Prince of Ayodhya
I have always been very interested and fascinated by Indian culture and mythology, especially all those stories about our Gods and Goddesses, and when at some book sale way back in September of 2003, I saw this book titled Prince of Ayodhya – Book One of the Ramayana by Ashok K Banker, I immediately picked it up. That was one of the wisest purchases I have ever made!
My friends all thought I was crazy to be reading the Ramayana of all books. Somehow everybody has this misconception that you read the Ramayana and Mahabharatha and other such books, only when you’re old?! I get this all the time, even as recent as last week, when I was reading this abridged version of the Mahabharatha by Chakravarthi V Narasimhan (recommended to me by Ashok K Banker, himself!).
Anyway, Prince of Ayodhya was a roller coaster ride and I loved it! Never before had I read or thought of the Ramayana in this way! I loved the book so much that I felt I must tell the author this. I searched the internet and the book publisher’s website and found a link to Ashok’s website – www.epicindia.com. I left a comment on his website and was in for a shock when a day later, the author mailed me!
That was the start of a series of conversations about the Ramayana and various other epics and also the start of a friendship with the author. I have never heard of another author, anywhere, who is more accessible to his fans.
The Ramayana is being told in a 6 part series, of which 4 have already been released –
Prince of Ayodhya,
Siege of Mithila,
Demons of Chitrakut, and
Armies of Hanuman
Books 5 and 6 (below) will be released in Jan 2006 and May 2006 respectively–
Bridge of Rama,
King of Ayodhya
Prince of Ayodhya is the first and the last book I ever bought of Ashok K Banker! Ashok has been kind enough to send me autographed copies of the rest of the series! He also honoured me by acknowledging me in the Armies of Hanuman! Thanks Ashok!
A few days back, I decided to re-re-read the 4 books, but this time at one stretch! It was great fun and over the next few days I shall post my reviews of the same here.
The following is a review of Prince of Ayodhya that I had posted on amazon.com. Read on…
Rama.
Thus begins the retelling of The Ramayana, one of the most holy epics of the Hindus, and that one word, I feel, conveys infinity.
Ashok K. Banker has taken upon himself the task of retelling this mammoth epic and the first book “The Prince of Ayodhya” gives us a very good idea of what to expect in future volumes and that feeling is a very good one. What an amazing writer!
Ramayana is an epic with many characters with complex histories and the author does a splendid job of introducing us to the characters and their past. He literally transports us into the world of Rama and spares no detail of the world we have been transported to. His style of writing makes the book a ‘un-putdown able’ book! Once you start--you’re addicted, the author captivates our imagination and senses and manages to hold our attention right till the very end, where he leaves us in a state of hunger for further volumes.
Readers must realize that the Ramayana is not just this one book, but the entire series as a whole. We can only begin to comprehend and appreciate the Ramayana once we finish that final 6th book, until then we have to go with the flow and enjoy where the author takes us, which is probably even beyond his control, but the author can make the trip a pleasurable one, which I believe Ashok K Banker is doing very effectively.
Some western readers complain that they find the use of Indian words a little trying, but I say to such people make the best use of this opportunity to learn something new! The usage of these words makes the book complete, because certain words and phrases cannot be translated and even if they can be translated, they may lose their essence.
On the whole the book is simply brilliant and is a must read not just for Indians, but just about anybody who wish to read a story of love, brotherhood, dharma (duty) and not to miss the evil that lies in wait…The Ramayana is of course all this and much, much more.
I say get this book now and join Rama on an adventure that should not be missed.
For more details visit Ashok's Website - www.epicindia.com - and also visit his blog - http://indianenglish.blogspot.com/
Jai Shri Ram!
posted by Sabarish @ 10/09/2005 02:42:00 AM
Hi Sabarish, was excited when I saw a post on Ramayana ... I love the indian epics Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagavata and so on ... particularly after I've read them in detail ... I've also seen this book in the stores .. would buy it soon ... I'm planning to buy book on ramayana from gita press
me blogrolled you .. check out my page
It is a great series indeed. I picked up the books from Gangarams since I saw them on your blog, and it has been a nice experience for me.
But makes me wonder if the siege of mithila has been craftily taken off from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy? Too many similarities, I must say...
Rohan, yaar, I don't blame you for assuming that I 'took off' on LoTR. Would you believe me if I told you that as a young boy, I first noticed the similarities between LoTR and our mythology? Or the dozens of similarities between Star Wars and Ramayana? Let me point out a few Star Wars similarities:
--a guru and a shishya (Vishwamitra-Rama, Obi Wan-Luke)
--the 'blue' light of the 'force' (described in the Upanishads as the 'blue' light of the 'force' of brahman)
--a great future leader who remains ignorant of his own destiny and place in the universe (Luke Skywalker, Rama--avatar of Vishnu)
--Brother and Sister, children of the Evil Darth Vader (in Buddhist Ramayana, Rama and Sita are brother and sister and are the children of Ravana)
--using the 'force' to fight (dev-astras, like the maha-mantras 'bala' and 'ati-bala' which Vishwamitra trains Rama and Lakshman to use)
George Lucas admitted frankly to being heavily influenced by "oriental mythology" which of course includes Indian myth. Tolkien had studied mythology, and based his stories directly on Celtic mythology, which comes from the same period of our Vedic age, more or less and has many similarities.
My question is this: Was Valmiki influenced by Tolkien or by George Lucas? No? Then how do you explain the similarities between Star Wars, LoTR and our ancient epics. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time is based on our Samay-Chakra. Another author refers to the world as being carried on the back of a giant turtle upon four elephants (also Hindu and Buddhist myth). Another has a city named Hastinapura and a king named Vikramaditya!
My friend, wake up and look around--the west has taken from us for so long, that when we see our own works, far more ancient than their's, we think 'we have copied from them'!
Not only have I not copied or 'taken off' from LoTR, I can show you emails from the producers of the LoTR films which show they were aware of our Ramayana--they are currently reading my Ramayana books in fact!
I don't claim to be Valmiki, but I do request that you have some respect for your own heritage and culture. Every Indian is not a Bollywood-ka-Mahesh Bhatt to ape the west. I have tried to write my own vision of our oldest epic, and if there are similarities with western stories, it's because they have copied so much from us, it's difficult to prove what was our's in the first place!
:~)
Oh, and goobe, how rude of me, I totally forgot to say thanks for that very nice write up about my books!
To quote myself: "It is not necessary to hate Ravana in order to love Rama." You are proof of that.
@ Saravana - I did visit your blogs. I think you recently became a member of Epic India right?
Hi Ashok!
Well said! You put it across perfectly - and I think you would have heard this comparison to LOTR/Star Wars/etc quite a few times now.
It's about time we got to know our own past better and through the words of an Indian author.
Regards,
Goobe! :~)
Yeah.. I agree somewhat with Ashok's comments. It could be the other way round as well. But (pardon me for my ignorance) I wonder if any other public version of the Ramayana has mentioned about the brahman shakti and the use of devastras to aid the city of mithila in such detail. Naturally, LOTR is a logical conclusion, wont u say?
A sermon on pespect for traditions and heritage was a bit too much to read. East copied from west or west copied from east... tough to answer (for me) in this case, the end product is good ;-)
Ramayana insights which may interest you: www.ramayanayb.blogspot.com