Kashi – Secret of the Black Temple, the third and final instalment of the Harappa trilogy, was released on Friday at an event in New Delhi.
The book, which tells an intriguing story of a lost civilisation, was unveiled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Navin Chawla.
Vineet Bajpai, the writer of the Harappa trilogy, was present on the occasion.
In a panel discussion held at the unveiling ceremony, the three spoke at length on India’s ancient past and the how it is important for the youth of the country to know about the rich ancient civilisation.
Recounting how an incident triggered the idea to write the book, Bajpai said, “On one hand there are children in our community asking us about whether Duryodhana belongs to Ramayana or Mahabharata. On the other hand the West is really creating great work on their mythology, history and scriptures. Why aren’t we doing it?”
Bhatia said the release of the book was a proud moment.
Underlining the importance of books as important medium to present India’s rich culture and ideologies to the youth, Bhatia said how India’s epics contain examples of inspiration, courage and righteousness.
Quoting an example from the Mahabharata, Bhatia said how Karna’s decision not to break the rules of war even if that meant losing it can be a guiding light for the contemporary generation.
Navin Chawla said books had the potential to keep the diversity and richness of Indian heritage relevant even today. Commenting on historical and mythological fiction, Chawla said the genre was helping millennials and the modern generation rediscover their roots.
The panel discussion was moderated by Neeta Gupta, publisher of Yatra Books, Joint Secretary at the Bharatiya Anuvad Parishad and festival co-director of Jaipur BookMark (Jaipur Literature Festival).
According to the publisher, TreeShade Books, the first book of the Harappa Trilogy has sold nearly 1,00,000 copies in the 15 months of its release. The second book in the series, ‘Pralay – The Great Deluge’, topped the prestigious Nielsen’s list in Fiction category and the third finds itself on top of Amazon’s bestseller list even before the release.