वैशाली की नगरवधू [Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu] by आचार्य चतुरसेन

One gets a good understanding of the social & political scene, the religious and cultural facet of that time. The plot is immersive and kept me captivated even till the last page transporting me to the ancient India of 5th century BC.

Going by the title, I could have never guessed this book to be so rich in history. Acharya Chatursen considers this book as his greatest work, he spent a decade writing this involving years of research which clearly shows in his writing. I listened to this book in Hindi on Audible, narration by Ashish Bhandari was superb. Whatever I write about this book will not do justice to the masterpiece it is. but it led to an urge to find out interesting reads in Indian languages which lead me to 'Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu'. I am bilingual and unfortunately couldn't read that in Tamil, my loss.

I never considered looking for hindi novels before this. Even while exploring Indian historical fiction, I tend to find & automatically read works in English (ease of language i guess) and that also mostly happen to be by foreign authors. When I think of Hindi literature, except the mandatory school readings, I have only read Premchand's work. I'd recommend this to everyone who's interested in Indian history, and it'd be best if it's read in its original language. And so I couldn't understand many sentences and have definitely missed out many expressions and connotations that rely on a language. Sadly, I couldn't find the meanings of several words even on the internet. As a reader, I feel I am being unfair to the author when I don't absorb every word and every sentence written in the book. I must admit, I didn't understand many words which seem to originate from Sanskrit. Unfortunately, language is also what makes this book a little difficult to read. Language and Acharya Chatursen's attention to details while trying to be as factually correct about the setup make this plot so intriguing, interesting and alive. One cannot help but wonder at the wealth and splendor of the kingdoms and republics alike, and yet cringe at the society rigidly divided on the basis of caste or race. The geography, political scene, socioeconomic, religious and cultural aspects of that era have been described very realistically. The plot is well researched (as good as it gets), and serves as a good reference for anyone interested in India during the Vedic ages. This was his masterpiece and he has done full justice to it. I could feel so closely for all the characters.Īcharya Chatursen mentioned in the prologue that despite writing several books, he'd consider this one as the sole work of his. This is one of those books which immersed me in a completely different world while I was reading, and when I was done, I felt a little sad, as if I had lost some people.

वैशाली की नगरवधू [Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu] by आचार्य चतुरसेन