The epic story of Ramayana has be retold multiple times. While most of us are likely to recognize Ramayana with Ram as the main character, we rarely hear the story from the other characters. And how it must have felt like to read it through their eyes.
Below are some of the books that retell the story of Ramayana through unique and different perspectives:
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1. Sita – Warrior of Mithila by Amish Tripathi
According to writer Amish Tripathi, his novel, Sita: Warrior of Mithila, chronicles the story of Sita from infancy to captivity, but it is not the Ramayana told through Sita’s eyes. He thinks that a book like this will interfere in the western age, where females are battling to be acknowledged.
This novel, the second in the Ram Chandra Trilogy, includes Sita as the lead character and is a balancing blend of contemporary and traditional elements.
The book is set in 3400 BCE on the Godavari river and focuses mainly on Sita’s forceful personality. Sita is a combatant, archery, and a superb administrator in this distorted rendition of the Ramayana, rather than an ideal, timid, and subservient wife.
2. Sita’s Sister by Kavita Kane
The book recounts the great Ramayana story from the perspective of Urmila, a lady with tenacity and devotion unmatched in the historical records.
Urmila, Sita’s sister, and Lakshman’s wife is one of Ramayana’s most underappreciated protagonists. Sita has opted to stay behind and care for her in-laws as she gears up to go exiled. This novel will explain why she continued to stay in the castle for 14 years, having to wait for her spouse.
3. Lanka’s Princess by Kavita Kane
The tale follows Princess Meenakshi, also referred as Surpanakha, through her life and legacy, as well as her emotions of pain and wrath. Ravan’s renowned sister, Surpanakha. She is frequently portrayed as awful looking and unrestrained, harsh and fearless. Somebody whose nose was slashed by an enraged Lakshman and who initiated a battle.
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Was she, however, merely a war criminal? Was she a sufferer, or maybe she was a perpetrator? Was she referred to as ‘Lanka’s princess’?
While we are all familiar with Surpanakha, few of us are acquainted of her real name, Meenakshi. There’s a lot more to learn about the princess of Lanka, who is the kid of Kaikesi and Vishravas and the cousin of Ravana. Her pain, rage, yearning, and vengeance are palpable to the peruser, and she is highly relatable in today’s environment.
4. Hanuman’s Ramayan by Devdutt Pattanaik
This novel has a lighthearted tone to it and presents the Ramayana story as Lord Hanuman might have recounted it.
The images in this comic series are patterned on Mithila folk paintings. This is Hanuman’s interpretation of the Ramayana, told in a lighthearted manner.
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5. Sita’s Ascent by Vayu Naidu
For those who believe the Ramayana concludes with Ram defeating Ravana, this trend began with Sita, who is six months pregnant, being transported to Valmiki’s ashram.
“Stories, apart from giving hope, must be told and shared so everyone can try to understand the experience of life from another point of view,” in Vayu Naidu’s new novel Sita’s Ascent, Sita mentions this. The chapter includes a fascinating look inside the thoughts of Ramayana’s protagonist.
6. Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi
While Ram is depicted as God in all traditional literature, this text by Amish Tripathi takes a fresh approach by characterizing Ram as a common prince.
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If you’re familiar with the Ramayana as you’ve traditionally remembered it, you’ll be surprised by this novel, which is also the first in the Ram Chandra Series. The story is shorn of all its mystical components, and Amish’s Ram is very much a human hero.
7. Asura by Anand Neelakantan
The work attempts to retell the Ramayana remarkable story of the demonic king Ravana and his followers.
The Ramayana appears to have solely been told from the standpoints of the victorious throughout antiquity. In Asura, the story is told from the perspectives of Ravana and the inhabitants of Lanka. Finally, the novel begs the question of something was terrible only because it was depicted that way, or if there is another tale behind everything.
8. Sita’s Ramayana by Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar
This story told through the eyes of Sita, the monarch, explores the fate of women, kids, creatures, and the environment caught in the heat of combat.
This graphically striking graphical novel offers a lovely but straightforward depiction of the Ramayana from Sita’s point of view. The captivating pictures in this book represent Sita as a fit and capable lady, providing a glimpse into the life of females who became stooges in men-vs-kingdom warfare.
9. The Queen’s Play by Aashish Kaul
The story concentrates around Mandodari, Ravana’s monarch, and how she becomes one of the most powerful characters in the fight.
Mandodari, the evil king Ravana’s wife, is only mentioned once in the ancient Ramayana. Despite the fact that the book does not devote much time to the Ramayana, it does catch up on specific incidents and weaves them into the game of risk.
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