Rama of the Axe is a grand emotion once you read it. It is the first full novel by a new author on the block Ranjith Radhakrishnan and is published by Westland Books. The teasers prior to the official release put out by Westland Books piqued the curiosity and one waited to lay hands on the tome. The fantastic teasers can be watched here, here and here. They promised a rich, fantastic and perhaps terrifying saga too.
So, it was with great expectations that I sat down to read a modern retelling of the story of Parashurama. Two chapters into the book and I couldn’t but admire the author for putting in the native names of so many trees in the book, particularly those that grow in the environs of the Narmada. It felt good to see native names unapologetically put in without any attempt at translation. I don’t know most of them but I am sure I can educate myself. Parashurama’s nee Bhargava Rama’s introduction is as an intense, pensive, quiet and supremely fit mortal who also comes across as being innocent in a wild sort of way. The imagery that the author evokes of the surroundings and the jungle, one can practically picture it in the mind’s eye. The imagery is certainly not dainty, pretty and timid but wild and dense and brooding too. This applies to the entire book and one can certainly picture the story in its surroundings with great detail through the author’s articulation.
Devi Chinnamasta’s manifestation in the narrative evokes terror, reverence and awe all at once. The author also wields great prowess with poetry as he does with prose and couches very profound messages in his poetic lines. It is clear that the philosophical tenets of Sanatana Dharma are very clear in him and he evokes those at various points in the story. Another potent moment is the resolution of a potentially destructive moment in the battle between Kartavirya Arjuna and Parashurama, by Parashurama. This is a grand spectacle in the novel and one cannot but be overwhelmed by the intensity of the scene.
The author brings a world of meaning into the word ‘brahmakshatriya’ used to describe Parashurama. The standard meaning of this word is that the person being referred to is a Brahmin plus Kshatriya, but the author goes beyond this and suffuses the word with greater meaning. In the war with the asuras which he fought on the side of the devas, at one point, Parashurama stands still and focuses his yogic powers to make his axe (a divine gift from Mahadeva who is his ishta) accomplish a gigantic feat which results in the destruction of every single asura on the enemy side. The author writes: “He fought a yogic and physical battle simultaneously and destroyed the asura maya and the army at the same time”. This one sentence is quite profound and it makes the reader realise that it is his Brahminical yogic powers that are invoked for destroying the “Maya” that the asuras create while his mortal self adopts the Kshatriya role to vanquish the physical asuras. And both these powers are evoked simultaneously which makes him a brahmakshatriya. This puts paid to the oft-repeated argument that a Brahmin is not involved in war. The Brahmin is just as essential in a war as is a Kshatriya.
Another standout feature of the book is the unapologetic use of Sanskrit words without translation for various things described. For instance, it is always “nimisha”, “muhurta” and so on to denote time span. Every page practically is sprinkled with Sanskrit words which Indians would have no trouble to understand in most parts whatsoever because it is part of their spoken language whether it is Hindi or any other regional language. This is refreshing because as Rajiv Malhotra says, translating some words from Sanskrit makes them lose their potency as a lot of meaning is lost in translation. For an Indian audience, the experience becomes much richer when the Sanskrit original is retained. A foreigner reading this book may have to check for the meanings of the Sanskrit words but it will only enrich and deepen his/her understanding of the story than if a glib translation was provided. After all, when one is reading a book that comes from a certain culture, one desires an immersive experience. And Sanskrit does that. It gives that immersive experience of Bharatiya tradition and culture to one traversing through its layered and nuanced meanings.
The one thing that perhaps didn’t fit in the grand old supremely evocative story is three chapters dedicated to Parashurama annihilating some malevolent cults that are threats to Sanatana Dharma. It is not because they are not malevolent but because the author has had to do some extreme mental gymnastics to fit this in. It has meant changing the setting, the timeline, the dress and everything else and it doesn’t actually fit in the story. While it is understandable that the author wants dharma to vanquish adharma through the protagonist wherever and whenever adharma manifests, it just looks incongruous and force-fitted into the narrative. It is a small grouse but a grouse nevertheless.
The book falls right into the fantasy genre but with very deep and profound Bharatiya sensibilities. The scale and imagery are so grand that the book easily and effortlessly lends itself to an adaptation on the big screen. However, it would be a great challenge to recreate some of the scenes that the author has described. One can imagine as vividly as one wants to when seeing through the mind’s eye but to translate that vision onto the screen will be quite a creative challenge but one that can perhaps put Indian cinema on par or perhaps even surpass the creativity of Hollywood.
In conclusion, this book is completely and unapologetically Hindu and yet it can easily capture the imagination of someone who is a fan of the genre to which a book like the Lord of the Rings belongs. It is contemporary and yet ancient and unflinchingly Hindu. It will enthral a Devi upasaka, one who has Mahadeva as his ishtadevata as also a Vishnu bhakta since the protagonist himself is a Vishnu avatara. The book is unputdownable and highly recommended for anyone above 18. It signals the arrival of a new and inspiring author on India’s stage.