YATHA AHU VAIRYO ATHA RATUSH ASHAT CHIT HACHA VANGHEUSH...
AS THE MASTER, SO IS THE JUDGE TO BE CHOSEN IN ACCORD WITH TRUTH.
A fleet of boats dock at the port of Sanjan in Gujarat in 720 CE. They carry eighteen thousand frightened souls fleeing the cruelty of Iran's Umayyad Caliphate. Chanting Sanskrit-like prayers, the high priest consecrates a sacred fire to thank their god, Ahura Mazda, leading them to a new home and hope. He uses a mysterious substance to spark the flame, but few know of its miraculous properties or provenance.
Centuries later, Parsi scientist Jim Dastoor is abducted from his Seattle laboratory and whisked away to Tehran. The Ayatollah believes Jim is the key to uncovering the ancient relic known as the Athravan Star and his men will do anything to possess it, even murder.
From the ancient ruins of Persepolis to the Taliban camps of Afghanistan, from the womb of an Udvada fire temple to the icy mountains of Kashmir, from the dreadful coffin cells of Tehran to the deathly calm of Diu's Tower of Silence, Jim and his historian wife, Linda, are sucked into a terrifying chase across vividly changing landscapes.
Deftly navigating between time and geography, The Magicians of Mazda travels backwards, through the epochs of Islamic jihad, Macedonian revenge, Achaemenid glory, messianic birth, Aryan schism-to the Vedic fount from where it began.
This is Ashwin Sanghi's most gripping and provocative novel yet.
Autorentext
Ashwin Sanghi is counted among India's highest-selling English fiction authors, having sold over two million books. He has written several bestsellers in his Bharat Collection (The Rozabal Line, Chanakya's Chant, The Krishna Key, The Sialkot Saga, Keepers of the Kalachakra, The Vault of Vishnu, The Magicians of Mazda and The Ayodhya Alliance) and two New York Times and Sunday Times (UK) bestselling crime thrillers with James Patterson: Private India (sold in the US as City on Fire) and Private Delhi (sold in the US as Count to Ten). He has conceptualized the Kutta Kadam crime series, in which the first novel, Razor Sharp, is a national bestseller. He mentors, collaborates and edits several non-fiction titles in the 13 Steps Series, and is a regular contributor to the opinion page of The Times of India.
Ashwin has been included by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 list and by The New Indian Express in their Culture Power List. He is a winner of the Crossword Popular Choice Award 2012, the Atta Galatta Popular Choice Award 2018, the WBR Iconic Achievers Award 2018, the Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award 2018, the Kalinga Popular Choice Award 2021, the Deendayal Upadhyaya Recognition 2023, the Gomti Devi Eminence Award for I Am Literature 2026, the Peacekeeper Champion Award 2026 and Bhutan's JSW Prize in Literature 2026. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from JECRC University, Rajasthan.
Ashwin was educated at the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He has an MBA from Yale University.