Thursday 6 November 2014

Review of 'Kamadeva - The God of Desire' by 'Anuja Chadramouli'

Blurb: Kamadeva, the charming wielder of the sugarcane bow and the flower-tipped arrows, born out of the wellspring of Brahmas latent passion, has for long remained an enigma. This enthralling story of the God of Desire explores his many wondrous adventures, as well as his heady romance with Rati, his chief consort.

Best friends with Indra, the King of the Gods, tutor to the Apsaras in the art of lovemaking, Kamadeva lives a dream life in the magnificent Kingdom of Amaravathi - until danger strikes when he incurs the wrath of Shiva because of a preordained curse. Follow Kama as he hurtles towards his destiny and the Destroyers dreaded third eye. Find out if he will rise from the ashes to reign supreme as the King of Hearts or if he will be doomed to spend an eternity as Ananga - The bodiless one.

In Kamadeva - The God of Desire, the author masterfully marries imagination with stellar research to bring to vivid life one of the most intriguing Gods of the Hindu pantheon. Laced with wit and narrated in contemporary flavour, Kamadeva will take you on a rollicking ride into the heart of desire and its tantalizing dark side.

Verdict: ‘Kamadeva – the god of desire’ is the second book by Anuja Chandramouli. This book is a tale of a god of Hindu mythology who have always played a mute role and have been explored by quite a few authors. The author have chosen indeed a nice character for her second book though this was unexpected after her first book which was ‘Arjuna - Saga of a Pandava Warrior Prince’.

The name indicates that this book is going to be one of those mythological books which enlightens a character and the story will revolve around that particular character. The cover is wonderfully designed and goes perfectly with the title.. But one thing which looks different is the genre of the book is fiction not mythology. The blurb reads well and will surely entice the readers to buy a copy. One thing I must say, is about the quality of the book. The cover and paper quality is so good that I have to ignore my to-read list to sneak a peek inside its content.

The story starts with a song on Kama which very rightly said, ‘I cannot be destroyed by any creature by any means’. Then the author goes on to narrate, how Kama was born and the consequences he has to face right after that. Then comes Rati, the girl of a prajapati, Daksha, who was on the job of populating the world. I loved the way the author portrays each characters form Brahma, Vishnu, Indra to the destructive Shiva. After the marriage of Kama and Rati, the god of desire befriends Indra and the story goes on, until Kama was turned to ash after coming face to face to the god with the third eye, Shiva. What happened next, how Shiva granted the wish of Rati after killing her husband, what happened to Kama and Rati on the earth, is what the book has in store. The author has done full justice to the characters and the plot and has framed it in an attracting way.

The readers can easily see the amount of research the author has done to pen down such an intriguing character of the Hindu mythology and haven’t changed the original scenes. I appreciate the author for her efficient effort in compiling all those chapters of our mythology where Kama, makes an entry.
The narrating style is something unusual and gives this book a much needed flavor. The language used in the conversations is something different and yet it makes the reader gripped. Though at times I felt the connection with the readers is broken because of the language. The humor injected by the author is wonderful.

At times I felt few scenes are described in an exaggerated way and can be trimmed. As I said earlier the language was disturbing the flow sometimes. Apart from that the book is well edited and error free. The endless contradiction between the Gods, is what I liked the most.


Final Words: This book tells the story of Kama and about all those incidents and characters which we have never heard of. The readers will fall in love with the witty and compelling narrating style. A perfect blend of history and imagination.


Title: Kamadeva – The God of Desire
Author: Anuja Chandramouli
Publisher: Rupa
Page Count: 328
My Rating: 4.5/5


Available at –




No comments:

Post a Comment