The Armies begin their march: Indian Express and Telegraph pick Armies of Hanuman in their best new books lists

This little snippet on Armies appeared in The Indian Express, New Delhi, on Sunday, July 3, 2005.

It’s part of an interesting piece on new books, Indian and foreign. So I was in good company.

Take a look at the full article by clicking on the blog-post title (above).

And for those of you who are still wondering what to do after finishing Armies of Hanuman and while waiting for Bridge of Rama, here’s a hint…

Post your comments on the book right here and now!

I certainly want to know what you felt about it. Good, bad, or indifferent.

Armies of Hanuman
By Ashok K Banker
The freshness of Prince of Ayodhya hit us like a sledgehammer in 2004. Three books later, while that freshness is taken for granted, Banker’s storytelling remains taut, feeding on the travels and travails of Rama. In Armies, Banker takes a 13-year hyperjump from Demons of Chitrakut where Rama with his rag-tag army decimates thousands of rakshasas, to the peaceful environs of Panchvati. Which is around when Ravana, lying dormant in Lanka, resurrects and abducts Sita, setting the stage for Bridge of Rama.

This pocket-review appeared in The Telegraph, Kolkatta, another publication I respect.

It’s not as adulatory as the IE one, but that’s fine – every reviewer is entitled to his or her own opinion.

It is listed in an article on best new books, though.

Armies of Hanuman: Book Four of The Ramayana (Penguin, Rs 350) by Ashok K. Banker is the fourth in Banker’s modern retelling of Rama’s story, and takes on his journey to the kingdom of Lanka. For Banker, this story is “not about ‘hindutva’ and the politics of religion, but about ‘inditva’, Indian pride, and a story too great to be saffronised or sanitised.â€? This is a hybrid retelling, in which Amar Chitra Katha meets Iravati Karve meets the modern fantasy blockbusters meet the Indian TV serial meets computer games. The prefatory author’s note shows wide reading, but the end-product is not-quite-sophisticated kitsch: “Ravana lived. In the cosmic maelstrom of his mind…he saw through the eyes of rakshasas in the habitat,many miles above his private den-chamber, milling about in confusion as the news of their master’s reawakening rippled through Lanka like a sea-typhoon.â€?

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