Publisher’s
write-up:
‘The
Mahabarata endures as the great epic of India. But while Jaya is the story of the
Pandavas, told from the perspective of the victors of Kurukshetra; Ajaya is the narrative of “unconquerable”
Kauravas, who were decimated to the last man.
***
At
the heart of India’s most powerful empire, a revolution is brewing. Bhishma,
the noble patriarch of Hastinapura, is struggling to maintain the unity of his
empire. On the throne sits Dhritarashtra, the blind Kind, and his foreign-born
Queen – Gandhari. In the shadow of the throne stands Kunti, the Dowager-Queen,
burning with ambition to see her firstborn become the ruler, acknowledged by
all.
And
in the wings:
· Ekalavya, a young Nishada, yearns to break free of caste restrictions and become a warrior.
· Karna, son of a humble charioteer, travels to the South to study under the foremost Guru of the day and become the greatest archer in the land.
· Takshaka, guerrilla leader of the Nagas, foments a revolutionby the downtrodden as he lies in wait in the jungles of India, where survival is the only dharma.
· Jara, the beggar and his blind dog Dharma, walk the dusty streets of India, witness to people and events far greater than they, as the Pandavas and the Kauravas confront their searing destinies.
Amidst
the chaos, Prince Suyodhana, heir of Hastinapura, stands tall, determined to
claim his birthright and according to his conscience. He is the maker of his
own destiny – or so he believes.
While in the corridors of the Hastinapura
palace, a foreign Prince plots to destroy India. And the dice falls…’
Roll of the Dice is the first book in the Ajaya series written by Anand Neelakantan. The author already having tasted
success in his earlier counter-perspective novel Asura, featuring Ravana as the
protagonist contrary to the ancient Indian novel Ramayan, he does it yet again,
with Ajaya, featuring Suyodhana (mocked in the victor’s version as Duryodhana)
as the lead character and the whole story is from the perspective of the
Kauravas.
Note: I’m going to assume that you’ve some knowledge on Mahabharat
and hence, I believe I’m not giving any spoilers in the subsequent paragraphs.
The prologue starts with Bhishma, the Grand
Regent of Hastinapura ransacking the Kingdom of Gandhara and taking Princess
Gandhari as the bride for the blind Prince of Hastinapura, Dhritarashtra and
ends up committing the blunder of leaving the Princess’ younger brother,
Shakuni alive which was going to backfire several years later. The story
immediately shifts early days of the Pandava and Kaurava princes, their mischief,
their schooling, the rivalry between the cousins, etc. Prince Suyodhana is not
satisfied by the way things are run at Hastinapura owing to the misery of the
poor, the prevalence of the caste system, suppression of talent among several
other reasons and is determined to succeed his father and change the way things
are run at Hastinapura.
To start with, it was a very courageous
attempt from the author; while it isn’t too difficult to write a book featuring
Karna despite him having sided with the antagonists in Mahabharat since a lot
of people have a very positive opinion on the character and in fact have a lot
of sympathy towards him but it does take some courage to feature Duryodhana as
the lead character, someone who has only been portrayed as the very
personification of all evil deeds and considering that, it was certainly a
challenge to make the reader like this character as the protagonist and see
things from his perspective but the author goes about the task very well. For
starters, he made the character oppose all the systems that most of the members
of his target group hate, that is, the caste system, an unquestionable
authority, having no value for merit and of course, an education system which
doesn’t encourage any freedom of thought. I wouldn’t say that there is anything
particularly noteworthy about the plot considering that it isn’t something that
needed any deep though; however, I’d appreciate the author for maintaining the
crux of the story of Mahabharat despite narrating it from a counter
perspective. One more thing I liked about this book, purely from a personal
angle was the portrayal of Krishna, whose actions, I totally don’t approve of,
at all, in the original work and at times wonder how despite such actions of
treachery, deceit and manipulation, people still see him as someone divine and
the author brought out these characteristics of Krishna so explicitly which I
so thoroughly enjoyed. The author’s pragmatic view over the whole novel was
another thing that was very interesting, the way he saw the so called divinity
of the Pandavas, the way he narrated the supernatural incidents of the original
text in a perfectly logical way, was certainly very enjoyable to read. It was
also good of the author to give a background to the story, as to why he decided
to write a story on Duryodhana and substantiating the same with his personal
experience in Poruvazhy, in his native state, Kerala. The last I’d say is that,
he writes with a lot of flair which is sadly lacking in most of the popular
Indian authors of the present day (barring a couple of editing issues which I
shall gladly overlook considering that the alternatives are authors like Chetan
Bhagat and Amish Tripathi).
A significant disappointment of mine in
this book was again, the character of Suyodhana. While this point might seem
contradictory since a while ago, I had praised his characterisation but, I
found his behaviour to be contradictory; like how he backs merit in all other
cases barring in his own considering how he himself had acknowledged once that
Yudishtira was more capable than he was, however, he was strongly of the
opinion that Yudishtira had no legitimate claim to the throne considering he
didn’t have the paternal lineage. In a way, he supports merit for everyone else
barring him making him an ordinary hypocrite and not the ‘Mr. Perfect’ he tried
to be. Moreover, it is also surprising that someone who is so assertive, who
could didn’t hesitate challenge the authority of Bhishma or Drona, could so
easily be drawn into the devious plot of his uncle Shakuni. Barring this, I
found the emphasis on Jara completely destroying the flow of the novel. For
starters, Jara wasn’t even a significant character, had absolutely no role in
the main plot, sings blindly in praise of Krishna despite his idol having no
respect for him and his kind whatsoever. Jara was certainly a digression that
could’ve been avoided and also something that could’ve shortened the book by at
least forty pages.
On the whole, I’d say that this was a very good read and was a real pleasure to go through a book that mirrors your
thoughts on something where you hold a view contrary to the view of the majority,
in this case, Mahabharat. This is a very good read and could be enjoyed if you’ve
a fair idea of Mahabharat (though, it is not a pre requisite, just that if you
do, it could be enjoyed more) but if you find this review in any way
blasphemous to your long held beliefs, I suggest you to not read the book.
Based on the start that the author has given to the story, I’m eagerly awaiting
the sequel.
Rating
– 8/10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
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