The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty by Kavita Kane

Statistics

Format: Paperback

Length: 325 pages

Genre: Mythology

Publisher: Westland Books

Date of Publication: 15th December, 2017

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I had won this book in one of the very first giveaways that I had entered on Instagram but I hadn’t been able to read it for more than a year. Finally this March, I wanted to read books by female authors depicting strong women and this seemed perfect. I buddy read it with Anupama and had a ice time discussing the book with her.

The Blurb

“‘I learnt to love like a man—to love without feelings. And I shall never forget this lesson.’

Matsyagandha, Daseyi, Yojanagandha — the queen of Hastinapur, Satyavati. Abandoned as a baby, preyed on by a rishi, she hardens herself, determined that the next time she is with a man, she will be the one to win. And win she does: the throne of Hastinapur for herself, and the promise that her sons will be heirs to the kingdom. But at what cost?

In a palace where she is disdained and scorned, Satyavati must set aside her own loss and pain if she is to play the game of politics. She learns to be ruthless, unscrupulous — traits that estrange her from everyone around. Everyone, except the man she cheated of his birthright.

A piercing, insightful look at the grand matriarch of the Kuru family, the woman who set off the sequence of events that ended in the bloody battle of Kurukshetra, The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty will re-align your reading of the Mahabharata.“

The Book

I love reading different views of a known story. The story of Bhishma has always been told from his perspective and rightly so, with him being a fierce warrior and a just administrator. However, for his life to play out the way that it did, a lot of people’s lives were also intermingled in the tragedy. I always knew the story of Satyavathi as a catty woman who only cared about power. I never once wondered why that might be so. It is rightly said that history (or in this case, mythology) is told according to the whims and fancies of the victor. The victors here are the spoilt and pampered males in Satyavathi’s life who found it convenient to blame the unfortunate woman whose only fault was her ambition.

Although Sathyavathi was not moral or even right in most situations, she was true to her goals and kept her eye on the prize. She remained loyal to the crown till the very end. I did not like the way she kept manipulating Bhishma at every turn but I understood where her fire was coming from. She was tired of being the victim of fate and wanted to take things into her own hands and be responsible for everything that happened in her life, be it good or bad.

I loved how she was one of the original feminists. She considered herself equal to any man and did not understand why she needed to be subservient to anyone. She was smart and wily and her will power ensured that she got what she wanted. I was dismayed at how Amba was a mere pawn in the game of politics even though she was a princess. The status of women was decided only based on their construed purity, beauty, and their father’s status. I was glad to have read the story from the point of view of a woman who till now was considered opportunistic and evil. The book is well written although I felt like it contained unnecessarily long conversation in some places.

The Author

A senior journalist with a career of over two decades, which includes working for Magna publication and DNA, Kavita Kane quit her job as Assistant Editor of Times of India to devote herself as a full time author. A self-styled aficionado of cinema and theatre and sufficiently armed with a post-graduate degree in English Literature and Mass Communication from the University of Pune, the only skill she knows, she candidly confesses, is writing.
Born in Mumbai, a childhood spent largely in Patna and Delhi , Kavita currently lives in Pune with her mariner husband Prakash and two daughters Kimaya and Amiya with Chic the black Cocker Spaniel and Cotton the white, curious cat.

Her work include;