The Rozabal Line by Ashwin Sanghi -if Jesus did indeed settle down in India post-crucifixion then it could be possible that his future generations could be Kashmiri Islamists
Book Summary of The Rozabal Line-if Jesus did indeed settle down in India post-crucifixion then it could be possible that his future generations could be Kashmiri Islamists
On a lazy day in London, a cardboard box is found on a shelf of the SOAS library where a copy of the Mahabharata should have been. When the mystified librarian opens it, she screams before she falls unconscious to the floor. An elite group calling itself the Lashkar-e-Talatashar, the Army of Thirteen, has scattered around the globe. Their leader is not even a blip on the radar of intelligence agencies, yet their agenda is Armageddon. In the Vatican, a beautiful assassin swears to kill - again and again. A Hindu astrologer spots a conjunction of the stars that signifies the end of the world. In Tibet, Buddhist monks search for a reincarnation, much in the way their ancestors searched Judea for the Son of God. In strife-torn Kashmir, a tomb called Rozabal holds the key to a riddle that arises in Jerusalem and gets answered at Vaishno Devi. In The Rozabal Line, a thriller swirling between continents and centuries, Ashwin Sanghi traces a pattern that curls backward to the violent birth of religion itself.
Book Reviews of The Rozabal Line :
Intelligent Fiction
Review by Gopal Mehra
The Rozabal Line by newbie Ashwin Sanghi is what could be called intelligent fiction. The book should be read not because of great literary flourishes but because of the incredible manner in which various nuggets of history and theology have been stitched together to create a story of epic proportions.
In recent years there has been considerable speculation that Jesus may indeed have spent his "missing years" (the unaccounted years between the ages of 12 and 30) in India. What Ashwin Sanghi does is to take this single nugget and tie it into several other little factoids. For example, the fact that one of the lost tribes of Israel may have settled in Kashmir; the fact that St. Thomas remained one of the closest friends of Jesus and settled down in India; the fact that the wise men searching for Jesus were very similar to Buddhist monks searching for the reincarnation of a Dalai Lama; the fact that Mary Magadalene may have had connections with Maghada, the ancient empire of Ashoka.
All of the above factual narrative follows in parallel to a fictional track. The premise here is that if Jesus did indeed settle down in India post-crucifixion then it could be possible that his future generations could be Kashmiri Islamists. That hypothesis is explored further through a group of terrorists whose final fates closely resemble those of Jesus and his 12 apostles.
For many, The Rozabal Line, will seem a trifle complicated. So, if you happen to be a Da Vinci Code fan, this may not necessarily be the book for you. But if you liked The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, a much more scholarly piece of fiction, the you would love Rozabal.
Great conspiracy theory thrill ride
Review by Murli Shrivastava
This book is a must-have for fans of religious conspiracy thrillers like Dan Brown's best sellers. This book is a much more fast paced than others like it and takes you traveling through human history as the story comes to a climax on December 21st 2012.... a show down between Islamic terrorists, the Catholic Church, and the Illuminati. Through the interspersed factual information you will learn many alternative theories about Jesus and Christianity: how Rome created Catholicism by turning Jesus into a God and giving him many attributes of Pagan Gods so he would be accepted by Romans; how Constantine created a universal church to unite the empire. You will also see a well-argued analysis of the hypothesis that Jesus survived the cross and traveled to India where he died. The main characters are a Catholic Priest, a new age psychic and a Japanese assassin. Another thing that's startlingly different about this novel is the flashbacks to the characters' past lives where their Karma is explained through what they did in past lives. I've never come across this kind of style in the thriller genre and found it extremely thought provoking. This is an exiting and thrilling read and you might learn several things as you make your way through to the end. If you are looking for a great conspiracy theory thrill ride, it does not get better than this.
Regarding Rosabal
Review by farooq peer
The Rosable myth was created by Gulam Ahmad Qadiani to justify his claim that he is a reborn Christ. If at all Christ died here in Kashmir that was 2000 years before. There is no historical record regarding this. How come that a grve in Kashmir suddenly get identified with the Christ. The grave in Rosabal is certainly not in Muslim fashion.It is said to be grave of some Yuse Asif as per the local tradition. But is that the evidence of Jesus having been buried here. In fact,Mirza had absolutely no idea of the grave,till one Molvi Abdullah with whom he was staying during his sojourn in Kashmirtold him about the tradition. It was a wonderful opportunity for him to build upon this myth to claim his Christhood. The Mirza after declaring himself as Mahdi was in a tight spot.Mahdi had to be followed by Christ as per Islamic traditions. They have to be contemporaries. Later Molvi Abdullah exposed him in a pamphlet titled " A Leaping Fire in Khanyar" Khanyar is the place where the tomb is located.
Mary Magdalane and the relocation of gender in history
Review by Maitreyi
The history of women and by women is so difficult to locate and more difficult to establish. In the same light as it is difficult to ascribe the non-divine status to Jesus or Krishna....it is also has been problamatic to assert that the feminine element in the creation of the world is the basis from which the masculine emerges.
Ashwin Sanghi has given justice to various sensitive issues by entwining them with one another which culminates in unifying the various religions of the world and bringing the united dimension to it..
In the Book at the end there is a reference to divine feminine as the source of all power, wealth, wisdom and destruction of the universe, which puts the reader in a self analyzing mode. All of us are Gods or Goddesses or water flowing towards an end...
the dramatic weaving of the karmic relations with the past lives is a little difficult to believe but lets one ponder over it...
In all a book worthy of all the effort that the author has put in.
Perfect revisionist mythology
Review by Janardhan Baldotia
This was one of the best books that I've read in a long long time. Even though the author claims that it is a work of fiction, there is so much material that he has packed into this 373 page paperback. For all practical purposes, Sanghi, convinces you that Jesus did indeed survive the crucifixion, that he traveled to India and that he is quite possibly the man who lies buried at the tomb in Rozabal (Srinagar). His style of writing is unique, interspersing history and fiction in short snippets along with scientific evidence to lend credibility to some of the fascinating claims. I plan to read The Rozabal Line once again because I was unable to absorb everything that this book had to offer. For someone interested in revisionist mythology, this is the book.
rozabal line
Review by ayush
i have not yet read the book.but its topic and reviews have developed a desire in me to read it. i was fedup of the books like davinci code by western novelists, who completely ignore hinduism, while talking ,(correcting)writing about global religions. in most of their novels they just talk about christianity, some times islam and also buddhism etc and always ignore hinduism, knowing the fact that gautam buddh was also a hindu and hinduism is the oldest religion in the whole world. so it a very great effort, i must say ,by the author to write something like this which tells its readers about hinduism, and at least it gets attention through the novel.hats off to the author,to introduce hinduism as a global aspect and tell its importance through book.its a kind of respecting it. i am gonna read this.
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