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Girls of India
A Mauryan Adventure: Girls of India
3rd Century BCE, Pataliputra, India
Madhura lives in the legendary city of Pataliputra during the reign of King Ashoka of the Maurayan dynasty. She works in the palace as the maid and companion of Princess Sanghamitra.
Madhura does not like it at all! Life is so boring. She dreams of travelling across the land like her brother Kartik, who is a trader and growing up to become a soldier, fighting with swords and riding horses.
Madhura's dream suddenly come true as she travels with Kartik from Pataliputra to Ujjaini in a caravan. On the way mysterious things begin to happen. Who is that fat man giving out packets full of gold and silver coins to Kartik? Why are they stopping at Vidisha to meet a Buddhist monk? Kartik is up to something and Madhura has to find out the truth.
Read this fascinating account of Madhura's life, and discover what it was like to grow up in the past!
Madhura lives in the legendary city of Pataliputra during the reign of King Ashoka of the Maurayan dynasty. She works in the palace as the maid and companion of Princess Sanghamitra.
Madhura does not like it at all! Life is so boring. She dreams of travelling across the land like her brother Kartik, who is a trader and growing up to become a soldier, fighting with swords and riding horses.
Madhura's dream suddenly come true as she travels with Kartik from Pataliputra to Ujjaini in a caravan. On the way mysterious things begin to happen. Who is that fat man giving out packets full of gold and silver coins to Kartik? Why are they stopping at Vidisha to meet a Buddhist monk? Kartik is up to something and Madhura has to find out the truth.
Read this fascinating account of Madhura's life, and discover what it was like to grow up in the past!
121 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 31, 2024
Madhura is a poor girl who lives during the reign of the famous king Ashoka, at the height of the Mauryan empire. And she does not like it at all. All she does is cook, clean and carry water all day. Soon, she will have to get married. And then she will still have to cook, clean and carry water all day.
She wants to be like her brother. He’s a trader who gets to travel all the time. Then something happens and she gets the chance to travel with her brother. But she quickly realizes there’s something off about her brother.
The question this book tries to answer is: how did the average girl live in this ancient and fascinating time? And there’s undeniably a great wealth of educational value to be found in here as the ancient setting quickly comes to life. The truth of the matter is that there were many ways a girl could have spent her life in that time period, as is expertly shown in this book.
The main purpose of this book is to make it an entertaining read, so kids will happily gobble it all up and learn something in the process. And that’s where the rather straight forward mystery plot comes in. While there’s a bit more focus on the educational part of the story, it still feels balanced enough. And the educational part never gets in the way of the story as it very much keeps the young target audience in mind.
She wants to be like her brother. He’s a trader who gets to travel all the time. Then something happens and she gets the chance to travel with her brother. But she quickly realizes there’s something off about her brother.
The question this book tries to answer is: how did the average girl live in this ancient and fascinating time? And there’s undeniably a great wealth of educational value to be found in here as the ancient setting quickly comes to life. The truth of the matter is that there were many ways a girl could have spent her life in that time period, as is expertly shown in this book.
The main purpose of this book is to make it an entertaining read, so kids will happily gobble it all up and learn something in the process. And that’s where the rather straight forward mystery plot comes in. While there’s a bit more focus on the educational part of the story, it still feels balanced enough. And the educational part never gets in the way of the story as it very much keeps the young target audience in mind.
February 28, 2021
This is a fictionalized story based during the reign of King Ashoka who ruled over the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE.
The story tells about Madhura, a girl who worked for the palace alongside her mother. She misses her brother, Kartik, who's supposed to be a merchant trading goods between the kingdoms and comes back home once in a while.
But there's more to the characters of these amazing siblings.
There's a threat to the king. There's someone who's stealing from the king. There's a big mystery to solve. Madhura finds out things which girls of her age aren't supposed to meddle in. With the encouragement of her mother and brother, she helps out in finding out the culprit in the end.
I find the way the adults in this story interacting with the child character quite impressive. Madhura is someone like Hermione who everyone finds a little annoying because she's enthusiastic, curious, smart, actively involved and has a mind of her own which she's not afraid to express.
I find the writing quite engaging; the characters quite lively and outspoken; the plot clever and the ending wrapped up quite well and good.
I just wish the illustrations were a bit more prominent and well, better and colourful.
The story tells about Madhura, a girl who worked for the palace alongside her mother. She misses her brother, Kartik, who's supposed to be a merchant trading goods between the kingdoms and comes back home once in a while.
But there's more to the characters of these amazing siblings.
There's a threat to the king. There's someone who's stealing from the king. There's a big mystery to solve. Madhura finds out things which girls of her age aren't supposed to meddle in. With the encouragement of her mother and brother, she helps out in finding out the culprit in the end.
I find the way the adults in this story interacting with the child character quite impressive. Madhura is someone like Hermione who everyone finds a little annoying because she's enthusiastic, curious, smart, actively involved and has a mind of her own which she's not afraid to express.
I find the writing quite engaging; the characters quite lively and outspoken; the plot clever and the ending wrapped up quite well and good.
I just wish the illustrations were a bit more prominent and well, better and colourful.
February 6, 2021
My rating- 4⭐
An elegant, middle-grad, tale about a girl who loves adventures and is active to take up on it. The story deals with how a family who faces a great loss comes out from it , become independent , goes on various adventures and even recognized by the king.
The story rest during the time period of Ashoka's empire i.e. 268 to 232 BCE. As we know King Ashoka ruled for 36 years but the story sets after the Kalinga War i.e 261 BCE. After which Ashoka decided to stop fighting and capturing regions due to the loss that occurred during the war.
The book tells about a girl named Madhura, who hates her daily-life in which she has to do chores at home and then be princess companion after that. She is an adventurous girl and thought of becoming a soldier which was quite an odd thing for girls during that time. And also talks about princess becoming a king😀
The story tells about "inside war" that is fought between traitors and king's people , who are planning on capturing the kingdom by false means. As the king vowed not to war ever in his life, it becomes very important for the spies to be more alert and to stop the wrongs there itself. The story bounds the reader with it due to the mystery that prevails throughout and is not predictive.👍👍👍
Allover, an exciting tale with very nice description of lifestyle of that time and good narrative.
I find this wholesome because it clearly and nicely depicts all the scenes that needs to be narrated and ends peacefully like those "happily ever after" in fairy tales.❤❤
An elegant, middle-grad, tale about a girl who loves adventures and is active to take up on it. The story deals with how a family who faces a great loss comes out from it , become independent , goes on various adventures and even recognized by the king.
The story rest during the time period of Ashoka's empire i.e. 268 to 232 BCE. As we know King Ashoka ruled for 36 years but the story sets after the Kalinga War i.e 261 BCE. After which Ashoka decided to stop fighting and capturing regions due to the loss that occurred during the war.
The book tells about a girl named Madhura, who hates her daily-life in which she has to do chores at home and then be princess companion after that. She is an adventurous girl and thought of becoming a soldier which was quite an odd thing for girls during that time. And also talks about princess becoming a king😀
The story tells about "inside war" that is fought between traitors and king's people , who are planning on capturing the kingdom by false means. As the king vowed not to war ever in his life, it becomes very important for the spies to be more alert and to stop the wrongs there itself. The story bounds the reader with it due to the mystery that prevails throughout and is not predictive.👍👍👍
Allover, an exciting tale with very nice description of lifestyle of that time and good narrative.
I find this wholesome because it clearly and nicely depicts all the scenes that needs to be narrated and ends peacefully like those "happily ever after" in fairy tales.❤❤
December 7, 2022
I love reading historical stories even this one is a fictional but it give an idea of lifestyle people following in Maurya Dynasty. Description of clothing, food, travel stories etc takes you on beautiful time travelling with Madhura.
April 26, 2019
A fabulous book from the times of the Great Emperor Ashoka
February 25, 2021
Cute. Short. Sweet.
January 20, 2024
Boring Plot
June 30, 2015
Parinita Shetty reviews the book on Goodbooks: "At first glance, twelve-year-old Madhura’s life doesn’t seem all that bad. She lives in the prosperous city of Pataliputra, capital of the Mauryan empire, during a time of peace. Her best friend lives right down the road and she is (mostly) fond of her family. Not only does she work in the palace, but she happens to be the maid and confidante of King Ashoka’s daughter, Princess Sanghamitra. Madhura’s life would actually have been fun had she not found it all so utterly boring." Click here to read the full review: http://goodbooks.in/node/7215
April 15, 2016
Good Book. A one time read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews