After his retelling of the Ramayana, Ashok Banker now turns his attention to the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. Why Krishna Coriolis , is the first thought.
Coriolis is a term in physics used to describe the apparent deflection of moving objects when viewed from a rotating reference frame. But as you read, you understand the Coriolis effect in the story of Krishna.
The first book is Slayer of Kamsa but it ends not with the death of Kamsa but with the birth of Krishna. The story is told from multiple viewpoints: Ugrasena's, his wife's, Vasudeva, Devaki, even Kamsa gets a look in… This makes quite a difference to your perspective of mythology.
Different start
While Banker sticks to the broad framework of the well-known tale, he opens the story much earlier with a peace pact being signed between traditional enemies Vasudeva of the Suras and Ugrasena, king of Andhakas. This is sealed by the betrothal of Vasudeva and Devaki.
Only one man stands against peace: Crown Prince Kamsa. His parents have always been apprehensive of his blood lust and his sister Devaki is convinced he is a demon in human form. And she means a rakshas.
Here Banker introduces a new element. Devaki is not your average weeping helpless woman. She stands up to fight for what she believes is right to the extent of urging her fiancée to kill her brother because he is evil.
Unable to defeat Vasudeva and stop the peace process, Kamsa goes to Jarasandha, emperor of Magadha, on the advice of Sage Narada (or a being who calls himself Sage Narada).
This is probably the best part of the book, as you see a callow bully being moulded into a Machiavellian killing machine. Kamsa comes back to Mathura with Jarasandha's Mohinifauj in time for Devaki's wedding but his attempt to disrupt the wedding leads to Ugrasena dealing out imprisonment and a death sentence.
Banker sets the stage for execution and you are wondering where he is heading. But now Kamsa's real form is revealed. He is the amsa of Kalanemi (Ravana's uncle) and now he takes over.
From here it is familiar territory with a general reign of terror and the killing of Devaki's children, the spiriting away of Balaram to Rohini (Vasudeva's first wife)…
The birth of Krishna follows and the tale ends with Vasudeva taking the baby to Gokul and the safety of Nanda's home.
Interesting characters
Actually more than the main characters, it is Jarasandha who is most interesting. Just as you start thinking Kamsa's getting interesting with Jarasandha's lessons, the Kalanemi bit tends to throw the novel off course. Kamsa metamorphoses into a monster spewing slime and much worse. And did we really need to know how many gross things dropped out of his various orifices and what he did to them? That was probably the only low point.
Given Jarasandha's characterisation in this first book, it's going to be interesting to see how Krishna's confrontation with arch enemy develops in the course of this series.
The pace is racy, yet filled with details. Banker swings from description to philosophy to war without missing a beat. Also the whole tenor — and the book itself — seems rather lightweight but that could just be a hangover from the Ramayana series.
The Dance of Govinda , the second in the series, is out later this year. Here's hoping that this series turns out to be as much of a crackling yarn as Banker's earlier epic fantasy.
Krishna Coriolis: The Slayer of Kamsa; Ashok Banker, HarperCollins, Rs. 250.
