The Gardens of Light

The title of my review might be misleading, this is not an actual biography. This is a story, a story about one of the most elightened yet obscure prophets the world has ever seen. As far as history is concerned, there is not that many records left about Mani. But this book is as historically accurate as you can get. My name is Mani and I had always wondered about Mani the prophet, his teachings, and his lifestory. This book brings all of those elements together. As far as the story and the plot of the book go, it is an incredible journey of self-discovery and internal battles. Mani's life is far from the ordinary and the story was so good that I finished this book in a week. The language of the story is also beautiful and describes the era and Mani's journeys masterfully. My only complaint is that the author had focused more on Mani's painting talents. But besides that, this book is a great story and although a lot of the conversations might be the fabrications of author's imagination, if you want to know more about Mani or just about ancient Iran this book is a great place to start. Mani A.

I read Amin Malouf's historical novel "The Gardens of Light" after reading Paul Kriwackek's high praise for it in his recent book about Zoroastrianism, "In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia to find the Worlds' First Prophet." Maalouf has written a rare book about a historical period and figure that will be obscure to many readers. He has told an inspring story that may keep readers awake through many a late night. "The Gardens of Light" was Maalouf's first novel. He is a Lebanese author who writes in French and now lives in France. The book has been ably translated by Dorothy Blair who also provides a useful chronology of Mani's times. I am told by a friend who reads French that Maalouf writes in a highly formalized, literary style unusual among current French authors. Mani (216-274 A.D.) was a Persian prophet and mystic, the founder of a teaching known as Manichaenism, which attracted many followers, East and West, for centuries before dying out. Little is known of Mani's life. But Maalouf has woven a beautiful story of Mani which integrates the sparse details of his life with a history of the dynasties of Persia. Maalouf's book is a meditation on religion, philosophy and art. His novel shows the dualism -- the belief that the world is a battleground between forces of good and pure light and evil and that it is man's work to strive for the triumph of good -- that was Mani's most famous (and notorious) teaching. Maalouf also shows Mani as a syncretist -- a thinker who tries to combine the best of a number of seemingly disparate religious systems. In Mani's case, his doctrine is primarily a synthesis of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Maalouf also shows Mani as a pacifist, artist,vegetarian, and follower of the life of the intellect. In Maalouf's telling, Mani spends most of the first 24 years of his life in a small Christian ascetic community known as the Palm Grove of the White Clad Bretheren. Mani's father, Patek, had abandoned his pregnant wife, Mariam, to join the Bretheren, and Mani is abducted as an infant to live in the Palm Grove. He reads in the library, learns of his genius as an artist, and hears prophetic voices from his "other" which precipitate his leaving the Order at the age of 24. Mani begins spreading his message of peace, the equality of religions, toleration, dualism, and beauty. He travels to India and forms a friendship with Hormisdas, the liberal-minded younger son of the Sassnian ruler, Shapur. He also incurrs the lasting enmity of the priestly caste and of Bahram, Hormisdas' older brother. The Persian King Shapur grants Mani an audience, allows him to preach, and the two form a tortured and difficult friendship, as Mani's message becomes entangled with a well-meaning ruler and with war and the ways of the world. The favor Mani enjoys comes to an end with the ascension of Bahram to the throne, following Shapur's death and the assassination of Hormisdas. Many is tortured and p

Maalouf's glorious novel vivifies the age and the mind of the prophet, Mani. The Roman Empire is weak. Persian kings are intermittently strong. The deserts, oases, gardens, roads and cities brim with the excitements of new ways of thinking and new ways of living. Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the followers of Mani, and other communities of shared belief, vie not just for converts, but for existence. Military power, Roman or Persian, will nurture only a faith conducive to a perpetuation of that power. The thought of Mani, gloriously, fosters universal tolerance of belief and worship, in a world obsessed with the dominance and mastery of one, one power, one faith, one way. Those who create the powerful seem as crookedly straight as those who bear the power. Mani has concerns greater almost than power.This novel portrays a tremendously vivid and vital world of merchants, kings, priests, powers and places. Maalouf admirably ranges the Mediterranean and Middle East and with his central character, Mani, (portrayed sympathetically but not over-indulgently so) aims not for mass conversion but for understanding and education. The fluctuation in support that Mani receives from his most powerful admirers seems to genuinely express the fickle nature of the relationship that exists between wisdom and power.Maalouf has authored a fine historical novel that avoids at all times plodding plotting and tedium. With plausible characters, relationships, ideas, and a clear appreciation for the subject, the author has made this novel an opportunity for a meaningful reading experience of high quality.

The Gardens of Light is the sort of book which lingers in one's mind long after he has set it down. A historical novel, it reconstructs the life and trials of Mani, the true life third century prophet of a new religion, Manichaeism. A sophisticated religion which sees "light" and "darkness" in all things, and creation itself the product of their mixture, Manichaeism is unique in that it respects all religions and their prophets, whether Jesus or the Buddha. The title itself is an allusion to mani's conception of heaven, a "garden of light."Beautifully written in verse which at times reads like poetry, the story recounts Mani's life from the time he was raised by a fanatical group of Nazarine monks in Mesopotamia to his ultimate martyrdom. Along the way he forms an unusual alliance with Shapur, the great King of Kings of Persia. the book is fascinating for the glimpse it gives of the ancient Persian court, and the relationship Mani forms with Shapur... how Shapur accepted mani's teachings, since Mani taught tolerance and harmony. Shapur shared these goals, but not merely because of his character - such a religion would help bind the various peoples of his vast empire together, much as Constantine adopted Christianity to help unite his. And here lies the true beauty of this book - it's exploration of what motivates men of power, and of faith. Ultimately, Mani's true story is a meditation on the nature of beauty, faith, and tolerance.Never ever boring, The Gardens of Light will introduce the reader to strange religions, important historical personages such as Shapur, and exotic places such as the Persian Empire and India in the third century. I consider the time I spent reading this book to have been uplifting and educational. I highly recommend this book.