Rama, hero of the Hindu epic the Ramayana, showed the author of the Ash Mistry
trilogy what true heroism is: swords and magic armour aside, it means
self-sacrifice, humility and defending the weak
Monday 8 December 2014 03.40 EST
I grew up reading the Greek myths. I
loved Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus (many a rainy day spent drawing his epic
battle versus the Minotaur) and the heroes of the Iliad. Time went on and I
became a fan of the Norse Gods. Odin, Loki, Sif and the whole golden, brooding
crew. Oh to have a pair of pet ravens!
It wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I
really discovered Indian mythology. I travelled around the subcontinent and the
Far East as visited places as awe-inspiring as anything out of a fantasy book.
The palaces of Angkor Wat. The labyrinthine streets of Varanasi. The
monasteries of Tibet. Why live in Middle Earth when you had places like this,
for real?
The idea of writing a series sent in the
East took almost 20 years to come to the page. The Ash Mistry
trilogy takes a modern, British kid and hurls him neck deep into the war
between the gods and monsters of Indian myth. I want to give the reader a taste
of the magic of the Eastern world, take them on adventures beyond the now-familiar
tropes of Western fantasy. The first book, Ash Mistry and
the Savage Fortress is set in the holy city of Varanasi. The next in
Kolkata and the last in Tibet and China. It’s about reincarnation, about
destiny, and about making the ultimate sacrifice. It’s about becoming a hero.
But I wanted my hero, Ash, to be based not on Thor or Achilles, but on an
Indian hero. And the biggest of them all is Rama.
What Rama showed me is the universal
nature of true heroism. Simply put, swords and magic armour aside, it means
self-sacrifice. To put all others, loved ones and strangers, before yourself.
To defend the weak. To be humble and generous in victory. Things that might be
called “old-fashioned”, but I prefer to call them “classic”.
Rama is the hero of the Indian epic, the
Ramayana. Reduced
to its bare bones it’s the story of how a prince gives up his claim to his
father’s throne, lives as a peasant in the forests with wife and younger
brother, and how he battles against a demon king to reclaim his wife when she
is kidnapped. The demon king, Ravana, is one of the greatest villains in
literature.
Honourable in his own way, it is his
pride that is his downfall. He will not bow to a mere man. Even a man like
Rama.
Rama doesn’t want war. He is not a
glory-seeker like Achilles, nor a boastful blow-hard like Thor. He is quiet,
thoughtful, and devastating. Both a man of peace and god of war.
I think this duality is why, perhaps,
Indian mythology is harder to access than more familiar and partisan myths of
good guys and bad guys. But that’s what makes it so special and Rama one of the
most human heroes of all.