Book Review

Ravana Redux: A thriller for young adults 

By

Randeep Wadehra

The return of Ravana Book 1: Pyre of queens by David Hair
Puffin. Pages: x+230. Price: Rs. 225/-

Our mythology, especially the two epics, offers almost infinite scope for generating story ideas for novels, movies, poetry and theatre. One can re-interpret the characters, adapt them to modern situations or give the legends contemporary contexts. Attempts in this regard have been made in various Indian languages, most notable being Acharya Chatursen’s Vayam Rakshaameh that humanizes and historicizes various places and characters in the original Ramayana, including the main protagonists Rama, Lakshmana and Sita as well as their chief antagonist Ravana.

Hair’s is a different take on the same epic without actually borrowing much from its contents, barring the dramatis personae. He has weaved a modern thriller around Ravana that would keep young adults engrossed – chilled spines and all. He has imaginatively mixed Hindu mythology with its now defunct, and banned, practices like Sati and age old belief-systems like rebirth. He has chosen Rajasthan as the stage for the main story with the eighth century town of Mandore being the origin and today’s Jodhpur as the setting for an exhilaratingly climactic narrative.

Three teenagers, Vikram, Amanjit and Deepika, study in a school in Jodhpur. They become friends after initial hesitations and animosities. Soon they discover that theirs is a love triangle that goes back to the eighth century kingdom of Mandore, where the trio of Madan Shastri, Aram Dhoop and Darya played different roles in the court of the evil king Ravindra Raj. The king wanted to acquire the powers of Ravana – invincible in war, ever youthful and one who would never die. He is able to get his hands on a secret formula that would turn his dreams into reality. For this he would have to die and be burnt on a pyre along with his seven wives – who would be committing Sati. Ravindra conspires with his son to execute his plans. Everything is going smooth when, suddenly, the timid Aram Dhoop gathers enough courage to elope with Ravindra’s youngest queen, Darya, thus triggering off a chase that spans almost fourteen centuries through several cycles of deaths and rebirths. The stalkers comprise evil human beings as well as ghosts, not to mention the malevolent semi-reincarnation of Ravana. Goosebumps? Ooh!!!

In fact, one of the main strengths of Hair’s novel is the taut description of the chase in the desert – it is hair-raising and nerve wracking even as the love triangle is played out amidst all the tension. My only plaint is that he could have been less explicit in the scenes displaying Ravindra Raj’s bestial sadism inflicted upon his elder brother.

Hair has obviously done his homework. He is able to give distinct traits to each of the characters in the story – making Ravindra Raj look a credible heir to Ravana’s vile heritage. The tempo is fast paced, and the suspense is skillfully maintained even as the fear factor operates effectively on the young readers’ minds. He takes great care of Hindu orthodoxy’s sensibilities and makes sure that he writes nothing to unnecessarily raise anybody’s hackles. Even as the main battle between the good and the evil is being played out in the narrative there is a subplot that keeps one riveted. It deals with women’s, especially widows’, vulnerable situation in our society. The manner in which Kiran is exploited and abused by her brother-in-law is portrayed realistically but with great sensitivity.

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