A BOOK LIKE NO OTHER . A book review by Brig Satyendra Kumar
Lord Rama is sacred to the Indian consciousness and the scriptural holy text, ‘The Ramayana’ has stood for the ethos of India for ages. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, Lord Rama is “the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband and above all, the ideal king”. In the eternal battle between good and evil, Lord Rama gives the certainty of victory of Dharma over the demonic forces of darkness.
In this message of Dharma, human beings are guided on the way to fulfil one’s moral commitments and to seek spiritual bliss. It is stated that India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru was amazed at the fact that illiterate rural folk in India could recite verses from the Ramayana with meaning. But that really should not have occasioned surprise. Lord Rama is the very essence of the soul of India—and who better to espouse that thought than the common Indians, even if they lacked a formal education. The story of Lord Rama and Devi Sita is indeed the most beautiful and most glorious.
The ancient temple devoted to Lord Rama at Ayodhya was destroyed by Muslim rulers in the 16th century, who built a mosque over it, hoping to obliterate and crush the memory of India’s scriptural heritage, and thereby facilitate its conquest, both in the mental and physical domain.
But the soul of India could never be crushed, and now the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya is being rebuilt, a monument to symbolise the victory of good over evil. Amazing Ayodhya is indeed an amazing book written by Neena Rai.
The book fills one’s heart with joy and pride, more so to the defence fraternity as she is the daughter of an Army veteran. The book is a reintroduction to our own ancient culture, history, and civilisation in a manner that a grand crown befits a king.
Structured in six parts, the book describes Ayodhya with the inception and the importance of the person who established it and then goes on to describe geographical, cultural, architecturaland ecological aspects of ancient times in great detail, with each aspect being supplemented with archaeological, scriptural and photographical proof.
In Part 4, the author attempts to capture the sights, sounds, and smells of Ayodhya when Shri Rama walked the earth and thus takes us on an incredible journey. Neena Rai dwells deeply into the details of Shri Rama and Devi Sita’s palace and also describes the layout and roadways of Ayodhya. The authors extensive use of maps, charts, diagrams, and images, transports the reader to ancient Ayodhya like a time machine. Part 5 of the book is devoted to a mysterious ancient weapon that had the capability of killing hundreds of people in one go and has a striking resemblance to our modern-day weapon systems. The last part of the book is devoted to animals found in Ayodhya and also throws light on the armies of ancient Hindus. The book is replete with Sanskrit shlokas from the Valmiki Ramayana and is impeccably structured with a transliteration guide to help the readers. It is beautifully illustrated to enable easy understanding by both young and old readers. This wonderfully crafted book is a must read for all those who wish to rediscover the ancient wonder that was India.
Bloomsbury India Pages: 316, Paperback Price: `499/- book review by Brig Satyendra Kumar
Book has been written after lot of research.It certainly swells ones’s chest with pride to know that India’s civilization doesn’t go back to Indus Valley but much beyong that.Indus Valley was just a continuum.Written in simple English,the book is an interesting read.Satyendra Kumar’s review does justice to Neena Rai’s book ‘Amazing Ayodhya’