With much excitement and eagerness, I took up the book 'Asura - Tale of the Vanquished' by Anand Neelakantan to read in this quarantine period. The previous book by the same author 'Ajaya' was extremely thrilling and unputdownable; the review of which I have written in my blog too.
Asura is Ramayana from Ravana's point of view - 'Ravanayana' he calls it. The author details out the journey of Ravana from his childhood to his eventual demise in the war between Rama and him. Disclaimer - This blog will have spoilers, so please stop here if you are interested in reading the book.
The book starts off very interestingly, explaining why Ravana is called Dasamukha or ten faced. Ravana was advised to shun all other emotions apart from intellect, but he decides to assimilate all of the ten emotions - anger, pride, jealousy, happiness, sadness, fear, selfishness, passion and intellect to become a complete man. Of all the logical explanations I have heard about Ravana being ten faced, this sounds like the most believable.
A few points which I liked in the book
The storytelling alternates between narration by Ravana and by Bhadra, who is a commoner in Ravana's kingdom. This gives us a viewpoint of the commoners under Ravana's regime and what they were going through, what their thoughts were about the king and the situation, and how their life changed under Ravana's rule.
As he did in Ajaya, the author has tried to provide alternative theories to explain the situations in the Ramayana epic. He has portrayed Ravana as a genuine person with a cause, rather than as an egoistic, ruthless leader who did things things on a whim to satisfy his ego. Though the alternate fiction is not as convincing as in the first book, it is admirable of the author to weave a story with a completely different perspective.
Some of the points do make you think. Why did Laxman behave so ruthlessly with Shoorpanakha and cut off her nose (according to the popular tale, this book has a different version)? Does the fact that Sita was in the Ashokvan and Ravana did not even try to touch her, show that he was a good soul? Was the Agni Pariksha, that Sita had to go through after the war, justified?
Now to the parts where I was a tad bit disappointed
Ravana was a learned man who was a great devotee of Shiva. I would have liked to learn more about why he is still revered by so many in Lanka, how did he get all the knowledge that he supposedly possessed, how was he gifted the sword by Shiva (which only has a fleeting mention in the glossary), his ego and his personality. Instead, Ravana comes across as a confused character behaving more or less on ego and impulse and not like the great mastermind you would expect the king of Asura to be.
While I laud the author in coming up with an alternate fictional version of Ramayana, unlike Ajaya, this version is not as convincing. The fact that Sita is shown to be Ravana's daughter who he had cast away; the reason to kidnap Sita is shown to be that he believes that Ram, her husband, will not treat his daughter right; the fact that he sacrifices his son and his entire kingdom for his long lost daughter who obviously loves her husband too much to appreciate her father doing this for her; these all story lines seem incredulous, unconvincing and far-fetched.
Although the Bhadra character gives us the ground root emotions and thoughts of the commoners, his story seems stretched. His character seems confused too, oscillating between someone who reveres the king and would do anything for him, to the one who realizes that the monarchy does not care for him and his help. The Bhadra story also extends too much, long after Ravana is dead. This probably was important to narrate what happened next with Ram and Sita and to close the epic logically, but the story felt stretched and unnecessary after the great Asura Ravana had fallen.
Overall, though this book was not as gripping as the previous novel by the same author, I am grateful to this book for keeping me company in this isolation period at home.
Asura is Ramayana from Ravana's point of view - 'Ravanayana' he calls it. The author details out the journey of Ravana from his childhood to his eventual demise in the war between Rama and him. Disclaimer - This blog will have spoilers, so please stop here if you are interested in reading the book.
The book starts off very interestingly, explaining why Ravana is called Dasamukha or ten faced. Ravana was advised to shun all other emotions apart from intellect, but he decides to assimilate all of the ten emotions - anger, pride, jealousy, happiness, sadness, fear, selfishness, passion and intellect to become a complete man. Of all the logical explanations I have heard about Ravana being ten faced, this sounds like the most believable.
A few points which I liked in the book
The storytelling alternates between narration by Ravana and by Bhadra, who is a commoner in Ravana's kingdom. This gives us a viewpoint of the commoners under Ravana's regime and what they were going through, what their thoughts were about the king and the situation, and how their life changed under Ravana's rule.
As he did in Ajaya, the author has tried to provide alternative theories to explain the situations in the Ramayana epic. He has portrayed Ravana as a genuine person with a cause, rather than as an egoistic, ruthless leader who did things things on a whim to satisfy his ego. Though the alternate fiction is not as convincing as in the first book, it is admirable of the author to weave a story with a completely different perspective.
Some of the points do make you think. Why did Laxman behave so ruthlessly with Shoorpanakha and cut off her nose (according to the popular tale, this book has a different version)? Does the fact that Sita was in the Ashokvan and Ravana did not even try to touch her, show that he was a good soul? Was the Agni Pariksha, that Sita had to go through after the war, justified?
Now to the parts where I was a tad bit disappointed
Ravana was a learned man who was a great devotee of Shiva. I would have liked to learn more about why he is still revered by so many in Lanka, how did he get all the knowledge that he supposedly possessed, how was he gifted the sword by Shiva (which only has a fleeting mention in the glossary), his ego and his personality. Instead, Ravana comes across as a confused character behaving more or less on ego and impulse and not like the great mastermind you would expect the king of Asura to be.
While I laud the author in coming up with an alternate fictional version of Ramayana, unlike Ajaya, this version is not as convincing. The fact that Sita is shown to be Ravana's daughter who he had cast away; the reason to kidnap Sita is shown to be that he believes that Ram, her husband, will not treat his daughter right; the fact that he sacrifices his son and his entire kingdom for his long lost daughter who obviously loves her husband too much to appreciate her father doing this for her; these all story lines seem incredulous, unconvincing and far-fetched.
Although the Bhadra character gives us the ground root emotions and thoughts of the commoners, his story seems stretched. His character seems confused too, oscillating between someone who reveres the king and would do anything for him, to the one who realizes that the monarchy does not care for him and his help. The Bhadra story also extends too much, long after Ravana is dead. This probably was important to narrate what happened next with Ram and Sita and to close the epic logically, but the story felt stretched and unnecessary after the great Asura Ravana had fallen.
Overall, though this book was not as gripping as the previous novel by the same author, I am grateful to this book for keeping me company in this isolation period at home.
