This weekend i had got the opportunity to read a good book (Asura: Tale of the Vanquished by Anand Neelkantan) on Indian Mythology. It is his first book and was a fascinating read.
I have grown up watching Ramayana on TV and then reading different stories based on the epic war between Ram and Ravana. In those stories Ram and Ravan has been shown as God and Monster with mythical magical power. So mostly i had assumed that these are the pure works of fiction and lets gather whatever moral value we can get from it.
But recently after reading Shiva Trilogy (Amish Tripathi) it has started dawning that maybe there is a real story behind all the grand stories of our mythology. Maybe the real event has been hidden and obscured by the salt and pepper added to these stories.
So in this book the story of Ramayana has been told from the point of view of Ravana and one of his aid Bhadra. Ravana is telling the story from the point of view of his struggle and rise to glory and the problems he faced while ruling and empire. He tries to tell us why he did what he did.
Whereas Bhadra being a lowly aid of Ravana, tell the story from the point of view of a poor citizen of any kingdom. How he loves and hates Ravana at the same time. His comparison of Ravana with Rama is very interesting to read.
While reading we get to realize that in everyday some of the things which we see as virtues can be real evil from another person's point of view. Good and evil are the opposite sides of the same coin.
This book tries to provide an answer to some of the questions like
Asura and Shiva Trilogy both have Shiva as one of the central theme. However in Shiva trilogy it is shown that Shiva descended from Kailash long after Ram Rajya ended. But in Asura, Shiva existed long before Rama and was the god of Asura's for a very long time. This is a disconnect and maybe Amish can explain the reasoning behind it.
I have grown up watching Ramayana on TV and then reading different stories based on the epic war between Ram and Ravana. In those stories Ram and Ravan has been shown as God and Monster with mythical magical power. So mostly i had assumed that these are the pure works of fiction and lets gather whatever moral value we can get from it.
But recently after reading Shiva Trilogy (Amish Tripathi) it has started dawning that maybe there is a real story behind all the grand stories of our mythology. Maybe the real event has been hidden and obscured by the salt and pepper added to these stories.
So in this book the story of Ramayana has been told from the point of view of Ravana and one of his aid Bhadra. Ravana is telling the story from the point of view of his struggle and rise to glory and the problems he faced while ruling and empire. He tries to tell us why he did what he did.
Whereas Bhadra being a lowly aid of Ravana, tell the story from the point of view of a poor citizen of any kingdom. How he loves and hates Ravana at the same time. His comparison of Ravana with Rama is very interesting to read.
While reading we get to realize that in everyday some of the things which we see as virtues can be real evil from another person's point of view. Good and evil are the opposite sides of the same coin.
This book tries to provide an answer to some of the questions like
- Why did Ravana not hurt Sita? She was helpless and in his captivity. If we ignore magical powers then it is improbable to think that a mighty ruler of vast empire will be afraid of a woman.
- What happened to Lanka under Vibhishana's rule?
- How was Ram Rajya in essence? What were the fundamental differences between Rama's ruling and the Ruling of Ravana?
- What happened to Ram and Laxmana in the end. In many stories i have read that they simply went to Dev Loka (abode of gods), which i think is an attempt to hide some interesting details.
Asura and Shiva Trilogy both have Shiva as one of the central theme. However in Shiva trilogy it is shown that Shiva descended from Kailash long after Ram Rajya ended. But in Asura, Shiva existed long before Rama and was the god of Asura's for a very long time. This is a disconnect and maybe Amish can explain the reasoning behind it.
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