Revisiting the warrior prince

When you think of the Mahabharata, you think of the calm, serene Krishna and perhaps the modest Pandavas. Little do most relate to how their nemesis Duryodhana feels. But author Anand Neelakantan does just that. After his first successful mythological fiction, 'Asura — The Tale of the Vanquished', he’s all set to launch the first of a series titled Ajaya, Epic of the Kaurava Clan in December. The book is called 'Roll of the Dice'.

“Initially I never planned to write about Duryodhana. But I visited this Malanada temple at Kollam district in Kerala and was surprised to see that the main deity was Duryodhana, accompanied by the Kauravas. And it’s not a small temple. Lakhs of people attend the ceremonies there,” says the author, for whom temples have always been an inspiration. “Honestly, if you remove religion from the picture, Duryodhana is a fascinating character. Thousands of people wouldn’t support him in the battle if it weren’t for his stunning intellect and power,” he adds.

Anand also believes that the great epics are plain chronicles of historic events and not stories of good versus evil.

“It’s people who attach divinities to the epics. And it’s not very easy to write a counterpoint about something that people in our country have followed for 5,000 years. But Indians have the ability of holding two opposite parts together,” he says.

He believes that essays are never targeted by censor boards.

“It’s always fiction that bears the brunt, because it’s fiction that touches the heart,” he says. Claiming to be a lazy person who’d just like to lie down and read, he has been left quite boggled by the tight deadlines he’s working on. “For Asura, I could work at my own pace. So I had time to oil paint and read. Now that the second book in the series has to be out by July or August, I can’t be my lazy self,” he laughs.

A father of two, he then thanks his family for being supportive. Even so, “I wake up at 4 am every day to finish my writing. It’s the most peaceful hour at home,” he says. He also often tells his sons mythological stories, “but they are too young to understand. They like hearing about animal characters and tell me to write books for children, but little do they know how difficult it is to write a book,” he smiles.