Monday, January 28, 2002

Book Review: Saraswati’s Secret River by Devdutt Pattanaik



‘Saraswati’s Secret River’ (Fun in Devlok Series)
By: Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik
Puffin Books (Div of Penguin Books)
ISBN: 978-0-143-33196-4

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik is one of India’s most popular present day mythologists. I am a big fan of his writings. In his “Fun in Devlok” series of books for children, Dr. Pattanaik tells simple and very interesting mythological stories of Hinduism explaining concepts in the easiest ways for children to grasp, appreciate and love telling to others too. ‘Saraswati’s Secret River’, as the title suggests is a book about Saraswati. In Hindu mythology, Saraswati is both the name of Goddess of learning, education and wisdom as well as the name of a sacred river. It is believed that on the banks of Saraswati, some greatest scriptures of Sanatan Dharma were written during the Vedic era.

In this book, Mrs. Sivakami, principal of Madame Mira High School gets a curious visitor who is none other than Goddess Saraswati. Goddess Saraswati is in search of a missing river and enquires if Mrs. Sivakami is aware about it. Mrs. Sivakami is surprised in the beginning but as she goes on in her conversation with Goddess, she actually commences on an eye opening journey which changes the way she looked at education and the modern schooling system… She realized that river Saraswati had stopped flowing in her school because her students were no longer curious… I will leave more particulars for you to get when you actually pick up this book.

The book is full of sketches friendly to children and font sizes are big. The book as categorized by the publishers is fit for 6+ years. But I am sure readers from any age group will certainly find this book a thrilling experience. It is also a wonderful gift to children. I highly recommend this enlightening book to one and all.

- Rahul

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