by It’s Navratri here in India and its celebration of Goddesses for those celebrating the festival. An apt book comes to us for a review and we must say it does read good.
Gods, Giants and the Geography of India by Nalini Ramachandran, published by Hachette is a book that draws references between traditional re-told stories of Gods and Goddesses, Giants and its connection to myths, legends and even the Geographical references and occurrences in many destinations in the country.
India as a country especially in its predominant religion has the ritual of worshipping many Gods. We have listened to stories from parents, grandparents and its fabulous to narrate them through books that can help kids understand and draw their inferences.
There are stories of Sugreev, Vali- the brothers who fought with each other and that talks of the tale of broken relationships. The Kingdom of Kishkindha, Rama, Lakshmana and the story from Ramayana . Also each story has the part to connect the story to its geographical refence.
Kishkinda was set in Hampi, the magical land , a major tourist attraction in Karnataka, India. As per the book, geologists believe Hampi’s unique landscape was formed due to the weathering of the gigantic monoliths that existed several million years ago. Over the years, the monoliths developed cracks and fell apart-these broken blocks came crashing down, naturally stacked as though forming balancing rocks.
There are more intersting stories of Tirumala hills, how did Lord Vishnu come to reside in the hills along with his wives Padma and Lakshmi, the story of Sindhu-Sagara- Dwarka, stories buried in the snow- Nanda Kot and Roopkund and so on.
The book is a great read for kids in the age group of 12-16 years and kids where they have been introduced to a few mythological stories.
