Vanara - Anand Neelakantan - Book Review

Hindu mythology has always been a treasure trove of stories. I grew up listening to the fantastic stories or myths related to the Hindu gods and other characters in the mythology and it has always been a wonder to me even at this age. Asura which was one of Anand's previous books was a good read. To add to that Bali was one of my most favorite characters in Ramayana prompting me to have a go at the book.

The book travels mostly through the thoughts of Sugriva and Tara. Shunned by Devas and Asuras equally, the Vana naras are the inferior tribe when it comes to status. They are not entitled to education and mostly do menial jobs like carrying night soil or doing their house hold chores of other tribes. Determined not to die slaves, they study under Ravana and once back build a city of their own, Kishkinta. Tara the village doctor's daughter and Bali are in love with each other which Sugriva detest as he too loves her. This turns him against Bali who blindly loves his brother. What happens next is the remaining story and this is delicately wound with the legend that is Ramayana.

The book has a good start on how Bali and Sugriva try to break out of being Dasas and starts working towards a world for their own.But half way into the book, it seems to lose steam. Bali is sketched as being the naive one who is as innocent as a baby not seeing through his brother's intentions and Sugriva is shown as the villain. Bali seems to be brilliant in terms of planning and strategy but he being a total dummy regarding his brother is unacceptable. It gives us the feel that Sugriva is            portrayed too dark to show Bali as white. In his previous books, Anand Neelakantan maintained the grey shades of the characters brilliantly. Tara did not have much of a role in the initial part of the book. Towards the second half, she becomes a regular. Whenever she comes up in the book, the story is somehow steered towards lust which does test our patience. Even her characterization seems marred by inconsistency. His previous books seemed to talk about a lot of topics like the caste system and the clans along side their life. But here even though it started nice, it steered to lust for Tara and Sugriva's psychotic obsession for her. We can even feel a typical desi movie feel to the story.

Anand had always told the story of the ones in our mythology who were vanquished (good prevails over evil) and given them a grey tone instead of just picturing them as dark villains. The book is a quick read much smaller than Asura and Ajaya. The good narrative in first half is affected seriously in the second half by some shoddy writing. Bali could have been shown in a different way instead of a dumbly innocent person. There is a boom in Indian mythology in modern times with writers coming forward with many stories from various point of views. And it is not easy to make them work among readers. For lovers of mythological stories, this might be a simple read; nothing to ponder about.

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