Book Review: Code of Manavas

Here’s a review of Maha Vishnu Trilogy: Part I: The Code of Manavas by Arpit Bakshi. The book has been reviewed by our reader Arun Bhatia.

This is a mythology inspired science fiction book, the first part of a trilogy. Arpit Bakshi, an electrical engineer with an MBA from a U.S. university, has woven in the vast expanse of the cosmos and the depths of Indian mythology in his first book.

Set two million years in the future, it is on earth not as we know it, and mankind not as we know it. The erstwhile earth, called Bhoomi, has two city states called Ayodhpur and Madhavpur, the latter a peaceful abode of the new race called Manavas.

Kali Yuga has transformed into Swarnim Yuga. Manavas are immortal and have evolved beyond primordial emotions such as anger and jealousy. They are the epitome of human evolution, but continue to deal with the modern man’s legacy left behind from over two million years ago.

The central character in this mythical world of Maha Vishnu, is Krishna. The author has expanded on the sloka of our Lord Krishna’s ‘sambhavami yuge yuge’ as discoursed in the Bhagavad Gita. Here, only Krishna has the knowledge of an impending apocalypse that will destroy Bhoomi. A new abode is thus to be prepared especially as there are no inhabitable planets left. Moreover, a villain in peaceful Madhavpur wants to destroy Krishna and subjugate the Manavas.

This is a well knit story and has a big vocabulary that provides ambience of an existence two million years hence. I had to first study the glossary and had to keep going to it in order to follow the narrative. For example glossary item 15 is MagVahn “The magnetically levitated (train like) public transport criss crossing the city of Madhavpur …the only form of transport allowed…environment friendly…either use MagVahn or walk.” And glossary item 16 is Omechta: “Up until AD 2050, the modern man knew only four dimensions – three of space and one of time. But Krishna stumbled upon a fifth dimension…which separates one universe from another…if space coordinate remains constant and time alone changes, a person moves in time (past present or future) while being at the same space”.

Terms like Omechta (and Yocto particles, Samganak, Brahmportation and several others) have to become the reader’s internalized vocabulary in order to appreciate the narrative, and feel the tension, as Krishna knows there is a slim chance of survival.

At the back of the book, the blurb reads: “Will the various factions of Manavas unite for a greater good? Will Krishna, who saved them during the last turn of Yuga, be able to save them now? What will be the price to pay?”

This is a book for science fiction buffs. It is not an easy read for those who are not used to heavy, complicated fiction in which principles of physics, chemistry and electronics are assumed to be understood by the reader. The descriptive and other parts in the book brought to my mind the successful Hollywood movie AVATAR, which I had not liked. This is a first of the trilogy and I am not keen to see the next two. But science fiction buffs may have another view.