Review: Lanka's Princess

Lanka's Princess by Kavita Kané
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Telling a story that has already been told innumerable times is a precarious thing to do and the best way to deal with it is to tell the story in a refreshing way without distorting any of the facts and Kavita Kane has done exactly that with ‘Lanka’s Princess’. I haven’t read the other books she has written - Karna’s Wife and Menaka’s Choice, but I’m already a fan of her writing.

The reason this book piqued my interest was the fact that the protagonist was a character who didn’t really hog the limelight anywhere in the main story. Besides, from whatever I had heard about Surpanakha, I didn’t find anything that was awe inspiring or even remotely positive about her. But then, why did the author choose to write about such a character? Curiosity got the better of me and luckily, I ended up reading an amazing book!

The story is about Meenakshi aka Surpanakha(which means “the woman as hard as nails”) who, even as a girl, was constantly at the receiving end of her mother’s hatred. Both the parents take sides with the mother siding with Ravan and the father with Vibhishan. Everyone is too busy with their own world and ambitions that they couldn’t care less for the poor Meenakshi save Kumbha, the adorable one, and her Nani, Taraka. Kaikesi, throughout her life, had only one goal and that was taking Lanka back and her means to glory was through her sons and so, Meenakshi’s birth was a disappointment that she could never really get over. She was mostly disregarded and always bore the wrath of her mother’s ire until one day Kuber shows up at her place threatening to abduct her. It is at this point that she shows her mother what she is made of and she is finally accepted by her mother into the family (although it is short lived).

Right from her childhood, you can see no love lost between Meenakshi and her brother, Ravan and that is what forms the crust of the story. Even after Ravan conquered Lanka, she wasn’t all the very happy until she met Vidyujiva who’d later on be killed by Ravan leading to Meenakshi’s transformation to Surpankha. She was destined to bring doom to her brother, her family and her race and she excels in doing so. She manipulates everyone in the story to seek revenge for every wrong that has been done to her. You can’t help but feel sorry for what happens to her and after a point of time, you can’t help but root for her.

Initially, from the stories I’ve heard about her, I didn’t think she was much of an important character but this book made me realize how instrumental she was to the whole story and it surprised me that we hardly talked about any of this all these years. From the gullible girl who wasn’t unaware of her beauty to the maleficent Surpanakha who doesn’t stop at anything to get what she wanted, it’s a ride you’ll thoroughly enjoy all the way.

Spoiler Alert:
Her conversation in the end with Lakshman and Urmila is one of the best conversations I’ve read in my life. Harsh truths with a tinge of philosophy and life lessons - none of these would have had the impact they had on me if not for the story that preceded it.

Coming to the characters in the story, all of them, right from Ravan to Ram, have been portrayed brilliantly. Especially the characters surrounding Ravan, like Mandodari, Kaikesi, Kumbha and the likes have been written beautifully. You either hate or love all the characters at one point of time in the story. Kavita Kane here has done an excellent job by not discussing the part of the story everyone knows. Instead, she eloquently narrates the tale that somehow failed to come to light or didn’t get the credit that it deserved.

There were a few editing errors that could have been easily avoided. But the writing, which is impeccable, overshadows that. She has chosen a language that is really easy on the readers simultaneously engaging the reader in the process. Books like these are rare and ought to be read by everyone. Engrossing, refreshing and sincere, this book is a must read and you’d rather not miss this.

*I received this book from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review*

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