It is not easy to fictionalise Ramayana. Not that there are not enough versions or variations already. The same Valmiki Ramayana has been represented in different tones by the writers in South India. So, Amish Tripathi’s fictionalised novel on Ramayana raised sky-high expectations. Here is an author who put mythology on steroids in the Shiva trilogy and became one of the biggest sensations in the history of Indian Books publishing. Difficult to believe how every major publisher rejected his first book “The Immortals of Meluha” before Westland took the plunge. The Shiva series has since sold over 2.5 million copies. Naturally, the publisher and the author went for an unprecedented print run of 6.5 lakh copies - this beats the record of Chetan Bhagat who’s last book “Half a Girl Friend” had a print run of 4-5 lakh copies. To stoke demand for the new series on Ram Chandra, a cryptic announcement was made by the author at Jaipur Literary Festival this year and a month later, the publishers announced the launch date of the first book in the new series as June 22nd. Amish Tripathi mentions the series on Ram may have five books overall.
How Good is the book? Amish makes a decent attempt at pumping up adrenalin through the otherwise sober character of Lord Ram but the output falls short on expectations and misses major opportunities to build up muscular narrative and tension typical of Amish. The story opens with Ram and Lakshman’s hunt for the elusive deer that ensnared Sita in the forest of Chitrakoot and then flashbacks the part of Ramayana that begins with Ram’s birth and ends with Swayamvar. Of course, the flashback ends at the moment when Ram and Lakshman find a wounded Jatayu signalling the chopper carrying off Sita to Lanka. A pretty simple retelling, you thought. No, Amish builds a palpable drama that is part fiction and part re-imagined interpretation of the events and economic conditions of the time, circa 3400 BCE in India. Without revealing much, Amish builds an energetic pace in the first 150 pages giving a detailed overview of the kingdoms of Ayodhya, Mithila and Lanka. He gives a rich re-interpretation of what drove kingdoms to become satellites and what made satellite kingdoms depend on powerful allies, builds plot points across the first four Kandas (starting with Bala Kanda and ending with Aranya Kanda), twists many characters including Dasharath, Manthara, Kaikeyi, Bharat, Shatrughan and even Ravan but more or less keeps the principal characters of Ram, Lakshman and Sita with reverential authenticity.
What elevates the book is the degree of detail and imagination into an era that is mostly shown as cardboard cutouts in films. What happens when arrows are shot at animals? (Someone has to bring it back and clean it and put it back in the quiver) What was Ram Rajya like? (It had as much decadent society as the present with more good men who take up justice for gang-rape victims, intact, an incident truly inspired by the Nirbhaya incident forms the nub of the narrative giving life and depth to the chivalry of the four brothers of Ram, Lakshman, Shatrughan and Bharat). What was the Gurukul atmosphere like? (Hint: It was as exciting as any modern-day school). Why did Bharat ask for Ram’s sandals when he was coronated as King of Ayodhya? (The reasons pertain to concerns for safety and security of Ram during his Vanvaas). How were missiles used and how was the forest life? (There were equivalents of Hydrogen bombs used but with rules for using on civilian targets and procedures for atonement…) What are the reasons for the conflict between Devas and Asuras? (Surprise, Devas are not all that menacing…). Why was Urmila left out of the VanVaas? (Hint: She was tricked!) On the whole, Amish attempts a realistic portrayal of an era that is seldom shown in three-dimensional depth even in mythological films in Indian Cinema.
But what is to be faulted is the liberty Amish has taken with many of the aspects of Ramayana that are burnt in our consciousness, atleast in the manner that narratives by devout poets and writers have led us to believe. In the process of building an exciting narrative, I am afraid, Amish has broken many stereotypes that Ramayana-reading folks soaked up for generations. For example, Dasharath is seen as a virulent, ambitious and arrogant king who hates Rama for causing much collateral damage from the day he was born. This is quite different from the “Gummadi” stereotype we know of, from films. Another example, Manthara is not shown as a vile woman in the book, she has depth and reasons solid enough to make Kaikeyi banish from the kingdom. Shatrughn is a voracious reader and the wikipedia of sorts for all the brothers, Bharat is a serial lover and an eternal flirt. Kaushalya, contrary to the epic, is shown as the most insecure. And Kaikeyi is shown as an eternal Rama-hater, unlike what we know of her. Stuff like this gets to your nerve while the author assiduously works on the plot and punctuates the story more ore less on the lines of the epic but keeping the three principal characters true to the original epic - Ram, Sita and Lakshman. That is the saving grace which probably saved the book from getting stuck in controversies. Overall, the book is a passable attempt at re-presenting Ramayana for the modern generation but I am not happy with the treatment of some of the characters and some of the marquee sequences - like the Swayamvar, or the marriage or the manner in which Kaikeyi gets her boons granted by King Dasaratha.
From his own track-record, this book will be a notch down as the expectations raised were epochal but the prose despite being virulent lacked depth, variety and novelty. What Amish did well admirably is to research some of the circumstances and the characters seldom highlighted like Urmila, Shatrughn, Dhenuka (Wasn’t he a Brahmin killed by Rama?) and weave modern-day situations like gang-rape and missile wars to concoct. As long as one gets piqued by the book to get back to the original epics, Amish deserves to be well-read but if we get alienated from the original mythology with the concocted wildness floating out of Amish’s imagination, then the book is no different from a work of fiction. There have been many who have benefited from Ramayana and the essence of Ram and Sita for generations. There have been writers after Valmiki too who continue to rev up fervour and devotion towards the magical characterisation of Ram and Sita. C Rajagopalachari’s Ramayana has sold over 1.3 million copies, RK Narayan’s Ramayana has sold several lakh copies. Devout Pattnaik’s “Sita” has also been a best-seller. There have been many film-makers like Bapu who adhered to the original characterisation, as borne down from generations. But Amish is a writer who wants to mix mythology with verve, inject a massive steroid dose and then re-enact the scenes based on today’s interpretation. That way, he can write another five tomes on Ram Chandra series and probably has enough to plunder from Indian Mythology to write for another generation writing on Ganesha, Hanuman, Krishna, Vishnu, Lakshmi, etc. But varying some of the revered plots with ploys to make them entertaining can be self-defeating, even if it is self-serving. Indian publishing is alive to a generation of writers following in the steps of Amish writing on the most popular as well as the least-mentioned characters of Indian Mythology - like “Urmila”, “Karna’s wife’, “Vishwamitra”, “Ajaya”, “Duryodhana” and so on. This is definitely welcome but writers must feel responsible to uphold the mainstay of the Indian Mythology - the values it embodies and the essence of its goodness; you can shun its stereotypes but don’t give your spin on it. The original writers won’t claim your royalties, it is you who is making a career and a royalty out of them. I am happy reading the books by Amish and others for fun but dread the situation when people stop reading the original renditions or translations by writers like Bibek Debroy and Rajagopalachari and flock to these remix versions.
My rating: 3/5
#Amish #ScionOfIkshvaku #RamChandraSeries #IndianMythology
