A Panaromic View of the Epic Ramayana
I have picked up this book as it
would give me an oppurtunity to revisit illustrous Indian Mythology. It has
always been a practice to narrate a story from the hero’s perpective.This book
comprehends the character of Ravana, the popular anti-hero of the epic
Ramayana, who is despised. It is out of
the curiosity to fathom the thought process of an anti-hero I ventured to read
this book. It is the first novel written by Anand Neelakantan “Asura –The tale
of the Vanquished, The story of Ravana
and his people”.
It is kind of an Alternative
Mythology book, of late these kind of books have been a great hit among Indian
readers. “The Immortals of Meluha” and “The
Secret of the Nagas” by Amish Tripati do
fall in this category. These writers has generated lot of interest in readers
by weaving beautiful fables around the
familiar Mythological characters. This kind of new fiction have been instant
hit among the book readers as they are
retold in a way suited to the present generation and they satiate their curiosity to understand the
true essence of the Mythological characters they have heard of or known.
The book takes us back to old
times where Asuras and Devas , the two clan of the Sage Kashyapa, used to constantly
compete with each other. Initially during
Rig veda period, Asuras which
includes Daityas and Danavas, were considered to be incharge of the moral and
social phenomenon and Devas for the
natural phenomenon. But during the
course of time Asuras character was considered negative. Devas were associated
with Daivi Sampada (Divine qualities) and asuras with Asura Sampada (material
qualities) as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. Hence the cultural, social, moral
beliefs of these two communities are antithetical.
Though most of us know about the
epic Ramayana, this book uniquely focussed on the exquisite qualities of Ravana. This book portrays Asuras in an entirely new way, with
Ravana being accorded the status of the greatest Asura king ever born. He proclaimed,
vitalised the Asura culture and brought back the lost glory & fame with his sheer determination and an unwavering
determination to realise his dream of becoming the Emperor of India. Rama on the other hand
considered as representative of the Devas
and there have been perpetual battles between
the both to claim supremacy over the Indian territory. Ravana’s multifaceted personality, as well as
his genuine interests in music, astrology and astronomy were well depicted. Ravana
a mere human, had an intense passion and
undying ambition to build a great Asura
empire and wanted to bring back the
equality which the Asura society used to enjoy under the regime of Mahabali.
The personality of Ravana like any other human being had a spectrum of various shades of grey, fallacious,
coupled with pride and vanity was prone
to several judgemental errors. Resulting in total downfall of the great empire
in a battle with Rama who vanquished him.
Rama on the other hand was belived to be an avatar of
MahaVishnu is shown to be associated with all the divine and humane qualities. Being extremely orthodox, hell-bent
on maintaining Dharma of the land vainly looses everyone close to him, including his wife and brother who were his constant accomplice through the arduous
14 year forest –life. Another important character in the entire book is Bhadra,
a common man, who
doesn’t have any characterisitic identity to his credit except for his deep-rooted vengeance which changed the game
in favour of Ravana to gain his first and much needed victory. But the trauma he undergoes to carry out the mission was unnoticed and
never reciprocated. He becomes a lesser known devil whose services have been
wilfully utilised in various mission but was never gratified.
Further, this book also gives a
clear demarcation of the life of Asuras and Devas and details of their social
demography , status of woman and way of living. The existence of caste system
and how it was misinterpreted and the desire
of the majority to have equality in society .
This book actually tries to
picturise and emphatically show existence of different kinds of people, just
like the ones which exist in our contemporary society. Like Ramas - who were portrayed as an incarnation of God , bearers
of the Dharma of land, with time acclaimed the status of real God. He stuck to
every word in scriptures, lived an unhappy life and sacrificied everything including his consiousness for
dharma. Ravanas who were self-willed, obstinate, unorthodox , heavy-headed
individuals lived life fully as per their rules and died as a warriors. The lower rung occupied by
people like Bhadra who were simply used, disowned and cheated then thrown out
ruthlessly. The other set of people like Vibhishanas who can commit any kind of
in-human things in the name of religion
and the scriptures. These people in the last category are the ones whoconstantly bid for fanatics and inherit the world. People like Ramas and Ravanas live and die in
glory and have the satisfaction of sacrificing everything for some abstract idea like dharma (in case
of Rama). But these kind of glories are unaffordable luxuries for people like
Bhadra, who die like the million other people leaving no trace behind. So the entire concept reiterated in the book basically comes down to how we groom our
selves and how we what to lead a life. There are several ways of survival in
this world, the one in which we want to acquire some name, living for some
morals, and if warranted sacrificing everything to attain glory and fame. Thus leaving a
trace of our presence in this mighty world, which can be reckoned long after we are gone. Or an ordinary life
dream- less and often failing to have sufficient courage to fulfill any dreams
if any. The lifes, beliefs, values and definitions of dharma were quite contradictory
in case of Rama and Ravana. However, the truth is that both the actors were engaged
in a war and victory decided hero or villain in their legendary life stories.
Finally, fine-tuning of the basic ten emotions - Anger, Love, Jealousy, Pride,
Fear, Selfishness, Equanimity, Vanity, Success, Ambition will define the
ultimate character of a man.
Haritha
5 Feb 2013
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