SUMMARY
Asura: Tale of the Vanquished is a mythological cum modern book, (similar to the Shiva Trilogy), written by Anand Neelakantan. It is the story of Ravana, – Ravanayana – the evil demon who was defeated by Shri Ramachandra. This story is from the point of view of Ravana, the mightiest emperor of Lanka, of the Asuras, and Bhadra, a lowly peasant who fought for Ravana many a times, yet was misunderstood quite a lot.
The book starts with the near ending of Ravana’s life, when he is lying on the battlefield, his flesh eaten by rats and jackals. He lays there, his whole life flashing before his eyes. And sometimes later, Bhadra comes near him and promises that he would avenge his death, his destroyed empire. And from there on, we start knowing A to Z of Ravana’s whole life.
From the time when Ravana and his brothers were caught red-handed for trying to steal Kubera’s cows, to the day in the battlefield to fight Rama, from meeting Mahabali, to becoming the greatest Asura emperor of his time, Ravanayana is the story of a loser from the victor’s point of view, yet what we never know, what lies underneath that cold-faced demon.
REVIEW
This book is an absolute gem for a debut writer like Anand Neelakantan. He has shown every emotion, every journey, every battle in a way by which I’m speechless. He has used many popular theories, for example, about Ravana being Sita’s real father. And he has shown us from both Ravana and Bhadra’s point of view, presenting to us two feelings of two different persons, yet they are so much connected to each other.
This book is amazing and would highly recommend this to everyone, especially mythological book lovers, and if you are getting bored of all the Greek and Roman mythologies and haven’t started reading Indian ones, I would definitely suggest this book for your reading list, but I would also suggest to read the Ramayana (short version or lengthier one, whichever you prefer) if you have no idea what is this exactly.
Have a great day!
ReaderVerse 