Penelopiad: The myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood

"Penelopiad: The myth of Penelope and Odysseus", by Margaret Atwood. This book is published by Penguin India in 2005 and has 184 pages.

Everyone must have read or heard the timeless classic Homer's Odyssy; tale of Odysseus. BTW: Young readers should know that Rick Riordan's Sea of monsters is modern retelling of Odyssy.

Odysseus was a Greek demigod and king of Itacha. He was known for his bravery, cleverness, deception and ability of disguise.He won a competition to marry Penelope. Penelope was daughter of king Icarus and cousin of Helen (Who was later called Helen of Troy). They spent good time together and had a son called Telemachus. Then Trojen war started and Odysseus had to go to fight against Troy to honor his oath.

Odysseus spent 20 years of his life away from Penelope. Half of them fighting the Trojan war and other half wandering Aegean sea fighting monsters, tricking Cyclopes and bedding goddesses; as told by Homer in Odyssy.

Penelope waited for him all this time, without knowing where he was or if he was alive in second half of his absence,  looking after his kingdom (Ithaca) and resources, raising his child (Telemachus) and keeping her suitors (more than 100), who wanted to marry her for money and kingdom , at bay .

When Penelope gave birth to Telemachus, 12 maids gave birth to girl childs. Although they were born at the same time the destinies and futures of the girls and Telemachus were very different. These girls became maids of Penelope.

Assuming Odysseus is dead, Penelope's suitors lived in her palace all these years, feeding on her livestock and using her resources and loving, seducing, raping her 12 maids. Dispite her precarious position Penelope succeeded in devising various tricks to not marry any of them. Penelope is thus often seen as an ideal example of fidelity.

Upon Odysseus's return, he kills all suitors and hangs the 12 maids. Margaret follows story as told by Odyssey but diverges when it comes to these 12 maids. In Odyssey these maids were killed for betraying and sleeping with the enemy. In this book the maids are encouraged to mingle with suitors by Penelope to get inside news and used as spies. Despite their contribution and sacrifices to keep Penelope safe from her suitors, they are hanged. Penelope regrets this but could not save them.

In this book, the maids insist for justice after death and haunt Odysseus, not  allowing him any piece of mind and forcing him to take rebirths just to get away from them. Every rebirth of Odysseus ends in a violent and unnatural death.

Margaret has written this book with a different perspective than Homer. The book is not pure prose, there is a lot of poetry in it. The story of Penelope is not written in great detail in Greek mythology, so the author had to invent. She has preferred to keep it short and effective rather than trying to create an epic that may be diluted.

The book lays bare the plight of palace maids who were treated add a mere commodity. The injustice done to the maids brings to a social issue to the table.

This book is not for those who want a good story. This book is beyond entertainment, it forces you to introspect and think about the injustice meted out to the 12 maids.

A short and sweet book. Recommend reading.

Chandragupta - Path of a fallen demigod by Rajat Pillai

"Chandragupta - Path of a fallen demigod" by Rajat Pillai.

It is year 235 after Buddha. Nand dynasty founded by Mahapadmananda has ruled Magadh for three generations. It is now ruled by Dhananand. Chandra is a palace attendant. On the day of graduation of princes, Chandra is assigned in a team opposing princes. When Chandra fights the princes instead of succumbing meakly, fingers of his left arm are chopped off. On the same day a junior minister of Dhananand, Vishnugupta, is dismissed from job for opposing the king publically.

Vishnugupta and Chandra form alliance with like minded youth, called Karma Sena, with an ambition of overthrowing the Nandas, freeing Magadh and creating a kingdom with good governance. After a number of failed attempts, they take over Patliputra and Chandra is crowned Samrat. He becomes Chandragupta Maurya. His empire stretches from present day Iran to Bangladesh, from Afghanistan to Karnataka. He successfully repels the attack of Macedonian Selucus and governs in exemplary way.

But does the story end there? Who is Chandra? Why does the author call him fallen demigod? Does he rule happily ever after? Is he satisfied? Is there anything that bothers the first Samrat of India?

Author has a 'matter of factly' writing style. It was easy to depict Chandragupta and Vishnugupta (Chanakya) as men without flaws and larger than life. But author has tried to make them as real and human as possible. The author has ventured into description of detailed lifestyle of more than 1800 years ago only to the extent required for the story and thus has avoided the trap of possibly overdoing. The author keeps you interested till end. Although the book is 301 pages long, it is a large size book with small font. So it is as good as reading a 450 page book.

Chandragupta is not a magnificent king but a cursed human being who has a tendency of loosing his loved ones either to death or treachery or both. Thus although he is a Samrat in public life, he is a lonely sad man in his personal life.

On one side he is a brilliant strategist, just king, leader with a foresight. On the other hand he is a grieving husband, shocked friend, a general puzzled by treachery of his most loyal aid.

Reader can not but sympathize with this Samrat for being a sorry and lonely being who is a very disturbed soul in search of inner peace. This search eventually leads to abdicating his throne for his son and relinquishing all comfort to become a Jain monk.

A good book. Recommend reading.