experience of reading the book healthy and satisfying. Thanks to the author for the well compiled 15 pages of ‘Notes, Acknowledgments and References’ at the end of the book. What impresses the most is the scope of the dedicated research done by the author. Although at first the book feels like a Dan Brown or James Patterson novel, it gradually manages to demonstrate its originality in concept and content. It feels great to hold a book (and read it too!) of such international standards with Indian roots.
Characters I enjoyed reading about were Father Vincent Sinclair, his Aunt Martha, and their friend Terry Acton; their conversations were very engaging, and the past life regression and future projection episodes involving them were scathing. The Japanese assassin, Swakilki’s evil methods and tests shocked suddenly and unexpectedly every time. I enjoyed reading about Kami, the Japanese gods and goddesses caught in the cycle of birth and death, and their presence in history; about the Buddhist monk’s search for the next Dalai lama, the reincarnation of the previous one; about Bhrigu Samhita – one of the oldest documents in Hindu history, a database of over half a million horoscopes accurately predicting future events, originally compiled by the son of (god) Brahma, and nearly destroyed by the Muslim invasion in the Nalanda library; about the Goa Inquisition – the torture inflicted on Hindus and Muslims for forcing them to convert to Christianity, for the propagation of Christianity – the violent birth of a religion; and about Jesus, the Hieros Gamos ritual (which means death and resurrection), the entire Israeli episode.
Ashwin Sanghi’s debut work is truly commendable; far greater than is expected from a banker’s first attempt at writing. The first book of his that I read was “Krishna’s Key”. And that one book had made me a devoted fan. Now, “Chanakya’s Chant” is waiting to be read in my library.
The front cover of the book is a beautiful blood-red dust jacket with the author’s name embossed in white and the title embossed in gold, and an image of a cross lurking near the periphery. The striking relief is also present in his other books. The cover itself gives a ‘thriller’ feel. Published by Westland ltd, it is priced at Rs 250.