Asura: the tale of the vanquished: the story of ravana and his people’ is a narrative, which depicts the ramayana focusing on the ravana and bhadra’s characters. The book spotlights their view points. This tale has attempted to escape from the dullness of recounting stories from the point of view of a victor. 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 assures. Descriptions about vamana and mahabali are given along with the meeting of jataya and ravana. Also, described is the agni pareeksha underwent by sita. An unusual angle is shown about the human emotions. A new but logical outlook is thrown at the people in regard to the varied practices that were witnessed in this epic story. Also, the book makes people consider the fact that the brahmins, back then, followed unreasonable practices. The book also questions the lifestyle of ravana and the alternatives and decisions he opted for. Besides, there is also an account about ravana’s confrontation to the gods regarding his daughter in the book. The book was amongst the names of toppers of the 2012 crossword. Also, it was on the bestseller list of cnn ibn. The book is also in the process of being translated into Hindi, Kaneda, Marathi, Tamil, telugu and Italian. It is available in paperback and can be directly ordered from amazon India. About the author: anand neelakantan was born in a picturesque small village thripoonithura, on the peripheries of Cochin, Kerala. He did his engineering and joined the Indian oil corporation besides moving to Bangalore.
