DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SABBAVARAM, VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA

PROJECT TITLE: ASURA: TALE OF THE VANQUISHED

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

NAME OF THE FACULTY: MS. BEENA PUNJABI

Name of the Candidate: S. KRISHNA VAMSI

Roll No. : 2017095
Semester: 1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher MS. BEENA PUNJABI
madam who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic of book
review on book of my interest and the book which I reviewed is ‘ASURA: TALE OF THE
VANQUISHED’.
 ASURA: TALE OF THE VANQUISHED

Introduction:
This book was written by Anand Neelakantan and his style of writing is narrative style, this book
contains 500 pages and was published in the year 2014, this is the first book written by him.

Central theme:
Told from the viewpoint of Ravana, the antagonist of the Indian epic, Ramayana and Bhadra, a
common Asura in Ravana's service, the book follows an alternating narrative style. The story of
the Ramayana had been told innumerable times. The enthralling story of Rama, the incarnation
of God, who slew Ravana, the evil demon of darkness, is known to every Indian. And in the
pages of history, as always, it is the version told by the victors that live on. The voice of the
vanquished remains lost in silence. But what if Ravana and his people had a different story to
tell? The story of the Ravanayana has never been told. Asura is the epic tale of the vanquished
Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed castes of India for 3000 years.
Until now, no Asura has dared to tell the tale. But perhaps the time has come for the dead and the
defeated to speak and this book is completely about Asuras and Ravana mainly. This narrative is
a blend of history, religion and mythology. The book has aimed to demystify the blunders done
by the Deva clan, which is represented as conventional and prejudiced. Also, it throws light on
the liberation enjoyed by the Asuras.

Positives:
Maybe it is because it challenges the accepted norms about Rama and Ravana, which is difficult
for someone who has heard one version of the story from childhood to accept. Some complained
that the character of Ravana did not have a consistent characterization. I think this is deliberate
and what makes the book more real. Everyone is a shade of grey....and every human is a mixture
of inconsistencies. A true characterization of Ravana cannot paint him consistently evil but it has
to be more an internal conflict between noble intentions and wrong choices which the author has
portrayed successfully."Asura" is a very unique take on the Indian epic "Ramayana". While
Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama's triumph over the evil demon Ravana, this book is the
story from Ravana's perspective; the king who lost the war. Like every legend that grows over
thousands of years, Ramayana is full of fantastic events and unrealistic occurrences (Ravana's ten
heads, Hanuman's jump over the ocean etc.). However, it is obvious that these exaggerations
must have had some real and fundamental truth to them which then evolved into the fantastic
story that we now know as Ramayana. Anand Neelakantan does an excellent job of weaving
together a very realistic picture of what might have been the actual events which now have
turned into legends and myths. Ravana was a great ruler; flawed but great. Even the Ramayana
acknowledges the fact that Ravana was a very learned and able ruler. The empire eventually
crumbled due to infighting, betrayal and Ravana's ego, culminating in a great war precipitated by
Ravana's abduction of Rama's wife, Sita

Negatives:
The quality declined slowly and the shortcomings became glaringly evident.
1. The story is stretched beyond requirement and the narrative felt intentionally
dragged in places. The actual story ends in 400 pages and the final 20% of the volume
is simply unnecessary addendum.
2. Inclusion of totally unnecessary details in places most of which pertained to sex,
seemed odd and distracted from the main story.
3. There were a lot of grammatical and editorial errors prominent which pointed to a
shoddy job by the editor.
4. One word to summarize the author's thought process while penning the
novel: Confused. Initially, I thought it was the use of the unreliable narrator which
made the story slightly conflicting in places. But on completing the book, it becomes
evident that the author hadn't thought through the complete story. I wasn't able to form
any opinion of the major characters even after completion because all of them
oscillated between extremes. 
5. Use of the words like "sorry", "penis" etc alongside words like "apology",
"manhood" hinted again at poor writing and proofreading quality.
6. The author seems to have some prejudices against the color black. Every reference
to black (usually in terms of skin color) is accompanied with "ugly", "disgusting" or
"evil".
The story picked up some slack towards the end but failed to salvage itself. To the author's
credit, it is indeed a fresh perspective on the epic Ramayana. However, he could have done a
better job if he had put more time in research and in re-reading the final draft.
Character sketch:
1. Ravana
2. Bhadra
Ravana is the main charecter of the book and much of the story revolves around him. Bhadra
describes everything from a common person’s point of view or rather from a poor person’s
prospective. As this book is about same set of people i.e., Asuras and hence each and every
character can’t be explained in detailed.

Story in brief:
The ancient Asura empire lay shattered into many warring petty kingdoms reeling under the heel
of the Devas. In desperation, the Asuras look up to a young saviour – Ravana. Believing that a
better world awaits them under Ravana, common men like Bhadra decide to follow the young
leader. With a will of iron and a fiery ambition to succeed, Ravana leads his people from victory
to victory and carves out a vast empire from the Devas. But even when Ravana succeeds
spectacularly, the poor Asuras find that nothing much has changed from them. It is then that
Ravana, by one action, changes the history of the world.

The novel is basically dictated by 2 protagonists: Ravana and Bhadra which I feel is the strongest
thing about this book. Both the characters depict almost the same incidents in their own ways
and according to their thinking which shows the difference between point of views of rich and
poor. Ravana describes about his feelings and his ambitions from a teenager’s point of view
initially and then, further describes the problems of handling an entire empire from a ruler’s
point of view. While Bhadra describes everything from a common person’s point of view or
rather from a poor person’s prospective.

The novel being about Asuras doesn’t mean that the author has gone to the extent of glorifying
Asuras and Ravana! Infact, I appreciate the way the author has very beautifully depicted the
good and bad at both sides. The thing that makes the story of this novel different from the old
laid ones (mythological books) is that the author has dared to exude the good side of Asuras and
has emancipate the evils which laid in Devas society! These 2 things are very contrary to what
we had grown up listening to! We had been taught that Asuras were all about bad and Devas
were all about good!
This book has given a very strong and audacious challenge to those old set notions and
convictions! Both the sides have been shown as 2 human civilizations and nothing more than
that! Ravana is not shown as a demon with literally 10 heads and having black magical powers!
Rama is not been shown as a God who had the power to call for special weapons by just one
mantra whenever and wherever he want to! There are no Gods showering flowers on the win of
Rama… Demons are not shown as cruel and heartless creatures flying around everywhere
wearing black cloths, killing everyone! There are no deities shown who sit in darbar of heaven,
watching the beautiful apsaras dancing… there are no demons shown with huge teeth, weird
looks and all! It’s a book where Devas and Asuras both are shown as mere human beings who
are parts of 2 different cultures and society and who has no special powers!

Assessment:
The concept of narrating the story from the defeated’s point of view is really good. What I
especially liked about the narration is the fact that the author is narrating the story from the point
of view of two people and the contrast between the two narrations is remarkable. Ravana narrates
the story from the time of his birth, telling us about the hardships he faced as a poor in Lanka and
his big ambitions which led him to Mahabali before finally making him the King of Lanka. Once
he sits on the throne of Lanka, the narration is from the point of view of the King. In a stark
contrast to this, we discover Bhadra, a commoner who though completely loyal to Ravana is
misunderstood a lot many times and narrates the story from a poor man’s point of view. While
we all have heard that Lanka was the golden kingdom, Bhadra tells us much more about the
situation in a commoner’s Lanka. Another good thing about Asura by Anand Neelakantan book
is that the author does not seek to defame the Ramayana, or glorify Ravana, he just makes an
attempt to bring out the loser’s tale.  He makes us question the norms, and realise that maybe the
evil is evil because it was depicted so, maybe there is another story or another rationale behind
Ravana’s actions which ultimately led him to his defeat. Why did Ravana abduct Sita? Did he
really intend on making her his queen or was there some other reason behind it. Maybe there was
another rationale behind his action; maybe his intentions were not as bad as have been portrayed.
Winners always defame the losers; maybe that is what has happened with Ravana too. The book
was the portrayal of Asuras and Devas as not gods and demons but two contemporary
civilizations fighting for glory and kingdoms. They were as human as any of us are now.