Asura: Tale of the Vanquished. By: Anand Neelkantan

Time spent reading: 20 Hours.

As is common in most cases, the title of the book attracted me towards it. The book has received high praises from Crossword and my enthusiasm forced me to pick it up.

The book became the number one bestseller of 2012 as per Crossword list and CNN IBN

Short Summary

Asura is the Story of Ravana and his people. The book follows the fictional story of two primary characters Ravana, a poor son of a Brahmin father and a Asura mother, whose family is abandoned by their father and Bhadra a poor farmer whose family including a young daughter were brutally murdered by Deva raiders on one their war campaigns.

The only thing common between both these people is their hatred of the rampaging Devas and a certain hatred for their own actions. The other thing common among them is a vermin-like capacity to survive, no matter the situation. In every other way they are different. Ravana is physically strong, handsome, tall and a natural leader of men. Bhadra is dark, potbellied, weak and pitiful.

The story begins at the end, with the introduction of Ravana and then slowly he is joined by Bhadra. We see the world of Asuras through their eyes, we see an angry and beaten Ravana, who through sheer will power and hostility begins the rise of the Asura empire, to eventually become the ruler of all of India. Bhadra on the other hand is propelled only by the will to survive. His desperation and will to please Ravana push him to immense actions of strength, valour and cunning all for it to disappear when that moment passes. After that you are left with a weak, broken man who feels worthless.

A young Ravana goes into hiding once, along with his brothers, here they have a chance meeting with an old Asura ruler who has gone into hiding. Under his guidance, Ravana learns the old Asura manners and way of ruling, after this chance meeting, Ravana does not look back. He sees his ambition materialising in front of him, some Asuras from old ranks after seeing the hunger and fire in Ravana join him. Ravana with the help of these handful men builds an empire so that his people the Asuras can live with pride and honour, just like they did in the past.

But can a Utopian society really exist? What sacrifices does he make in achieving his dream, chasing power and taking care of his family? How and why his mighty empire crumbles right in front of him from the complete story Other principal characters are Sita who is Ravana’s daughter, the two young princes of Ayodha, Bhadras wife and her Son, Ravanas brothers and his counsellors. All these characters pay a vital role in taking the story forward

My Review

It is true that history is written by the Victor, but there is always the narrative of the vanquished which lingers on in hush whispers, myths and legends. The first opportunity that it gets, this narrative finds its voice and jumps out to make it case. This book is one such voice. It is written from the point of view of the Asuras, who were once a mighty and proud race and were routed by the Devas from their homes and kingdoms.

We have been listening to stories from the Ramayana from before we could talk and so the central characters and their names are so ingrained in our memory that it becomes difficult for us to fathom them in any other guise. Unlike other similar stories written around these central characters, I did not find it hard to adjust to narrative here, as the primary character is one about whom we know very little. The story is narrated in flashback and moves in a linear manner from there, the storyline is easy to follow and you will not find yourself turning the pages back and fro to keep track of the story. All the characters are all very well written and each one has a rich back story; each new character helps in taking the story forward. The writing is simple and you will not be required to sit with a dictionary to read through the pages, while it is not wise to make comparisons but while the Ramchandra series by Amish focuses on a deviation from the original mythological story in this one the writer has made an honest attempt to highlight the rampant and still relevant caste system that exists in the society. Bhadra in one of his commentaries to himself confesses that he himself does not know why he behaves in such an inhuman way with people of casts lower than him, but he knows no other way. The people of castes higher than him treat him in that way and he assumes that how you treat those who are below you. In some aspects this book also shows a mirror to the society in general where people with darker or browner skins are treated differently

The tempo of the book is a bit up and down, scenes with the highs of battles and action punctuate what is basically a sad commentary on the state of society. This is Anand Neelkantan’s first book and in some passages of the book I could make that out. His obvious attempt to show the devils of the caste and the varna systems forms an underlying theme of the book, the general hypocrisy of the human race is also displayed abundantly throughout the book. Also portrayed though subtly is the helpless of women in having any sort of control over their own futures. If you get a chance, I would recommend you read this book, the writer’s descriptions of each of the characters is simply superb and the writing during the wars is wonderful as well.