The Cowherd Prince by Krishna Udayasankar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The epic Mahabharata fascinates me. I also believe that one can never get enough of the epic. There have been many many adaptations of the epic with many interpretations. There have also been narratives from different characters’ points of view. Those who follow me on Goodreads will be aware that Yuganta, Bhima – Lone Warrior and Yajnaseni are three of my favorite Mahabharata reads.
In late 2014 and early 2015, I chanced upon Krishna Udayasankar’s Aryavarta trilogy (review for the third book Kurukshetra here). The Aryavarta trilogy gave yet another dimension to the already ‘epic’ epic in the form of background tales of ‘FireWrights’ and ‘Secret Keeper’. I had written – “A retelling of the Mahabharatha standing in a very stable way in a very new realm, including a (fictitious) plot point that mostly works, Aryavarta Chronicles is a wonderful journey from start to finish.” So when I learnt that the author had written a prequel to the trilogy called The Cowherd Prince, I was quite intrigued to read up about it and read it as well. The author (and the publisher) were kind enough to provide me with a eARC (electronic Advance Read Copy).
Most interpretations of Mahabharata about Krishna’s birth and upbringing focus on the time that Krishna spends in Gokul as a part of his childhood. This is mostly seen as a jolly good time with him eating butter, being the cowherd, saving the village from heavy rains by lifting the Govardhanagiri and using it as a shelter, attacking the multi-hooded snake Kaliya and the like. All of this are prior to him heading to Mathura to seek revenge on his uncle Kamsa/Kans. It is this interim period in the life of Govinda (or Krishna) that is captured in The Cowherd Prince.
The book begins with a (sort of) fight between the dwellers of one of many villages in Surasena and possible spies from Mathura (which is revealed later) and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The equation between Govinda, his father Nanda and his brother Balabadra is set very earlier on in the book. The approach taken by the book following the initial search by the king’s men, why the king’s men came looking for him, who are the master strategists in the kingdom, and the search by Govinda for his family (including his sister) is what forms the book.
The aspect of the book that worked for me in terms of the storyline was the non-deification of Govinda (as seen in many adaptations) and the realistic portrayal of him as both a cowherd and an ‘accidental prince’. He is not perfect and has a range of desires, but has a planned course of action to seek revenge for his family. He is ably supported by Balabhadra, Akuran, Yuydhana and the brothers Dhaumya and Devala against the king Kans and his men. There are multiple places where the strategy by Govinda gets a little convoluted but at the end of the day, the victory is achieved by them.
The second aspect of the book that works well, as is the case with Krishna Udayasankar’s other books is the language. It is not overtly complex nor overly simple and the reader is able to focus on the happenings in the book than be bothered by sentence construction or unfamiliar words. The research that went into the book in the form of the references and the path at the author followed to write the book also makes for good reading (definitely shows the author believes that the Mahabharata has many a story to be told).
One thing I would like with the book is perhaps a dramatis personae type write up or a family map, since it can get confusing for some people who may not be familiar with Mahabharata as such and/or may know the character names slightly differently.
I enjoyed the book in two sittings and I certainly hope there is a sequel to this since there is definitely the Jarasandha piece of the story that needs to be told.
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