The Eighth Avatar – by Manoshi Sinha Rawal

The Eighth Avatar Paperback

by Manoshi Sinha Rawal
This book is about one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu.

There are 10 avatars of Vishnu.
They are: Matsyavtara, Kurmavatara, Varhavatara, Narsimhavtara, Vamanavtara, Parshuram, Ram, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki.

This book is about the eighth avatar that is Krishna. It is not about the whole life of Krishna but it is till Krishna’s battle with Jarasandha. But even in this much the book attracts the attention of all. One reason is because it has simple language that everyone can understand. The other is that it explains everything as simply as possible. I can guarantee that if you have not read about the life of Krishna then, after reading this book you will surely understand what it is about. It makes you feel that you want to turn page after page. Since I have read many versions of Krishna’s life I turn the pages just to know how this version goes.

This version of Krishna’s life concentrates on the childhood exploits of Krishna. Kansa kept on sending out asuras from his side and Krishna kept on killing them one by one. Few of the asuras he killed are:
Putana – Killed when Krishna suckled the life out of her while breast feeding.
Trinavarta – Came in the form of a tornado and grabbed Krishna but crashed to his own death.
Vatsasura – Came in the form of a bull but was killed in the duel with Krishna.
Bakasura – Came in the form of a crane but was killed when Krishna shattered his beak.
Keshi – Came in the form of a horse but Krishna smacked and battered him to his death.
Aghasura – Came in the form of a serpent and swallowed Krishna and his friends but was killed when Krishna tore open his abdomen.
Vyomasura – Came in the form of a bat and kidnapped Krishna’s friends. He was killed in the duel that ensued between him and Krishna.
Dhenukasura – He was an ass. He was killed by Krishna for harassing the people of another village.

Apart from killing the asuras Krishna also lifted the Govardhan mountain on his little finger. The story of this was that Krishna convinced the people of Vrindavan not to worship Indra but instead worship Mount Govardhan. Indra got angry and sent showers and showers of rain down on Vrindavan. To shelter the people Krishna lifted the Govardhan mountain on his little finger.

I was happy that this book did not concentrate much on the love life between Krishna and Radha because as a kid I am not interested in all this love stuff. I was really surprised because in almost all the versions that I have read they have quite a lot to say about the Krishna-Radha story.

It kept on attracting me like a magnet. Sometimes I would simply stop reading it. But again, the next day the first thing I would do was to find out what happened next, even though I knew it. It had that kind of power. It also kept on switching between the scenes.

You did not get bored that it was only about Krishna’s exploits or that it was only Kansa sending out asuras. You could enjoy the story and even see it through both Kansa’s and Krishna’s view.
 
Book info:
ISBN-10: 9384878472
ISBN-13: 978-9384878474
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Excerpt:


© 2017, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.