Title: Ramayana:
The Game of Life – Book 1 – Rise of the Sun Prince
Author:
Shubha Vilas
Publisher:
Jaico Publishing House
Year: 2013
Genre: Hindu
Scripture/Epics
Pages: 256
(Paperbound)
Source: Personal Copy
Ramayana is a
story that has seeped into every soul of Hindustan. Ramayana is no longer a
mere story to read and forget. There is so much to learn from these epics and
can be easily adopted into our daily lives. Many books have come and gone, and
each of those books adds a taste and personal viewpoint. As a reader, I feel
fortunate enough to read many version of Ramayana.
Shubha Vilas
has drawn inspiration from the original author of the Ramayana, Sage Valmiki
and tried to present us a best possible version of the epic. The little anecdotes
and footnotes explaining the real story and the interpretation of that particular
event related to the modern day world is a good way of showing how Ramayana can
be seen and adopted into our lives. Shubha Vilas has broken this epic in to a
series of 5 books, of which, the first book which covers the birth of the
protagonist of Ramayana, Lord Sri Rama.
This book
mainly covers the Bala-Kanda of Ramayana i.e. the childhood days of Rama. But,
the author puts it in a different way. As per this book, the Bala-Kanda refers
to the days of sage Vishwamitra, the spiritual guru of Rama. The book entirely
focuses on the birth origins of Rama and his brothers Lakshmana, Bharata and
Shatrughna. Also, it covers how Vishwamitra became the celebrated Bramharshi
after failing to seek revenge against his arch rival, the ever greatest sage, Bramharshi
Vashishta.
The book has
been written a lucid manner. Once you start reading it, you won’t feel like to
stop it in midway. It keeps its readers hooked to the book. The book has been
organized into main chapters and subchapters. Including the tale of Ramayana,
the book also presents us with the many short stories that directly or
indirectly linked to the Ramayana. One such stories is of Ahalya’s curse by her
husband and Killing of the demons Maricha, Subhahu and Tadaka. The fascinating
tale of how Vishwamitra became the revered Bramharshi by doing severe
austerities and the sad story of Trishanku being held upside down for his
lifetime in the heaven created by the sage Vishwamitra, etc… Each and every
story happened outside the purview of Rama has been linked in one or the other
way to Ramayana.
As the story
keeps running further, we get the read the stories of how Rama and his brothers
have grown up from being toddlers to infants to teenagers. As expected, we also
read about Vishwamitra’s visit to Ayodhya to ask King Dasharatha to send his son
Rama with him to achieve some predestined tasks.
The books
ends on a happy note of the wedding proceedings of Rama with Sita. The stories
of breaking the Bow by Rama and an encounter with his predecessor Parashurama
will add a good factor to see Rama’s growth as a divine incarnation. Finally,
the book ends when Dasharatha reeling from a nightmare decides to coronate Rama
as his successor to the throne.
My Rating:
5/5