Aru Shah (Pandava ) Series

Author : Roshni Chokshi

I read this series this whole summer along with my son and we both loved it . This series is written under Rick Riordan banner and follows the same pattern as his other books in Greek / Roman and Egyptian mythologies , but is written by an Indian author Roshni Chakshi who did a fabulous job with this Quintet. The main protagonists here are five girls who are the reincarnated souls of the five Pandavas . There is a sleeper ( reincarnated soul of Suyodhana) who wants to bring upon destruction to the world . The Pandavas mission is to stop the sleeper . They undertake multiple quests to gather weapons and the army to fight against the sleeper . And in these quests , they meet various mythological characters and we come across the stories surrounding them . The author clearly states that she is dealing with Vedic Gods and does not touch upon the major Gods . We do not come across the holy trinity or any other major Gods and Goddesses whom we pray at the temple ( except one big God briefly and Hanuman who is very respectfully depicted ). We meet Garuda , most of the planets , many Vedic Gods , Varuna , Vayu, Agni , Ashwini Gods and the Nagas , Vasuki and Takshaka - these being only few . The Churning of the Ocean of milk plays a major role in this book. So children get to learn a lot about Indian mythology . Most of portrayals are not accurate but they get to know who is who . These are all the stories either my mother had told me or I read them in Amar Chitra Katha editions . The author also touches upon the negative emotions like anger , grief , hatred and revenge and how these emotions affect us equally as much as our enemies . She conveys these message through the affected characters , with whom grave injustice was done and they chose to act with vengeance, like Takshaka , Shurpanaka , Karna and Shikhandi . It is very good thinking to make the children aware of these negative emotions and not to hold on to them too long that they destroy their mental peace and cause harm to themselves and the world . She also subtly brings out the point that it is never black and white , good is not always good , bad is not always bad . The Pandavas , the Gods all of them had their weaknesses and have made grave mistakes from time to time . The bad is always not bad , injustice has been done to the Asuras right from the time the ocean of milk was churned . Overall these books had a plethora of knowledge, with lot of wisdom imparted in a subtle way with great sense of humor . But please keep in mind that depiction of the mythological characters is not accurate , most of them are funny or pompous , but in a good way . If you are okay with this liberty taken with the Gods and the heroes , I would definitely recommend this Quintet, for adults and children alike . The picture has the Quintet and one graphic edition of the first book .

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Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍