My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik - book review

A communicator, being an illustrator by profession, he has superficially read Indian scriptures and interprets them utterly erroneously, sometimes deliberately to add drama and intrigue.

So, those who do not have thorough grinding in Indian culture, much less the oriental thought, feel obliged that he has told them the stories and philosophy of these scriptures - which are mostly written in Sanskrit - in a simple way. But what he tells is mostly a third-rate version of the scriptures.

I would rate Amish Tripathi (I have reviewed his book, The Immortals of Meluha on Goodreads) much better in this respect: he does not at any time claim that he is writing history or explaining mythology; he accepts that what he has written is a piece of fiction. Here is a man, Devdutt Pattanaik, who claims to be an expert of Hindu mythology and presents it in a distorted form.

If you want to read what an author who is telling you a piece of Indian mythology in his own words, you can. You might like the story and his explanations, though he claims that it is non-fiction. But you will be misled totally if you want to learn about an Indian scripture with deep life-meanings. 

By the way, I researched a bit and found that Devdutt even does not know Sanskrit, a language with great nuances of each root, but draws his impressions based on what he reads here and there. Such a study, in my opinion, should not be taken as scholarly. If he had named a book at Gita, that would be fine; but misinterpreting a book on which there are numerous commentaries by highly-acclaimed western and oriental scholars is not on.

I have written a scathing review, which I seldom do, so that potential readers know what a crap the book is. I would give this book a 'minus 1 star' if I could. No ⭐ out of 5.

[By the way, I have no personal issue with him. I wish him all success in his genuine endeavors.]