All Reviews

• Prabhakaran Nair

  It`s with great pleasure I am sending this email to you. I started reading your subject book last week and completed reading it. This book is a real masterpiece and I will read it again. As it`s based on a true story of Devi Ahilyabai I will recommend this book to my friends also. We can learn lots of things if we read any two pages of this book just like Bhagavath Geetha. Best Wishes to both of you. God bless you 🙏 Prabhakaran Nair Kochi..Kerala 04.09.2021

• Mithila Yogesh Gotmare

  माझे आवडते पुस्तक कर्मयोगिनी लेखिका विजया जहागीरदार अनुवाद संगिता सोमण मी नववित् असताना श्रीमान योगी नंतर वाचल ते दुसरं पुस्तक म्हणजे कर्मयोगिनि .. पुण्यश्लोक अहिल्यादेवि होळकर यांच्या चारीत्र्याचे खूप सुदंर वर्णन लेखिके ने केले आहे. सामान्य ते असामान्य होण्याचा प्रवास .. सुरेख मांडला आहे. नगर जिल्ह्यातील चोन्ढी या खेड्यातील छोटी अहिल्या सुभेदार मल्हाराव् होळकर यांनी आपल्या खंडेराव मुलासाठी सून म्हणून निवडलि . प्रेमळ , चाणाक्ष अहिले नि आपल्या लोकहितवादी भुमिकेनि मावळ च्या प्रजेला आणि सुभेदार् मल्हारराव यांना जिंकून घेतलं. सतराव्या शतकामध्ये फक्त नामधारी राणी न् होता प्रजे चे प्रश्न सोडविले . स्त्री शिक्षणा चा मार्ग मोकळा केला. बारा जोतिर्लिंगाचा विकास केला . तिथे धर्मशाला आणि घाट बांधले. महेश्वर हि होळकरांचि राजधानी होती. तेथील रेवा नदिवरिल् घाट हे वाराणसी च्या घाटाचे प्रतिरुप् आहे. अहिल्याबाईंनी तिथे महेश्वरी साड्या चे कारखाने सुरु केले. अनेक लोकोपयोगि निर्णय त्या काळात एका स्त्री ने घेतले. अर्थात त्याला सुभेदारा मल्हाररावांनी म्हणजे अहिल्याबाईंच्या सासर्यांनी साथ दिली. अहिल्याबाईंनी वैयक्तीक जीवनात् खूप दुःख सहन केले. अवघ्या 25 व्या वर्षी पती चा मृत्यू झाला. त्यांना मल्हाररावांनी सति जाऊ दिले नाही. त्यानतंर पुत्रा चा म्रुत्यू झाला .. असे अनेक संकट पेलुन् त्यांनी रयते साठी सदैव माते प्रमाने कामं केलं. आजच्या स्त्री नि अहिल्याबाईंन कडून खंभीर होण्याची प्रेरणा घ्यावी.. नक्की वाचा असे पुस्तक.

• ऑल अबाऊट बुक पब्लिशिंग,ऑग, सप्टेंबर 2018

  Karmayogini traces the extraordinary journey of Ahilyabai Holkar. Born around 1725, in the tranquil village of Chaundi, her life gets set to change when Malharrao Holkar and Bajirao Peshwa are impressed by her courage even as a little girl, who was barely eight years old. A lady, well ahead of her times… a benevolent leader…a visionary who brought unprecedented growth unprecedented growth in commerce and trade in times of peace and etched unparalleled stories of grif in times of war despite of life fraught with innumerable personal tragedies….

• ANURADHA GOYAL May 16, 2017

  After visiting places like Varanasi and Gaya, I learned about the restoration work that Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore and Maheshwar had done. Then I kept hearing about the way she ran the Holkan Subedari that she inherited from her father-in-law. I was curious and keen about this woman from Indian history. When I heard about a book on her written by the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan – unfortunately, the book is not available in public domain. As luck would have it, Mehta Publishers just then sent me this biography Karmayogini of Matoshri Ahilyabai Holkar. The original book is in Marathi and the English translation I read is by author’s daughter Sangita Soman. The biography of Ahilyabai Holkar traces her journey from birth to death – literally. The story begins when she is a little girl playing with her friends. Malharrao Holkar spots her as a child prodigy and gets her married to his son. The son turns out to be worthless and the Subedari of Indore passed to Ahilyabai. It remains with the various male heirs during her lifetime but it is she who remains in command. You read the book and you wonder how she survived and thrived in such a male-dominated society of 18th CE, that too as a young widow. The book thankfully brings out her strength of character well enough for you to understand why. A very emotional storytelling takes you through various layers of Ahilyabai Holkar. She is a woman who never had a great personal life. She struggled to keep her husband away from vices and maybe women but failed. At the same time, she fought for the honor of her Muslim co-wives when the whole society was on one side for their post-death rituals. She faced the same relationship with her son who took on his father. She smartly chose a son-in-law and that did help her to an extent but not for too long. And She was widowed at a young age but had to see all her co-wives, daughters-in-law, grand-daughters-in-law and her own daughter perform Sati. She probably tried to stop all of them, but could not stop any of them.

• Diljit C. Shah

  I was very happy to read Karmayogini : Life of Ahilyabai Holkar. The book is very inspiring. So I have purchased a dozen copies and give it to all my relatives from Indore.