THE BUTCHER OF BENARES

by Mahendra Jakhar

The shocking and brutal murder of a young American woman rips apart the peace of the ancient city of Benares. She is found to be a research scientist working with the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world. Hawa Singh, a senior inspector from Delhi crime branch on a visit to Benares, gets embroiled in the case. He finds that the murdered woman had been researching the Bhrigu-Samhita, an astrological classic dating back to pre-Vedic times, believed to be lost. The FBI sends in Ruby Malik, a Pakistani-American to investigate the murder. Soon, more bodies are found with bizarre connections to both the Bhrigu-Samhita and Christian orthodoxy. The Vatican seems to be carrying out a clandestine operation, seeking the secrets of Hindu astrology in the city most sacred to it.Secrets that the Vatican would kill to know. Hawa Singh, hardened by many gunfights, and with a bullet already lodged near his brain in a previous encounter, teams up with Ruby Malik to unravel the mystery. Nothing is the same any more. The temple bells fade in the perpetual winter fog. There is blood on the streets of Benares, which becomes a battleground where faith and science collide. The worlds of astronomy and astrology come .Hawa Singh and Ruby search the opium dens, and the domains of Naga sadhus, Aghoris and Doms in the cremation grounds, hunt a cannibal lurking in the maze that is Benares, and clash with the figurehead king of the city, Kashi Naresh Maharaj Abhay Narayan Singh. The killer could be anyone. Only Hawa Singh and his beautiful co-runner on the chase, Ruby Malik, possess the mindset—and the indomitable courage—to find the murderer at the heart of this mystery. And in the process, find themselves.

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction, India, Suspense

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 29, 2014

About the author

Mahendra Jakhar is an ex-journalist currently working as an independent screen-writer and author based in Mumbai. He started as a journalist in Delhi where he worked for six years before moving to Mumbai to pursue his dreams of being a script-writer.

Recently, he has written a feature film for Tiggmanshu Dhulia titled "Ghamaasan" starring Prateek Gandhi and Arshad Warsi produced by Jio Studios. He also wrote the critically acclaimed film Manjhi-The Mountain Man, directed by Ketan Mehta starring Nawazuddin Siddique and Radhika Apte.

His first novel, THE BUTCHER OF BENARES, was published by Westland Publications. It was rated as the Best Crime Fiction Debut Novel of the Year and was Amazon Rising Star. His second novel, THE SWASTIKA KILLER, was published by Westland Publications. His other novels are Chakra Warriors and Housewife.

Earlier he has written scripts for Mahesh Bhatt’s THE KILLER starring Irrfan Khan and Emran Hashmi and Tiggmanshu Dhulia's SHAAGIRD.

He has also written film scripts for Sunil Bohra, Abhinav Kashyap, Vinod Kapri and is currently developing film scripts with Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Ashwini Chaudhary.

Apart from this he has written scripts for various TV shows – CID, Maano Ya Na Mano, Bidaayi, Betiyaan, Seeta aur Geeta and Dwarikadhish.

He also did research work and scripting for a documentary on the hijack of Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu to Kandahar.

His film script, Bhiwani, based on the Boxers of Haryana was selected for International Film Festival of India for the Competitive Section at Film Bazaar.

He's a TEDX Speaker and conducts workshops on creativity, imagination and ideas.

TEDX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NxvO...
You can catch his latest interview that was telecast on DD National all across the country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4da7...

Reviews

[Ammu Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review:
As the plot suggest the complete story revolves around benares.the plot is mainly concentrated on hawa singh and ruby mallik where hawa is on a visit to benaras with his father and lands up vitnessing a dead body and he is the special officer to find the culprit and the FBI sends there speacial officer ruby mallik. But what happens is the butcher becomes a serial killer and how he challenges the police to catch him. The author had bought good detailing of the places without loosing the grip of the story. The difference that I liked is though the plot is mainly of crime, it has romance element too and till the end you only end up guesing who the butcher actually is.
There is no DOWNPART in the book

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a crime thriller, it's a decent book.
As a police procedural, it is laugh-out-loud wrong, full of incredible and infantile stuff.
As a detective story, it is rubbish.
As an amateurish effort towards creation of a filmy potboiler full of a brawny lad, brainy firangi lass and grotesque villain, it's successful.
Now it's upto you to decide, what's your poison, and how far this book would go towards fulfilment of your desire.

[Abhishek Dev · Rating 1 out of 5]

"WASTE OF TIME"
This book borrows its ideas from Angela & Demons and Slumdog millionaire.
The former is used to create a mystery but it created a disaster here and the latter for decribing Benares and he ends up describing it in the worst possible way. The constant use of phrases like "everyone knows about that crime", "this is Benare, so bizarre things are just everyday routine" and so on are some direct examples for you even if you miss the other obvious examples that are directly borrowed from the later.The jokes used to inject humour are very cheap.

The idea of using academic works in fiction is not bad but this one is a terrible fail.

FYI the author was a crime reporter and throughout the story there are many instances that will make you feel as if you are reading a crime report whose aim is to create sensation and sell news, nothing else.

I will not recommend it to anyone.

PS Indian writers are no doubt facinated from Dan Brown's novel series but there is a huge difference between how christanity spread and how Indian religions survived. If our english language writers will simply borrow their ideas from him then it I don't think it will work.

[Amit · Rating 3 out of 5]

good prose, lots of tits bits about benaras that even I was not aware of (whole family is from there). There are some high moments in this story the author could do well to plug the many loop holes in the story, would check out the other book by the author too that looks promising

[Manjri Gopalan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before starting "The Butcher of Benares", I had read Mahendra's "Swastika Killer". I came across a book review post finishing Swastika Killer, which said that his first book "The Butcher of Benares" was better than his second book. That review instigated me to buy this book. I started reading the book with high hopes and I must say, I was not disappointed at all.

The book starts well, without any wastage of words, the story moves along quite well. The friendly fights between the father-son duo (Fauja and Hawa), the character of SSP, etc. are interestingly narrated. The series of murders, links between them, suspense created around the Naga Sadhus and Aghoris, the concept of Brighu-Samhita, the mystery of Nalanda, etc. try to build-up a huge suspense. However, the climax fails to do justice to them. I felt the writer failed to evangelize some of the concepts that he narrated in the book - like that of Brighu-Samhita/ the story around Nalanda, the Vatican episode, etc. Also, I felt the climax too filmy - the scene where Hawa fights with Manvendra; Fauja Singh starts singing Lord Shiva's aarti which is then joined in by the pandits, devotees and thousands of onlookers. I mean... da!!

In addition, there are some minor loopholes in the book. Like in chapter 18 Hawa Singh finds the occupation of one of the victims - Brain Johnson from his passport. Which passport mentions it?? Similarly, in the same chapter, Ruby flips the pages of the passport and notices that before coming to India, Brian was in the Vatican (as the passport had the stamp of Vatican City)... Since when the Vatican started having its own immigration?

Anyway, if we ignore such small titbits, the overall book was an interesting read. I can't say at any point in time, I felt bored while reading this book.

[Saurabh Tiwari · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there is ever a book that aspires to become a Bollywood potboiler, that would be The Butcher Of Benares by Mahendra Jhakhar. The book takes the reader to the mystical land of Benares, which becomes the playground for a serial killer/psychopath/schizophrenic/cannibal as he goes on mercilessly killing a particular set of people, gouging their hearts out. Sounds an exciting plot? And the excitement ends there. With numerous stereotype characters, this book is about an angry cop and his associate, a lady officer from FBI, and their quest to solve the mystery of this brute killer. The characters are written in such a way that you'd want to put faces of several Bollywood actors to them. From despicable police force to the villain - the butcher of Benares, everything about this plot gets predictable after a while. If you have seen a Bollywood thriller, you know the usual masala, so much so that you wait for a sexual encounter between the two protagonists and it happens - in a typical Bollywood fashion (inspired by Hollywood, of course). There comes a point in the book when it reads like a movie script, which is quite disappointing. And as the Bollywood films go, after the climax, the story is wrapped in a few pages and everything ends on a happy note.

One thing where this book doesn't fail is the portrayal of the city of Benares as a mystical, vibrant city which acts as a converging point for people from all walks of life and culture.

[Swathi Manchili · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests, events in the book take place in the town of Benares. The story revolves around the characters of Hawa Singh and Ruby Malik. At a few places it felt like straight out of a hindi movie. Overall, a decent read.

[Alok · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another bad Dan Brown offshoot. Plus, incredibly cliched and popular tropes-ridden.

[Anirban Pal · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thriller which could be far better but ended like cheap Bollywood movie


The Butcher of Benares, no denial that it is an impressive title. So was the starting and it held the edges in the middle as well. But fell flat as the climax arrived; I mean the ending was really botched up.
As I was interested in the contemporary Indian English writer and their writings I thought of giving this one a try. Post ‘The Vinci Code’ era, almost all the Indian thriller writers are trying to adapt the fact and fiction kind of theme and which also need an extensive research. Mahendra Jakhar written The Butcher of Benares is one of those kinds with heavy flair of Hindutva and little of facts. To be honest, the middle part of the book will actually raise your interest but once you start moving towards the last pages, you start rolling your eyes about the narration and in the end when the antagonist explains the reasons for his misdoings you can’t help but throw your hands up with utter frustrations.

So what is it all about, well it’s about Hawa Singh, senior inspector from Delhi visiting one of the oldest city of Benares with his ailing and dying father when he spot a foreigner’s dead body and how he got involved. Meanwhile FBI sends their Pakistan-American FBI agent Ruby Malik to assist the investigation (Another fascination of Indian writers now a days, they gotta bring some CIA or FBI operative to give their book some international flair). The protagonist carries a bullet in his head which is from the failed rescue mission of his wife who died again won’t, as it’s kind of highly unlikely to survive after a bullet wound in your head that too when it’s said that doctor’s decided to leave the bullet in. By the way, the FBI lady played a plain sidekick and love interest which makes the book even more flimy. In the end I was reading the book just to finish it.

I wish I could give this more than 1 and ½ out of 5. I think that’s the most generous rating I would give.

[Ananya Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has a great start. Fauja Singh and Hawa Singh, the father-son duo has a hilarious chemistry, the down-to-earthness of the Hero, the rural and desi air of both the characters gives a new zing. Very realistic depiction of the modus operandi of the Police, being a Criminal Lawyer I know that how the chain of command works. However, the characters are not super hero rather human beings made of flesh and bones.

The unknown and unexplored of Indian Astrology and astronomy, the Aghoris and the Nagas, the true depiction of the Indian Spiritual fraternity is commendable. Nobody is a saint, but craves for power in every possible manner, that hard core fact has been revealed in an exclusive way.

The character Ruby Malik could have been stronger. She is too clumsy , too dependent on the Hero Hawa Singh. As if she came all the way from US to have freak frak with the Hero. She could have been more than the " CID Girl". A big shot mafia son is disrobing an FBI agent, totally unbelievable and unrealistic . Not every US girl wants to jump into bed with any so-called Super COP with a desi swag like Hawa Singh. That was too cheesy.
The disturbing history of Benares, the British Raj , the so-called civilised nation and its barberic way reveals a new aspect of further research. The double standard , the hypocrisy on every manifold.

But somehow the novel became messy , too many suspense..or many missing links..too many suspects , somehow it became a hotchpotch of many things. It could have been more crisp. There is a lack of "Suspension of disbelief " which a novel should have, somewhere I could not find it. It became more of script of a detective serial or movie, a novel should carry a further weight, an extra gravity . It is a good read, but it could have far better.

[Sapna Sarfare · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://wecaretodream.blogspot.in/2014...

[Uncanny Piscean · Rating 1 out of 5]

It starts of extremely good but the end was worse than disappointing. I think the author couldn't think of the story further hence he ended it hastily.

[Pradeep K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I shall have to give a very mixed review on this work. Some parts were good, some not so good, and yet others outright ridiculous.

The good:
Purely as a murder mystery, I think it has done justice to the genre. There is a serial killer roaming the streets of Benares, who with every kill leaves behind hints to the next, openly daring the police force to do whatever they can about it. Then follows the usual profiling and attempting to understand the reason for the murders and so forth. Is it a madman? Is it a fanatic? Is it a Hindu or a Christian? Pretty standard stuff, really. But the author indeed succeeds in keeping the reader guessing about the identity of the killer until the very end of the book. This was all that kept me reading to the end. Apart from this, I found nothing to count among its pros.

The not so good:
Readers who have also read The Da Vinci Code and are also familiar with the typical Bollywood masala productions will not fail to recognize that this book is a strange cross-breed. Set in Benares instead of Paris, on the banks of River Ganges rather than around the Louvre Museum, but otherwise very similar in many respects. The reader is given a leisurely tour of the various cremation grounds, temples and marijuana dens in Benares, and is also fed enough history about the place. Personally, I am quite easily bored by all such babble that has nothing to do with the actual story, so I simply skipped over such parts without losing the thread of the main story. A latent romance between the protagonist and an FBI agent is kept simmering throughout the tale, which also I simply skipped over such parts without losing the thread of the main story.

The outright ridiculous:
Though in general the character development was well-done, sometimes (and all of a sudden) they appear incredible or unbelievable. At some points this goes to the extremes. The protagonist brings his father to Benares supposedly so that he may die peacefully, but prefers to spend his nights with the FBI agent rather than with his dying father. The father is bent on ending his life at Benares, but he makes his attempts only when his son is around to save him. Anyway--and this is not a spoiler--he does not die in Benares. In one scene the protagonist breaks open a bullet-proof glass-box by simply slamming it twice with his bare fist. The killer--who comes across as an efficient killing machine--throws away several chances of easily finishing off the protagonist for no apparent reason. The protagonist will not die no matter where he is shot (of course, we wouldn't have had this story if he had died right in the prologue).

But perhaps this is all expected of the author, who has been writing scripts for Bollywood and television since 2006, and was a crime reporter prior to that.

Apart from all that ridiculousness, there are some gaping holes in the premises of the plot and the story, which I shall not discuss lest I give away the mystery.

[Varun Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together." Mark Twain
If you have been to Benares, you must have felt the mystic aura around the city. I have read quite a few non-fiction books about this city, So when I saw the book, it was absolutely difficult to resist. After reading the prologue, I was hooked and I finished the book in mere 2 days.
As the title suggest, the book is a murder mystery with religious background. The story evolves in Benares and involves the Vatican, the Benares Royal family, Hinduism’s most formidable sects ( Nagas and Aghoris, bitter rivals) and most important, a cunning cannibal on loose who will not stop at anything to prove his point. The story flows in a linear thread, despite being set in different time frame or places.
The main character, Hawa Singh, is a man with a troubled past, an ailing father and bears an injury that annoys him to no end, not just because it means bad health but also because it brings up painful memories he’d rather forget. And the other lead, Ruby Malik, a Pakistani FBI agent, is beautiful, resourceful and brilliant. These two team up to solve the seemingly unsolvable mysteries surrounding the holy town.
Perfect backdrop, brilliant description, extreme realistic portrayal of characters make this book a ideal script. Having heard that Author has written scripts for few Bollywood movies, it did’t come as a surprise. The author has done a commendable job of providing a setting where readers can actually visualize a lot of Benares, its ambiance and the entire scenario surrounding the happenings in the book. While I have had the pleasure of actually seeing this city and its famous Ghats, my connect to the story took just no time.
The Butcher Of Benares, takes readers on a wild trip through the sacred city. It’s a bit like The Silence of the Lambs meets The Da Vinci Code (PS - in Bollywood style).

[Amlan Chakraborty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to suffice with One ⭐. Would have given half if the option existed.
I guess I am to blame for choosing to read this book even after the abysmal reviews.
The paper thin Plot is stretched out to the point that it becomes boring and then the triller turns into a melodramatic nonsense.
The characters are caricaturisque at best. The inter character dynamics just didn't make sense. How on earth could it sound feasible for a well established FBI woman of Pakistani origin to come to India on an official investigation to not be a part of the investigation and fall in love with an Indian inspector with a bullet lodged in head? I just realised is sounds absurd even describing it.
The author clearly has no idea about writing thrillers, let alone even good work of fiction. His ideas are mundane and ludicrous to say the least. He should not write any books in the future and rather stick with the nonsensical scripts that seem to have taken Bollywood by the rage currently.
I guess this is what happens when your father gives you money to buy books to read but instead you spend it on movies and junk food. (As told by the author in the Introduction).
I guess Anurag Kashyap was right when he said, "Jab tak is Desh me CINEMA rahega, tab tak log C**t**e bante rahenge."
I regret even thinking of taking a break from the fantastical fantasy worlds of Robert E. Howard and MiKe Mignola.

[Sayantan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start was g9od..the end was not

A story which kept you looking forward towards the deeper mystery webbed in the alleys of Benaras...But that's the first 75% of the book..In the last quarter it seemed the author was in a hurry to finish things off and hence brought a conclusion which kind of marred the tension built up so far...Good read..Could have been better.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a decent read, but felt the ending was rushed up

The buildup to the end and the discoveries were great, but the ending itself felt as if pushed down the throat too quickly. Good read.

[Jawahar Surti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appears that the author has been 'inspired' by Dan Brown. But he never manages to get anywhere near him. Some things are too repetitive. The plot was good but the narrative was okayish. The characters were developed well. The end though felt like being cheated.

[Varunsp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently I came under the book The butcher of Benares , a murder,mystery ,thriller genre . The name & the cover picture of the book tempted me to reach out to it.. Kinda njoyd reading it..

[Ashwini · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read. fast. gripping. could have been shorter by a few pages. the suspense was maintained till the last chapter.

[Anubhav Goel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice book!!!

A very gripping story!!! Really interesting, it is difficult to keep the book down once you start it!! A must read!!

[Divyaroop Bhatnagar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stilted writing. Unbelievable plot. An average book. Some good research but overall quite a clumsy read.

[Tamish Goyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good.

[Hitesh Bansal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime thriller that is fast paced and unputdownable. Characters and their emotions are superbly built and portrayed.

[Devendra Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok read but more of like masala bollywood story

[Aditya K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good attempt to create a mystery like dan browns. But turned out too filmy for my taste.

[That Ghost Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Won’t recommend.

The whole book smells of chauvinism.

Two star for the research on Benares. Well done there. However, the author sounds like a newly born rebel trying to be atheist.

The pieces written on Benares are the only ones which are written well, seem like copied from different sources.

Rest of the book is poorly written. Given we are in 21st century, a female FBI agent suddenly becomes so scared and meek under the shadow of a super strong hero. The plot is of a third class movie of 70s. The hero is taking too much space, and the female character has not been given the light it deserved.

Overall, a waste of time.

[Angshuman Chatterjee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Benaras is one city, which I feel a strong affinity towards. I have read quite a few non-fiction books about this city, but sadly there has been no fiction books written in the backdrop of Benaras which I had been able to lay hand on. Hence when I first saw this book, I did not hesitate to buy it.

The narration and story line is tight and mostly linear. Mr.Jakhar builds up the story well making us meet interesting people and characters from Benaras in the process – Naga sanyasis, the Aghoris, Doms. I liked the fact that there is a good sprinkling of information through the pages of the book, both on Benaras as well as otherwise (related to the storyline) many of which I learnt for the first time.

I wish the character of Ruby was built up better. There are only a couple of lines about her past and her character in the book is merely peripheral and if I may say more of a ‘sidekick’ for the main protagonist. I felt that she has been introduced in this book to create that romance angle, which has not succeeded nor was it necessary.

Also in my opinion, the ending is a bit too far fetched and I found a few holes in the assumption. It was as if the author was trying to prove that the ‘butcher’ was indeed a person, whom the readers would not have even thought of in their wildest imagination. This is of course, a tried and tested line in most mystery thrillers (starting from Agatha Christie novels), but I don’t think it succeeded well here.

[Jairam Mohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Butcher of Benares starts off quite well with Inspector Hawa Singh being unwittingly thrust into the limelight and the investigating team when he happens to be the first person to inform the police about the corpse of a young foreigner floating down the Ganga in Benares.

Fighting with inner demons from his past, a persistent headache (quite literally), Hawa Singh and Ruby, FBI Agent sent to help out with the investigations race against time and seemingly powerful politicians and sadhus in Benares before the Butcher strikes again.

How many more innocent people will be killed before the duo capture the Butcher and end his murderous ways, makes up for the crux of the book.

A good book, although it does tend to slow down at times without too much happening.

[Kulpreet Yadav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Benares, The Butcher of Benares is a fast-paced Indian thriller. The premise hooks you right from the start.

Hawa Singh, an inspector with the Delhi police’s crime branch is at Benares with his grandfather Fauza Singh, who, like millions of Hindus, aspires to die in the holy city and achieve moksha. A white woman is found murdered and Hawa Singh gets sucked into the case, as more and more white men, all researchers of Vedic mathematics and astrology, are found murdered every other day. The killer removes the hearts of his victims and leaves them with a cross stuck in their chests. Hawa is assisted by a female FBI operative called Ruby Malik, who is sent in by the US as first of the victims is an American citizen.

Overall an interesting book with never a dull moment.