Oct 15, 2013 03:45 PM
3558 Views
I completed reading the book'Asura-Tale of the Vanquished. It is an interesting book. It is the tale of the contest between Lord Rama and Ravana, told from Ravana's point of view. I have not read the Ramayana and there may be convenient deviations in this book in order to present Ravana as someone not as merciless and evil as portrayed in Ramayana, but it certainly has some convincing arguments.
From Ravana's point of view, Vibhishana may well come across as a traitor and the way Mandodari was treated was deplorable. So was Lakshmana's act of cutting off the nose of Surpanakha(though it may not be wise to comment before reading the Ramayana).
However, the self-conversations that Bhadra and Ravana have, are often too long, repetitive and don't take the story forward.
Character sketches of Bhadra, Ravana, Vibhishana, Prahastha and Maricha are nicely developed. However, characters on the other side, such as Rama, Lakshmana have not been fleshed out properly and appear to be one-sided. The attacks and satire on evils of caste-system work and are effective.
The author has attempted to use big words and unusual usages of phrases and language throughout the book, which takes away the joy of reading a story put together in simple yet effective words. The book would have been a more enjoyable read, if the language errors would have been taken care of and repetitive abuses kept to the minimum. The way it was presented also reflected some bitterness that the author seems to have for Lord Rama.
However, I credit the author for putting across a different perspective which is convincing in parts. It is equally true that history is written by those in power and parts of the story may be eliminated or presented mildly to create heroes and villains.
All in all, definitely a good premise and detailed research coming together for an interesting story.
