Mahasamar by Narendra Kohli

I've just started reading Mahasamar by Narendra Kohli which is a seven part rewrite of the Mahabharat. I'm merely 40 pages into the first part but I immediately had things to say so I thought I might say it in a small blog post.

Novelistic Style
Unlike other Hindi literature that I've been reading, Mahasamar follows the pattern of the western novel to the T. This is very different from the works of Acharya Chatursen. Chatursen's mode of writing is 'historical'. He concentrates on who did what, when. Kohli on the other hand, concentrates on character motivation right from the beginning. Specially since it is a retelling that he's doing, he's more concerned about why did a particular character take a particular action than in the details of the action.

Modern Thinking Pattern
One thing that bugs me most about Hindi literature is its right wing leanings. A lot of Hindi literature that I've come across reeks of the RSS brand of thinking. However, in Kohli's novel one immediately begins to see trends of the modern questioning attitude. For example, in the first chapter itself, Kohli is narrating the tale of Shantanu, who made is elder son forgo his right to the throne so that he could marry a girl half his age. Kohli takes up an Indian father-son relationship (the chief characteristic of which is that the son is a 'property' of the father) and dissects is piece by piece. A very interesting read.