There is no dearth of translations in English of sacred Hindu texts in India. But not all of them are readable enough and hence accessible to the common man. The readability of a test stems primarily from the nature of the content, the language used and the presentation and organization of the ideas. It becomes all the more important when it is a translated text. And, It is here, Sri Kadambur Chandran's book, Lalitha Sahasra Namam for the Common Man stands out Sri Chandran has tried his best to stick to the spirit of the original Sanskrit version. He does not make any tall claims about his work. He modestly admits that his effort through his "limited Interpretation of this holy text is to give a glimpse of one "treasure trove of knowledge in a simple and understandable manner Sri Chandran has a profound knowledge of Hindu sacred texts, as borne cut by the many articles and books he has already published.

Sri Chandran has listed all the thousand names of the mother goddess Lalitha Devi with their meanings. He has also enriched the work with his erudite comments on all the names beginning with "Sreematha: the divine mother and ending with "Lalithambika, a portmanteau formed of "Lalitha", the one who makes the entire world perform and 'Ambika" the Mother of all.

The illustrations given, especially of the brain and the shad chakras (the six centres of vital energy) are an added attraction of the book Though the thousand names are organized as hymns or stotras in the original, Sri Chandran has Risted them with their original Sanskrit names and explained their meanings in a lucid and simple style I am sure that this book will be a veritable god-send to anyone desirous of knowing about the richness and grandeur of this sacred text Sri Chandran, it is hoped, will come out with more works of this kind, in future too.

The author is a 72 year old retired army Officer settled in Palakkad, Kerala. He belongs to a reputed family of Nairs, grandson of Hon OAV Raja of Mannarmala (a nair chieftain of Samoothiry-Zamorin). He was initiated to spirituality by his mother and maternal grandfather in the formative years and though the fire of spirituality was dormant throughout the professional years, it rekindled post-retirement. He has a deep insight of the three Indian epics Srimad Bhagavad Githa, Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and contemporary spiritual gurus.

The literary career began by writing articles and short stories for magazines. As a writer he uses Malayalam as well as English with ease and has written few novels, and also translated certain Malayalam books. He has published a book titled "Ramayana-the journey of a soul" in Malayalam interpreting Ramayana as a yoga. In addition, he has translated a 630 page treatise on Bhagavad Githa by Dr. GV Appukuttan Nair from Malayalam to English.

The author loves to share his thoughts and understanding with others via social media. Prior to publishing the book, the interpretation of Lalitha Sahasra Naamam was regularly loaded in Facebook in small bits and was well appreciated. This was the impetus for the book.

**Contents and Sample Pages**