Saturday, January 04, 2014

Book Review [81] : Asura - Tale of the Vanquished

'Asura: Tale of the Vanquished' is one of the high selling books of 2013; written by Anand Neelkantan. The market is being flooded by the books inspired by Indian mythology and Hindu religion these days and this book is not an exception.
The author claims that this is the story of Ravana and his people from his and his people's viewpoint. Author uses every opportunity to denigrate, insult and abuse the north Indian culture, Lord Rama and all the prominent Heroes of Ramayana and he does that with full impunity by labeling it as the viewpoint of Ravana. Ravana is shown as a mighty Asura Emperor who wanted to establish a caste free society and wanted to redeem the Asuras from the evil rule of the Devas. Goddess Sita is shown as the daughter of Ravana; thus he changes the subject of the war completely. Vanaras ware shown as evil and barbarians and their earlier king who took the wife of Sugreeva is shown as just and brave. Hero Angada commits the rape of Asura queen and wife of Ravana i.e. Mandodari in this farcical story. Asura society is shown as the epitome of freedom and the example of egalitarian society while Dewa society is shown as inhumane and casteist. The writer uses the garb of Ravana viewpoint to settle his own biases and prejudices. He fulfills his own agenda against the "Brahmanic" culture of north India, and in doing so he insults Lord Rama and his entire family. Ayodhya is shown as a dirty and evil city where untouchability is the norm and people are extremely poor and barbaric.
India is a free country, one can write anything one wants but in my view point let God(s) and sacred scriptures be left as they are and they should not be twisted to salvage one's agenda or view point. Malicious literature should not be accepted in the garb of freedom of expression.
Not Recommended (0/10)

No comments: