‘Take the first A out of Abraham and put it at the end. You get Brahama. There’s the ancient connection right there.’

Ashwin Sanghi, who has written “The Rozabal Line”,”The Krishna Key”, and “Chanakya’s Chant”, will be a guest speaker for Papyrus Trails 2019, the Literature Fest of BITS Pilani. While his novels on mythology and theology might form his claim-to-fame, Sanghi has also co-authored the “13 Steps to Bloody Good” series where he talks about solutions to various issues that ail society including, exams, health and luck as well as the crime-thriller “Private” series.

Sanghi’s life has been a roller-coaster ride. After being exposed to literature at a young age by his maternal grand-uncle, Sanghi pursued his passion and went on to study business. He wrote for the monthly magazine in Yale, where he completed his MBA. He continued writing small pieces, including an article on the relationship between men and women for Cosmopolitan and several business articles for Asian Age.

After his startup venture didn’t work out in 2000, Sanghi began writing his first novel. Inspired by the Rauzabal Tomb in Srinagar, which is claimed by some to be the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, Sanghi narrated his story in the style made popular by Dan Brown. The finished novel, however, ended up being rejected by 47 literary agents and publishers. Finally, he self-published the novel under the pseudonym Shawn Haigins, an anagram of his name. Copious research had gone into this novel, and interspersed within the narrative were a lot of historical facts and anecdotes.

The success of his first book, which was later republished under his actual name, encouraged him to continue the series. The books—with high-adrenaline chases and scientific and theological jargon— brought the genre of historical fiction to the Indian reader. They forced readers to question their beliefs in religion, history and mythology. His prodigious talent, his penchant for detailed research, and his lucid language make him a star on the rise in the world of Indian fiction.