The Mahabharata Secret

In 334 BC Alexander the Great begins his conquest of the Persian Empire. But his plans for everlasting glory do not end there, and the young king marches towards the Ends of the Earth - the lands of the Indus - on a secret quest. It will lead him to an ancient secret concealed in the myths of the Mahabharata - a secret that is powerful enough to transform him into a god. Present day. In Greece the ancient tomb of a queen is discovered, a tomb that has been an enigma for over 2,000 years.

Who were the Druids? Were they priests or astronomers? Scientists or sorcerers? What is the ancient and terrifying secret from the Mahabharata that links the megalithic sites of Britain to the Druids, Julius Caesar and a mysterious queen who lived 4,000 years ago? These are the riddles that Vijay Singh and the task force must answer if they are to save the world from a fate worse than death. But time is running out....

A Pallava prince travels to Cambodia to be crowned king, carrying with him secrets that will be the cause of great wars many centuries later. A Buddhist monk in ancient China treks south to India, searching for the missing pieces of a puzzle that could make his emperor all-powerful. A Neolithic tribe fights to preserve their sacred knowledge, oblivious to the war drums on the Indo-China border. Meanwhile, far away in the temple town of Kanchipuram, a reclusive scientist deciphers ancient texts even as a team of secret agents shadows his every move.

A horrific carnage stuns the Sangha. But nothing the Sangha can do will protect the world against another onslaught from Pataala Lok. There is only one way out. An ancient mystery. An enigma so perilous that it is feared by even the Maharishis of the Sangha. The Mists of Brahma. When a shocking development threatens to turn her life upside down, Maya has to solve the mysteries in her father’s diary. But she cannot imagine the unspeakable consequences of her decision.

The call disconnected. Vijay put his phone down and sat thinking. His mind spun. Who was this mysterious caller? He clearly had an urgent need to meet. So why wait for six months? His explanation didn't make sense. What preparation did he have to do? And what was he going to reveal to Vijay when they did meet? There were too many questions that were unanswered.

Fifteen-year-old Maya and Arjun find their placid world suddenly overturned, when their favourite history teacher is found brutally murdered. The death shocks the students at the school and baffles the police. Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger’s reappearance after 5000 years strikes fear into the hearts of powerful members of a secret society, called the Sangha. Who is he and what is he after? What secrets are Arjun’s uncle and mother hiding, and why do they inexplicably decide to leave town for an unknown destination?

Welcome back to the shadowy and addictive world of Ashwin Sanghi. After The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key and The Sialkot Saga, Ashwin Sanghi returns at last with another quietly fearsome tale - this time of men who guard the ‘Kalachakra’, or The Wheel of Time. Sanghi describes a world of people at war with one another - a boomeranging conflict of faiths that results in acts of such slow and planned human cruelty that they defy human imagination.

At the heart of India’s most powerful empire, a revolution is brewing. Bhishma, the noble patriarch of Hastinapura, is struggling to maintain the unity of his empire. On the throne sits Dhritarashtra, the blind King, and his foreign-born Queen - Gandhari. In the shadow of the throne stands Kunti, the Dowager-Queen, burning with ambition to see her firstborn become the ruler, acknowledged by all. And in the wings: Parashurama, the enigmatic Guru of the powerful Southern Confederate, bides his time to take over and impose his will from mountains to ocean.

Ayodhya is weakened by divisions. A terrible war has taken its toll. The damage runs deep. The demon King of Lanka, Raavan, does not impose his rule on the defeated. He instead imposes his trade. Money is sucked out of the empire. The Sapt Sindhu people descend into poverty, despondency and corruption. They cry for a leader to lead them out of the morass. Little do they appreciate that the leader is among them. One whom they know....

The dark age of Kali is rising, and every man and woman must choose between duty and conscience, honour and shame, life and death.... The Pandavas, banished to the forest following the disastrous games of dice, return to Hastinapura. Draupadi has vowed not to bind her hair till she washes it in the blood of the Kauravas. Karna must choose between loyalty and gratitude, friend and Guru. Aswathama undertakes a perilous mission to the mountains of Gandhara, in search of the Evil One. Kunti must decide between her firstborn and her other sons.

Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age - the Kaliyug. In modern times a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar. Only, he is a serial killer.

Combining mystery and mythology, this epic fantasy is a global best seller with over 300,000 copies sold. India, 3400 BCE. The ancient kingdom of Mithila is divided by corruption, resentment, and poverty. An abandoned baby is found in a field protected by a vulture from a pack of wolves. Soon adopted by the rulers of the land, she is named Sita, and raised as a princess and beloved daughter.

Aditya runs a gaming company that is struggling to break even. A banker slips off a high-rise building, plunging to her death. The finance minister has made some promises that he is finding hard to keep. The LTTE has unleashed terror in America that sends the FBI on a wild goose chase, bringing them to Mumbai. Enter Varun, part-time drug dealer and full-time genius. He turns around the gaming company before disaster strikes. Meanwhile, the investigators plunge headlong into the shady world of bitcoins and the Dark Net, websites that only exist for illegal transactions.

It is a popular belief that the Ramayana is idealistic while the Mahabharata is realistic. Yet these two epics have identical building blocks, identical themes, and identical history. In this groundbreaking book, Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s most popular mythologist, explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the two epics in a ‘playful analaysis’. Whether it is the family structure, forest exile, or war, the comparison between the two epics prove a startling point - the Mahabharata is in fact a reaction to the events in the Ramayana.

1700 BCE, Harappa - The devta of Harappa has fallen tortured and condemned to the dungeons of the dead. His murdered wife’s pious blood falls on the sands of the metropolis, sealing the black fate of Harappa forever. 2017, Banaras - A master assassin bites into cyanide, but not before pronouncing the arrival of an unstoppable, dark force. A maha-taantric offers a chilling sacrifice. AD 325, Bithynian City (modern-day Turkey) - Unable to foresee the monster he was untethering, an extraordinary monarch commissions a terrifying world-vision spanning millennia.