The Rozabal Line
On a lazy day in London, a cardboard box is found on a shelf of the SOAS library where a copy of 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. The fate of its members curiously resembles that of Christ and his Apostles in the first century AD. Their leader is not even a blip on the radar of intelligence agencies, yet their agenda is Armageddon. Somewhere in the labyrinthine recesses of the Vatican, a beautiful assassin swears she will eliminate all who do not believe in her twisted credo. She loves to kill-again and again. A Hindu Astrologer spots an approaching conjunction of the stars and nods to himself in grim agreement. It will happen on the very date he had seen as the end of the world. And it’s not far off. In Tibet, a group of Buddhist monk 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. An American priest, Father Vincent Sinclair, has disturbing visions of himself and of people familiar to him, except that they seem located in other worlds, other ages. Induced into past -life regression, he goes to India to piece together the violent images burnt onto his mind. Shadowing his every move is the Crux Decussata Permuta, a clandestine society which would rather wipe out creation than allow an ancient secret to be disclosed. 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.
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Critical Acclaim
“In The Rozabal Line, Ashwin Sanghi does a Dan Brown by mixing all the ingredients of a thriller — Crusades, action, adventure, suspense — and pulling off, with dexterity and ease, a narrative that careens through cultures and continents, religions and cults, and travels through Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, culminating at Vaishno Devi in Jammu.” —The Asian Age
“Try The Rozabal Line by Ashwin Sanghi. Kickass thriller that forces you to re-examine our histories, our faith.” —Pritish Nandy
“Sanghi’s flair for religion, history and politics is clearly visible as he takes the reader across the world spanning different decades. A mixture of comparative religion, dangerous secrets, thrilling plot makes for an esoteric read.” —The Statesman
“Sanghi has got the sure-fire formula right.” —Times of India
“A provocative, clever and radiant line of theology Sanghi suggests is that the cult of Mary Magdalene has its true inspiration in the trinity of the Indian sacred feminine thereby outthinking and out-conspiring Dan Brown.” —Pradeep Sebastian, The Hindu, Chennai
“…a must-read for all those who enjoyed Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. A fine combination of history, religion, spirituality and mystery, the book is thought provoking and definitely not for the faint-hearted.” —Deccan Herald
“The ultimate reward that The Rozabal Line holds for the reader is the treasure house of surprises that lie in store, as history gets presented as jaw-dropping trivia.” –Indian Express
“The novel ventures into territory that Indian writers in English have not gone into before — the conspiracy thriller.” —The Hindu
“One must remember that this is a work of fiction. Provocative, but commanding attention!” —M.V. Kamath
“Though Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code may still be the uncrowned king in conspiracy theory fiction, he has got an Indian challenger in Ashwin Sanghi.” —The Week
“The Rozabal Line is a thriller that is inspired by the authors obvious fascination with linkages between the worlds religions.” —The Times of India
“Sanghi dishes out a heady mixture of terrorist attacks, secret societies, murdered professors, hallucinating priests and seductive femmes fatales.” —The Telegraph
“Ashwin Sanghi takes us into a world of intrigue and conspiracy, almost having us believe that all religions in the world are linked.” —Mid-Day
“Sanghi spins a murder mystery around the supposed grave of Jesus Christ at the Rozabal shrine in Kashmir.” —The Economic Times
“Rozabal Line asks that really fun question: what if?” —Divya Kumar, The Hindu
“If you are one of the millions who lapped up every page of The Da Vinci Code, here's a book that's even better… Ashwin Sanghi takes us into a world of intrigue and conspiracy, almost having us believe that all religions in the world are linked.” —Mid-Day, Mumbai
“Sanghi’s book is a pot-boiler despite somewhat incredible claims... A thrilling read for all fans of the genre!” —Hindustan Times, New Delhi
“…a well-researched theological thriller that fictionalises the myth that Jesus traveled to Kashmir…” —Sakaal Times
“I found The Rozabal Line quite gripping … it unfurls a possible life of Jesus the Christ in India, and traces this life all the way to twenty-first century descendants…” —Metro Plus
“With a religio-historical sweep, it explores the reason to believe that Christ did not die on the cross and went on to live in India…” —Mumbai Mirror
“…and the end result is a book that will have you biting your nails ever so often…” —Siddharth Srikanth, The Hindu
“Cut from the same cloth as Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, and with shades of Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games— The Rozabal Line is a thriller.” —Mint WSJ
“Of late, a flood of literature, including a Da Vinci Code-type potboiler called The Rozabal Line by Ashwin Sanghi, and documentaries have led to renewed interest [in the Rozabal shrine]” —The Telegraph
“His first book interspersed with religion and history was lapped up by bibliophiles.” —Madhur Tankha, The Hindu, New Delhi
“And so Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol comes two years too late. Conspiracy thrillers swamped the market, reaching even Indian shores with The Rozabal Line, and offered us so much meat, that we couldn’t relish chewing anymore.” —Pradeep Sebastian, Deccan Herald
“Westland has had a hit with Ashwin Sanghi’s The Rozabal Line, a modern-day Dan Brown-style thriller that revolves around Christ and whether he lived in Kashmir.” —The Telegraph, Calcutta
