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  • Asura

  • Tale of the Vanquished: The Story of Ravana and His People
  • Written by: Anand Neelakantan
  • Narrated by: Denzil Smith
  • Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (380 ratings)

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Asura

Written by: Anand Neelakantan
Narrated by: Denzil Smith
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Publisher's Summary

The epic tale of victory and defeat

The story of the Ramayana had been told innumerable times. The enthralling story of Rama, the incarnation of God, who slew Ravana, the evil demon of darkness, is known to every Indian. And in the pages of history, as always, it is the version told by the victors that lives on. The voice of the vanquished remains lost in silence. 

But what if Ravana and his people had a different story to tell? The story of the Ravanayana had never been told. Asura is the epic tale of the vanquished Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed outcastes of India for 3,000 years. Until now, no Asura has dared to tell the tale. But perhaps the time has come for the dead and the defeated to speak. 

For thousands of years, I have been vilified and my death is celebrated year after year in every corner of India. Why? Was it because I challenged the gods for the sake of my daughter? Was it because I freed a race from the yoke of caste-based Deva rule? You have heard the victor's tale, the Ramayana. Now hear the Ravanayana, for I am Ravana, the Asura, and my story is the tale of the vanquished.

I am a non-entity - invisible, powerless and negligible. No epics will ever be written about me. I have suffered both Ravana and Rama - the hero and the villain or the villain and the hero. When the stories of great men are told, my voice maybe too feeble to be heard. Yet, spare me a moment and hear my story, for I am Bhadra, the Asura, and my life is the tale of the loser.

The ancient Asura empire lay shattered into many warring petty kingdoms reeling under the heel of the Devas. In desperation, the Asuras look up to a young saviour - Ravana. Believing that a better world awaits them under Ravana, common men like Bhadra decide to follow the young leader. With a will of iron and a fiery ambition to succeed, Ravana leads his people from victory to victory and carves out a vast empire from the Devas. But even when Ravana succeeds spectacularly, the poor Asuras find that nothing much has changed for them. It is when that Ravana, by one action, changes the history of the world.

©2012 Anand Neelakantan (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Asura

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing Narration by Denzil Smith

At first I thought who would read about a Villains story as our movies portrayed Asuras as Villains.
Anand showed what the Asuras life will be In lanka lands and he showed Ravanas life from his perspective. Denzil's Narration gave life to this story. He really inacted every scene with different vocal sounds for each characters in the story.

Each and every character is well explained and the narration created an interest to listen to this story everyday. Waiting for more from Anand and will read all the stories which are narrated by Denzil Smith.

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10 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • JS
  • 06-10-19

Strongly opinionated

The book is strongly opinionated. At every point in the book, one segment of the people are *always* right and other are *always* wrong. It becomes too repetitive after a while.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

perspective changer over Ramayan

not geeky like ramayan, no magical chants or astras
simplicity in potraying Ravan's life
good one...! definitely recommend one

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A must to listen

Beautifully expressed the auras pint of view which gives a good perspective to the other side of story. Truly interesting

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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An epic retold from the oppressed persons view.

Truly an epic told from the eyes of the oppressed with a cynical humour connecting to today’s politics. A great listening experience.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A different view of Ramayan

At the beginning i was not liking it but as the story grew i started enjoying it. i just wanted to finish tbe book as soon as possible as it was so interesting. this book is from view point of Ravan.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A welcome dissent.

Asura is a well written book and a treasure to those interested in alter narrative of Ravana. The author should be appreciated for his writing a mythology with a rational and realistic approach.

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Please dont listion this

It's an unless speak which had nothing to understand. I’ve listened more to the ten books but this is worst of them, so please don't waste your time on this.

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Distasteful

Started listening, but couldn't get past one hour. A classic case of portrayal of the viilian as a victim. At least that's what it seemed after listening to what little I actually did.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

only for a perspective hearing

the book is quite different to the thought of Ramayana as read and seen by most of us. book tries to give a sneak peek into the life of ravana.
however, there are a lot of points where it seems references are taken from the Indian version of Ramayana and colour it with that of the Asura. e.g. Sita giving the Agni test, death of Laxman, Ram/Laxman getting healed miraculously when hurt
in fact, the Hindu version of Ramayana gives a lot more praise to ravana as a bhakt of Shiva, Brahma and the shiv tandav; whereas this book proclaims ravana to be a mere human

at best a good one time read..

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