Ravan the enemy of aryavarta by Amish Tripathi
Book review
Spoilers none since it’s based on Ramayana, one of the most well known puranas!
Rating-3.5/5
According to the famous director Mani Ratnam, every story can finally be attributed or linked to the Puranas that is Ramayana and Mahabharata!
No wonder then that everyone wants a piece of the puranic pie with so many stories to eat!
And by humanizing the characters, you can tread in safe territory!
Many authors including Amish have done that successfully and how!
First the very famous Shiva Trilogy and now the Rama Series!
The problem with series is the wait! After gobbling Rama and Sita, I had to wait close to two years for this installment and apparently there will be two more!
So the confusion is whether to wait and binge read all the books in a go or read as they come!
Luckily I did not face the same problem with the Shiva Trilogy since I started reading the first one when the last one was getting released! Plus it was only three books!
Of course like everything, the first is always the best! And even though the Rama Series is more elaborate and descriptive, it tends to be repetitive and there seems to be an urge to infuse gore and violence to elevate the squirming…
Then came the Sita and I was really amazed at the credit and respect given to a lady and deservedly so!
Coming to this particular book, you can understand that however you narrate the circumstances, Ravan will be cruel and a Asura so to speak!
As in his previous works, Amish has tried to infuse puranic lores and tried to give his twist!
He had a good run with the Shiva Trilogy and here also he does get some of the emotions right!
A similar attempt was done by Anand Nilkantan in a book called the Asura. But I felt that book lost its direction in the middle and a side character called Bhadra got all the meaty role!
At least for now, Amish has kept the narrative going smooth with a good grasp on the linking of the three books which is not a small feat!
Many stories as we know have been twisted and modified to his desire! It may sound off but it also implies that Amish has read the Puranas and it’s versions!
He also sometimes goes for monologues on Dharma and Karma using different characters which like the John Galte monologue of Atlas shrugged may be tiring for some!
As expected, Ravan is shown to be having the intelligence of ten heads! Cunning and very egoistic!
Like his previous novels, he does try to infuse current affairs in the Puranas! So while the Nirbhaya influence was seen in one episode of Rama, here you have an explanation of the Sabarimala fiasco! Mild spoiler alert!! Imagine kumbakarna going to Sabarimala and both Ravan and Kumba uttering, ‘Swamiye!’
Many characters from Ramayana have found their place in different forms though the treatment of some may not gel well with some!
The battle scenes have been the highlight of all the books and they have been repeated in this one too! It was a good revision for me since it’s been years since I read the last one! But for someone who is planning to read in one go it may be irritating!
The famous Vishwamitra Vs Vasistha battle may be explained in the next book!
At this rate though it’s going to be a long wait! The reason why I hate series!
All in all I would actually rate this one better than Sita since it took time to release and it shows!
Now the long wait starts!
“Jai Rudra!!”
Write fast Amit, we aren’t getting any younger!
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