HarperCollins, Ashwin Sanghi’s New Home, Will Publish “Mazda’s Wizards”

Achieving major success, HarperCollins announced Thursday the acquisition of ‘The Magicians of Mazda’, the highly anticipated new book by best-selling author, Ashwin Sanghi – India’s master storyteller with over a million copies of his books sold in print in English and other Indian languages ​​– to be published in May.

The book is the seventh in the author’s “Bharat series”.

“The Wizards of Mazda,” an epic saga in the author’s signature style that fuses reality with fiction, promises to be a rollercoaster read for fans of the author and mythological thrillers. It’s a testament to the author’s endless reel of imagination skillfully woven with deep insights and research into a fast-paced plot that travels through time and history, taking the reader on a thrilling adventure. .

A fleet of boats docked at the port of Sanjan in Gujarat in 720 CE. They carry eighteen thousand frightened souls fleeing the cruelty of the Umayyad Caliphate of Iran. Chanting Sanskrit-like prayers, the high priest consecrates a holy fire to thank their god, Ahura Mazda, leading them to a new home and new hope. He uses a mysterious substance to ignite the flame, but few know of its miraculous properties or where it comes from.

Centuries later, Parsi scientist Jim Dastoor is kidnapped from his Seattle lab and taken to Tehran. The Ayatollah believes Dastoor is the key to discovering the ancient relic known as the Star of Athravan and his men will do anything to possess it, even kill him.

From the ancient ruins of Persepolis to the Taliban camps of Afghanistan, from the belly of a fire temple of Udvada to the frozen mountains of Kashmir, from the terrible coffins of Tehran to the deadly calm of Diu’s Tower of Silence, Dastoor and his historian wife , Linda, are drawn into a terrifying pursuit through changing landscapes.

Skilfully navigating between time and geography, “The Magicians of Mazda” travels backwards through the eras of Islamic jihad, Macedonian revenge, Achaemenid glory, the messianic birth, the Aryan schism – all the way to the Vedic source from where it started.

It is Ashwin Sanghi’s most gripping and provocative novel to date.

“I am delighted that my ‘Bharat Series’ – comprising the previous six titles plus my latest, ‘The Wizards of Mazda’ has found a new home in HarperCollins India. Ananth Padmanabhan, Udayan Mitra and Swati Daftuar are fantastic people to work with and I am grateful to them for doing everything possible to get this book to my readers in record time,” said Ashwin Sanghi.

Ananth Padmanabhan, CEO of HarperCollins India, said, “I’m a huge fan of Ashwin’s writing, and we’re delighted that HarperCollins is now hosting Ashwin’s terrific Bharat series. Ashwin is India’s foremost adventure writer and has entertained millions of readers with his incredible storytelling and imagination, spanning time and geography. “The Magicians of Mazda” is a roller coaster that once again sets the bar very high.

Swati Daftuar, Editor-in-Chief, HarperCollins India, said, “We are very pleased to welcome Ashwin to HarperCollins India. With each book in the ‘Bharat series’ he brings us something quite fantastic – and his latest, ‘The Wizards of Mazda’, is truly his best yet. The painstaking research behind each book, the thrill and pace of a tense, beautifully crafted adventure – it all proves beyond doubt that he truly is a master storyteller.

Ashwin Sanghi’s previous six books in the “Bharat series”, which blend ancient with modern, myth with history, spirituality with science, philosophy with theology, and politics with anthropology, are

“The Rozabal Line”, “The Song of Chanakya”, “The Key of Krishna”, “The Sialkot Saga”, “The Guardians of the Kalachakra”, and “Vishnu’s Vault”.

In addition, he is the author of two New York Times bestselling crime thrillers with James Patterson, “Private India” (sold in the United States as “City on Fire”) and “Private Delhi” (sold in the United States under the name “Count to Ten”. He is also the co-author of several non-fiction titles in the “13 Step Series” on luck, wealth, grades, health and parenthood.

He was educated at the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai and St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He holds an MBA from Yale University. Sanghi was included by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 and by The New Indian Express in their Culture Power List. He is also the winner of several awards including Crossword Popular Choice Award 2012, Atta Galatta Popular Choice Award 2018, WBR Iconic Achievers Award 2018, Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award 2018, Kalinga Popular Choice Award 2021.

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