by Aroon Raman
Genre: Historical Fantasy
This is another one of those books that I finally decided to read during the lock down.
Malik Kafur is a legendary figure. He was the one responsible for the success of Aladdin Khilji and the destruction of many kingdoms. He made the Delhi Sultanate famous in South India, not Khilji. Kafur is well known in the South for his victories..He was turned back at my hometown way down South. But little is known about the man or how he died.
His life itself was mysterious and the stuff of legends. He was a slave who became a general and a general who killed with a ruthlessness that most of India was conquered. He must have commanded extreme loyalty, something even his king in Delhi didn't. Strangely enough, historians are not able to agree on what exactly happened to him or to his plunder. All that is known is that we do not know what happened to him or his treasure.
Raman spins an extraordinary story about the hidden treasure of Kafur and how 250 years later during the Mughal era, a part of it was revealed to Akbar.
Ambu, one of the guardians who can telepathically communicate with animals lives with her grandson Datta in a small hut when she has a vision of the local king Baig plotting with others (from Afghanistan to the Deccan) to encircle the Mughal empire of Akbar. She is abducted when Baig realises she knows the location of the treasure. Afterall, how can a war between differing kingdoms despite a common enemy be fought without money? However, she ensures Datta is set off towards what proves to be an adventure to warn Akbar of the impending doom and also the location of the treasure before she is abducted. Datta accompanied by a tortoise, a bunch of ravens and a cow makes his way past the Tapti river. Does Datta manage to reach Akbar on time to save Ambu and the Mughal Empire? Who are the legendary figures he meets during this adventure? Is the truth of the treasure of Kafur completely revealed or does it still lie somewhere in some godforsaken place in India? Raman asks and answers these questions in his book, "A Treasure of Kafur"
From the banks of the Tapti to the Agra Fort, from the ravines of Aravalli to the Deccan plateau, Raman weaves a story of intrigue, scheming and grandiose that keeps you engaged. This book is t action packed and it will keep you in suspense till the very end when you will finally know if Datta succeeded in saving the empire and his grandmother. Emperor Akbar's mightiness as well as his humane nature is well conveyed in The Treasure of Kafur.
A must read for all Indians who are not taught much about Kafur or the society of guardians.
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