There is so much
mythology to read of nowadays, and most recently I got to read about Shambala, a hidden monastery and its mysteries in ‘The Avatari’. But more recently, I
was reintroduced to it in ‘Path of the Swan’ by Charu Singh. Singh introduces
it differently from Srinivasan’s ‘The Avatari’.
Her book, ‘Path of the
Swan’ is the first part of what she terms as ‘The Maitreya Chronicles’. This
book is the start of a journey, wherein two monks from a monastery answer the
call from Shambala, to visit and learn from it. The Lama Ozer receives a message, when he is
in a trance and he sets off with his acolyte, Tashi to answer it. Battling
the cold in Sikkim and Tibet, the two fight through evil forces with the help
of the mythical bird Garuda’s feather before they reach the Silver Fortress in
western Tibet.
At Shambala, they shed
their worldly forms before being led towards the divine beings, including a
wisdom goddess, Yeshe Nam Lha, the daughter of the Goddess Tara, Prince A-KarO, heir to
the Lha Empire, and Prince Narasimha, heir to the Rigdens and
the Shambala legacy and various other Bodhisattvas; the higher gods of light,
Lha, and also various Taras.
Here the two of them are
put under training; the Lama is given texts to study while Tashi is trained as
a warrior under A-KarO. They are to leave with Yeshe, princes A-KarO and
Narasimha when the training period is complete. Yeshe is prophesised to be the
mother of Maitreya, who was to be the enlightened or the perfect one on earth
with one of the princes as her consort.
Just as they are about
to leave, at one of their gatherings, Yeshe is abducted by the Asur Prince,
Arden. How she manages to live those few days in the Asur kingdom, what the
princes would do to lead her to safety and what eventually happens form the rest
of the story.
The story began very well,
as we are led through the adventures of the Lama and his acolyte, though of
course one does feel bad for Tashi at the start, considering his misadventures and
the repercussions of them, and as we reach Shambala, one does have a feeling of
peace (guess if must be the Tibetan symbols of peace), this was very well described
but, that is also when the story loses its grip. One is lost, due to the various
gods and goddess, who are described in the book, it becomes a little much, as
are the ways of Shambala.
However, one is driven
back into the main story once the Asurs arrive on the scene. Definitely, worth
a read if one is a little too much into mythology (like me). Also, for its
action oriented scenes in the first half and the last quarter and its portrayal
of peace make this Tibetan-Buddhism fantasy, definitely worth its while.
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