Many prominent intellectuals believe Aavarana dangerously advanced the fundamentalist agenda by tilting at the windmills of history, and that it seeks to divide society on communal lines.

The novel raises pertinent and searching questions about religion, liberalism and identity and highlights the importance of unshackling oneself from the bonds of false knowledge.

Lakshmi, a rebellious, free-spirited and intelligent film-maker, breaks ties with her staunchly Gandhian father to marry Amir, the man she loves.

Her quest leads her to the many parallels in the narratives between the past and the present and she gradually finds that though much has changed in Indian society over the centuries, much remains the same.

[5] Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Prof Chandrashekhar Patil has referred to Aavarana as the textbook of Chaddi (a slang for RSS cadres).

[6] Booker Prize-winning Indian author Aravind Adiga wrote an article in Outlook [7] in which he writes, "the term Aavarana now describes what has happened to S.L.

Bhyrappa himself: swallowed by his weakest novel, passed over for the Jnanpith (the traditional crown for the bhasha writer), and in danger of having a fanbase composed entirely of bigots."

Propaganda, by nature, is seductive; it feeds into half-baked concepts and beliefs to give them shape and brooks little opposition or questioning.