Chanakya Neeti by Radhakrishnan Pillai (Book Review: 4.25*/5) !!!

8th Book of 2020!

Since childhood, I have always been given reference of Chanakya and the words he has spoken on several topics to convey a message to me. I don’t know how many of them were even said by Chanakya or the elders just wanted to convey what was in their heart in the name of Chanakya. Haha! When I first got to know about the author, Radhakrishnan Pillai, and his specialty of using the verses or words spoken by Chanakya and then moulding it in his own way to deliver its relation with today’s lifestyle- I just wanted to read all the books written by him but could only read two till date and I have just finished the 3^rd and his latest book today which is named “Chanakya Neeti” itself and I believe is his deepest book on Chanakya until now.

The book published in around 325 pages by Jaico Publishers is one of the great books which everyone must go through at least once. The commendable part about this book is that it is relevant for individuals belonging in every age group and of any class. There is something for everyone in this book. Author, Radhakrishnan Pillai, has very beautifully designed the whole book which makes it easier for you as a reader to read it. You can directly open any page and read that one section and that shall make you learn something new. The book, though, mentions in the beginning that every verse is written in a series but I believe you can read any page as per your convenience and still enjoy the same.

Each section initially mentions the verse written by Chanakya which is not in a very reader-friendly language but is then summarized by the author and then broken into parts and explained to us. Author has taken extra efforts here to sometimes explain the same to us in relevance to today’s nature of society. This is one of the few books where you just can’t highlight one or two sentences in a page but every word and sentence has deep meaning and insights which can change your outlook towards things. As I have read many such books, not everything was new for me, but still there are few things which I do in life considering them moral as per me but when I read Chanakya warning against doing that and through the explanations, I kept realizing the kind of mistake I have been committing. Many verses in the book were like an eye-opener for me.

Now, talking about the drawbacks of the book- I must say that author should have skipped the verses or modified them extensively which are subjected only to women as - as already mentioned by author himself that Chanakya belonged to an era where women were treated as 2^nd to men hence reading those verses and their explanation infuriated me some times. Secondly, the book could have been edited for one more round as I found many grammatical and spelling errors which are skipped. Also, there are few verses which are contradictory with one another where I felt author should have given little more explanation as to why it is so which has been skipped thoughtlessly.

Overall, this book is empowering and gives you different insights than any other self-help or self-improvement books. I give this one 4.25 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA