Thearcheorizer

Sandilyan and his historical fiction are never enough for me. This book Nagadeepam is also based a historical event during the reign of Jahangir and Rana Amar Singh son of Maharana Pratap Singh of Mewar who was significant for his resistance against Mughal’s military occupation.

The author comes across a historical account of a stone from Mewar Sisodya dynasty to Mughals. In the book also he mentions about the Jahangir’s written record of reclaiming that stone from Sisodya Rajputs and offering peace in return.

The author has been gifted with such a creativity that he spins around an interesting plot around that particular historical event focusing on the red stone and so naming the book after it – Naga Deepam.

That’s a reasonable name and the story begins with the protagonist named Haridas Jhala (a real historical character) who is a prominent member of Mewar’s Sisodya Rajputs military. He being caught up by Mughals, assigned to a diplomatic mission of bringing that stone for Nurjahn to offer peace in return for Mewar.

On the way, he meets a woman and the military commander on whose initiation Rana Amar Singh resisted the Mughal’s military. Before reaching Rana (the king of Mewar), the plot centralizes Haridas Jala and the woman he met to be his legal partner according to their custom of child marriage. I felt this part to be a little dragging and too much romance involved. I felt it could’ve been a bit short for the sake of the main story.

Haridas Jala worries about occurring the stone but to his surprise, Rana entrusts him with the stone and makes him leave the fort to go to Chithoor. But events turns out against him and Sundardas holds captive of Haridas Jala and prevents him from reaching Chithoor as per Rana’s plan.

Haridas Jala finds himself in a critical position having the stone in hand which is supposed to be handed over to Jahangir but Rana trusting him with it for 15 days the least. Finally, unexpected twists leads him to handover the stone to Jahangir’s son, Kurram who turns out be Shahjahan.

The plot then ends with Rana making Haridas weigh and understand Mewar’s situation for the sake of their people and leaves him to meet his woman.

My overall rating for this book would be

I would’ve rated this book 5 stars if it’s not that for a little too much romance.

Still, I would definitely go for another historical fiction of Sandilyan as his way of writing and describing each character keeps me hooked up with the story. Also, I find it as one way of getting to know history in a fun way.

Are you also a historical fiction reader like me? Share your stories and recommendations in the comments below.