Asur Tale Of The Vanquished By Anand Neelakantan

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Recommended: Religious conflict and war

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012) is a remarkable attempt by Anand Neelakantan to reconstruct fiction from a viewpoint of a demon from the ever-popular epic Ramayana. In a brave attempt, the author portrays one of the most dreaded characters in a unique version of a tale—a vanquished voice of a common man—silenced for eons—now speaking out his survival tale of eternal struggle. The author by interweaving, religious convictions and historical details employs fiction so as to provide a very powerful social commentary coming from none other than the most hated antagonist ever—Ravana himself. The novel raises several forbidden issues of color, race, untouchability, gender, with a hope that the marginalized and discriminated individuals find As a consequence, Ravana eventually decides to cast-off his Brahmin inheritance, his fair skin and proudly embrace his mother’s lineage—from an unknown Asura caste— but also a proud inheritor of Mahabali, Hiranya, Hiranyaksha—emperors shaping the Indian civilization. Vibhishana, one of the younger siblings of Ravana is a contrast of his ‘progressive’ brother. While Vibhishana favors Brahmnical tradition, Ravana condemns him as he introduces the wretched Deva tradition of the caste system. In a same vein of creating wider rift, the Brahmins started gaining a steady control over people. They began propagating customary rituals such as wearing a sacred thread and looking down on other people. In a persistent attempt to create mass awareness, Neelkantan exposes a grim reality with the upper caste people of India who go to the ridiculous heights and preach untouchability. “Rowdy elements among us would rush and embrace, or at least touch, the pure Brahmins returning from their purifying baths. No sooner did one of us touch one of the super-pure Brahmins; the entire bunch would curse us […] would return to the Ghat to wash us off their bodies. (Ibid

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