Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta by Amish Tripathi (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

19^th Book of 2020!

It is such a wonderful feeling when you finish a book by your favorite author and also end up finding the book as one of his best works. I am just done reading “Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta” – the latest i.e. 3^rd book written in the Ram Chandra series by Amish Tripathi. The first two books in this series were based on the characters of Ram and Sita respectively which I have already reviewed. I had found Ram to be engrossing as Amish had redefined the story in his version but I wasn’t much impressed with Sita due to the repetitiveness in respect to Part 1. But talking about the latest book in the series which is based on Raavan, I must say that this is the best book among the three and something which is now making me look forward to the 4^th and 5^th book in this series curiously.

This book is also of almost the same number of pages as Ram and Sita but Amish’s writing in this one is what he is known for- great incidents, retelling of epics in his own way, giving religious insights, acknowledging the facts of Vedas, sharing Sanskrit shlokas and mantras in between, deciphering the philosophical aspect out of the scenes etc. Even when the book is of about 370+ pages but it never bores you with the way narration has been done with regular time-jumps to ensure only the special events from Raavan’s life are given big coverages. The description of events, aesthetic values in scenes and characterizations along with their correlation is done in a crisped manner which makes you imagine so much throughout that after finishing, you’ll feel you have just done watching something on screen. The action-packed scenes are just too good and I must say it is the USP of this book.

Raavan as a character has always been misunderstood by us who are aware about Ramayan but this book makes him so known to us but still kept unknown. Yes – that’s the way the story and character has been presented to us. Sometimes, you’ll find him genuine or barbaric or emotional or pitiful or justifying or non-dharmic or you might love him at times and detest otherwise. Raavan’s characterization by the author makes this book a landmark in Indian writing. Similarly, Kumbhakarna’s portrayal is something which wins your heart in each and every chapter.

Some points that I would like to mention which impressed me are as follows: - the importance of “108” number in India in the initial chapters itself which makes you excited to know many such stuffs further in the book. The whole description of Vaidyanath temple celebration made me feel the same ecstasy as Raavan. Recently, when I started getting involved in religious activities, I always wanted to understand why Lord Vishnu’s idol is made in black with such big eyes which is very well explained by Amish in a sequence of Jagannath temple. A scene where Raavan makes a little girl kill her father is speechless- I don’t know how to explain the impact of that scene on me as a reader. There’s one poetry that’s mentioned which has been written on the relationship of Sun and Earth – it’s so beautiful that I don’t even find such poetries in the Poetry collection books by the new-age authors. Raavan’s emotions for Vedavati and that whole big section which covers the major segment of this book is very beautiful- little Bollywood-ish but it keeps you glued. And talking about the climax of the book- IMPACTFUL! It makes you excited to read the further part eagerly.

Now talking about the drawbacks of the book:- Well, there is not much I could find out but I must say that the book has few scenes which are very violent. Hence, some people who can’t take it might feel uneasy while reading it. Secondly, not all characters are given equal weightage like Raavan and Kumbhakarna which makes the other characters almost negligible in this story. But this has also been a good point about this book that like every book written based on mythology and epics, this one doesn’t have too many characters to confuse the readers. Thirdly, I felt that the story is written in a manner which sounds quite modern whereas I feel that author should keep the aesthetics of the ancient India more alive while writing so that it keeps us connected with our roots – It shall be another benefit of reading such books.

Overall, this is one of the best works of Amish Tripathi for sure. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5 undoubtedly. Please do read it to experience an impactful story about Raavan – the biggest villain we ever had.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA