REVIEW

SCION OF IKSHVAKU

                                'Scion of Ikshvaku' is a fantasy book by Amish Tripathi, an Indian writer based on the great epic Ramayana and on Lord Ram, the
 legendary king regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. Scion of Ikshvaku is the first book in the Ramchandra seris. This book would appeal to those who want to know the story of Ramayana is told through the modern eyes. The key characteristics of this book are strong women characters and the debates on moral issues.
                                     The story begin with King Dasharath of Ayodhya, Emperor of the Sapta Sindhu region in India, being defeated in a war by the Lankan trader Ravan, because he objected the demands related to trade made by the Ravan. And Ravan monopolizes the entire trade system in India. Dasharath's second queen Kaikeyi saved his life in battlefield. At the same time, in Ayodhya, Kaushalya,the first queen of Dasharath gives birth to their son Ram.
Following this, Ayodhyans told that, 'Dasharath defeated and Ram born'.Because of this Dasharath hated Ram. That's why Ram's childhood was not happy, because he was ignored by everyone. And he hated Ravan , because Ravan was responsible for all this unhappy childhood of Ram.
                                                     After few years Ram and his half- brothers Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughan are sent to 'Gurukul' of sage Vasishta for their education. Under Vasishta's gurukul, Ram becomes a skilled warrier. After his education, Ram got the job of maintaining 'law and police' in Ayodhya.
                                               Roshni, the daughter of a wealthy trader Manthara, is sister-like to the four brothers. One day after her work she murdered due to a gang rape. The culprits are all executed expect Dhenuka, because he is underage. And Ram is a strict follower of the law so he forced to imprison the boy. But Manthara influences Kaikeyi and Bharat secretly murders Dhenuka.
                                           By the time, Dasharath's attitude towards the Ram changes and he announces Ram as the crown prince. After this Ram and Lakshman sent to help the sage, Vishwamitra to stop the Asura attack on his hermitage. Ram convinces Thadaka, leader of Asuras to go to another land. After this, Ram and others went to the Kingdom Mithila and Ram meets Sita who is the adopted daughter of King Janak. Sita is the prime minister of the kingdom Mithila. Like Ram, Sita is also a strict follower of the law. In the swayamvar of Sita, Ram wins and marries her by defeating Ravan.
                                           The next day Ravan came with soldiers to attack Mithila and Ram forced by Vishwamitra to use the biological weapon Asurastra, though its usage is not allowed by the Lord Rudra. But the Lankan army is defeated and Ravan escaped in his Pushpakviman. Ram,Sita and Lakshman returns to Ayodhya and decided to take a 14-years of 'vanavas' for breaking the rule of Lord Rudra. Sita seeks help from Jadayu for getting 'somsras', a medicine to retain youth.
                                       After 13-years of vanavas, one day the sibilings of Ravan, Vibishan and Shurpannaka went near Ram for the purpose of alignment and stayed with them. And Shurpannaka tried to kill Sita and Lakshman cut her nose. When Ravan knows this accident from Shurpannaka, he came and kidnapped Lady Sita by killing Jadayu.Ram happened to know that, Sita was kidnapped by Ravan, from  Jadayu.
                                               There are 30 chapters in this book. The first chapters narrates the state of the mind of Ram after Sita was kidnapped by the Ravan.From this in the style of flashback the author begins the story.The language used in this book is very simple. And when we starts to read this book, we feels that, this book is very interesting and force us to read till the end of the book.And also in this modern re-telling of the epic, the time settings of the story is in 3400BC and tells about 'Ramrajya'.And Amish presents strong women characters like Manthara as a wealthy trader and Sita as the prime minister of Mithila.


                                                                                        ALPHIN FRANCIS