Book Review #80: Shattered Dreams: Ramayana Series: Book #2: By Shubha Vilas

Title: The Shattered Dreams

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishing

Genre: Mythology

Pages: 250+ (Paper bound)

Source: Personal Copy

The first book in the series (The Rise of the Sun Prince) will end on a happy note of 12 years of successful marriage of Rama to Sita. They enjoy each and every day like never before. They were the true testimonial of how a married couple should behave towards each other. The book also explores further into the growing up Rama where he takes his responsibilities seriously and serves his elders with utmost respect. All days were passed without any deviations. People of Ayodhya were able to lead a peaceful and prosperous life until the King Dasharatha decides to coronate his son Rama as the next heir apparent of the Ayodhya.

The Shattered Dreams narrates the entire story of how the unblemished Rama was unfortunately awarded the exile of 14 years. How the deceitful Manthara was successfully able to brainwash Queen Kaikeyi by asking her to remember her two boons from Dasharatha that he had promised her long back.

The story in this book showcases the sacrifices made by many people including Rama who happily agreed to go to the forests for 14 years without even asking a single reason. He had respected his father Dasharatha’s words by every bit of it. Sacrifices made by Sita who readily asked Rama to take her to the forests along with her. Though she was never accustomed to the life of forests, she lived up to her name following the Dharma as a loyal wife of Rama. Apart from these, there is a radiant Lakshmana who accompanied Rama and Sita despite the strong protests from both. And lastly, we should never forget the sacrifice made by the wife of Laskmana’s wife Urmila. She readily agreed to stay back and look after her aged and widowed mother-in-law’s and wished all the success to her husband Lakshmana.

All said and done, the conduct of Bharata is worth to mention here. He readily disagrees with his mother Kaikeyi and repents for not being around in Ayodhya when all these things has happened without his knowledge. He ridicules his mother and tries all his might to get his beloved brother Rama back to Ayodhya. When Rama declined to the requests of Bharata, Bharata made sure that he also never steps in to Ayodhya. He constructed a small hut outside Ayodhya and placed Rama’s footwear on the throne and was ruling the kingdom on behalf of Rama.

Though we have grown up hearing this epic from various sources and watching many television series covering the same but after reading this book, one would definitely understands the real meaning of the tale and how it can be adopted to real life scenarios.

The footnotes and anecdotes in every page is the biggest plus point in this book. It adds a great value to the story. The notes are very educative, knowledgeable and a great source of quotes for those who are quote collectors. There are also great leadership and management lessons given under various circumstances. Two particular incidents worth to be mentioned on this aspects are the questions that Bharata asks himself whether he is eligible to rule the kingdom and the other scenario where Lakshmana asks himself whether he is allowed to advice Sita or Rama.

Overall, I have experienced a very new tale of Ramayana. Leaving its main plot as a known phenomenon, I have also had the fortune of reading many sub-plots and intricate details of the Ramayana. This book series is a must read to get a new perspective of how to look at things from a more broader perspective and definitely an eye opener towards myriad duties and responsibilities which we forget to value at times.

My Rating:

5/5