On Shankara Jayanti 2024, Ayodhya Publications launched 15 books out of which this book was the only one in English. As with any book on the charismatic leader of Bharatha, this book evoked a curiosity immediately, so much so that I put a favourite book on the back burner and started reading this book. Before I delve into my review, I feel it is fair to set an expectation. I have tried to be objective and very focussed on the topic of Modi’s contributions to Sanatana Dharma, Bharatha & generally the world in general.
I feel it is quite important and relevant to quote the famous quote from Anand Coomaraswamy : The biggest contribution that India (Bharatha) can make to the world is its Indianess (Bharatiyata). This book is a commendable exercise in making us understand and appreciate our Bharatiya heritage a lot more and perhaps be inspired to make some adaptations as necessary in our daily lives.
First, I would like to give a huge shout out to Sri. Prashanth Vitla who designed the cover page. The picture of Sri Narendra Modi is just charismatic and filled with radiance or rather Tejas as we call it. It’s an absolute brilliant piece of work. Awesome !!!
In general, the book is an excellent encapsulation of Modi’s 10 years of governance and the various achievements across various sectors during this time period. It is an excellent material for highlighting and spreading the good word of the government’s work over the past decade. The author has backed this up with some excellent credible statistics and references which makes it a data-driven, detail-oriented approach.
Every chapter starts with a verse or two from one of our Puranic texts like Vedas, Manu Smriti, Vidura Niti etc. Following this section, there is an overview of sorts where the author explains the context of the topic under discussion and further goes onto elaborate Modi’s achievements on the specific field. This template is followed consistently throughout the book along with some relevant pictures at various junctures.
As with any book, I do find some very good portions and some not so good ones. For example, I find a recurring pattern of repeating content in same page at various places throughout the book. A more tighter proofread could have helped. The author has a challenge on striking a fine balance between the content and falling into the trap of political propaganda. Unfortunately, the latter pattern is observed at various places in the book. For example, in the Introduction, I personally found that approval ratings’ comparison is quite irrelevant to the overall theme of the book.
I do give a lot of credit to the author for choosing some wonderful topics and educating the reader about the historicity and relevance of the same. I highly recommend reading all the context setting paragraphs of all chapters for they are very informative and enlightening.
In Kashi Vishwanath chapter, the author refers to Ramakrishna, a Bengali saint. Actually this should have been rephrased as Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who has the divine experience. The phraseology reminded me of an article from a few years back which used similar structure of words. In the Ujjain Mahakali Corridor, I feel a section could have been dedicated to the famous Triveni Museum which has dedicated sections for Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta sampradayas. In the chapter on Kalika Mata Shakti Peeth at Pavagadh, I feel that the author could have elucidated the challenges that Modi faced as a CM before realising the long cherished dream as a PM. This is unclear from the current literature.
The use of words should be consistent throughout the book. I feel the word Lord is not a good fit and Bhagwan should be the preferred one. The author has mixed both terminologies which could have been avoided. Similarly, in the chapter on Kedarnath, the word “mausoleum” could have been avoided. Interestingly, I find that the author mentions the statute of Adi Shankara at Kedarnath in a sentence, whereas the statue of equality of Sri Ramanujacharya has an entire chapter dedicated to the same. I feel the author could have combined Adi Shankara, Statue of Equality and State of Unity (Sardar Patel) into one chapter.
I do recommend the readers to read the various geographical and puranic references in these chapters for they are laden with tons of information.
In the section on Kumbh Mela, I want to clarify that Kumbh Mela dated to 3464 BC is quite recent as compared to Sri Rama whose time is way back. Comparing both these entities is perhaps not an accurate exercise. In Page 51, Chapter 10, the cross reference to Chapter 6 is missing.
In the chapter on the food grains, I would highly recommend and encourage everyone to read and appreciate the anecdote on King Rantidev. In chapter 25, Gifts to various world leaders, the author refers to Tridaana in the context of Vedic literature. The actual Tridaana described i.e. Dharma-daana, aamisa-daana, maitri-daana is actually a Buddhist context and shouldn’t be mixed with Vedic ones.
Personally, I feel that the concept of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, so effectively demonstrated during the pandemic deserved a chapter of its own. There are many chapters which are major achievements for Bharath and Modi, but is not related to the main topic of interest i.e. Bharatiyata.
One note to publisher: There are quite a few spelling issues, typos, phrase repeats. If it helps, please contact me. I can share my notes with you.
To conclude, I would like to state that as a reviewer, it is easy to find gaps in the book. However, to come up with a book of this magnitude and detail requires a lot of effort and dedication. I highly commend Swaraagni ji for her effort in summarising and crisply presenting our rich Bharatiya Heritage. I would recommend everyone to read this book (beyond political preferences) and be proud of our heritage and achievements. Recommended one-time read.
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