Dialectics of Good and Evil: Reading Anand Neelakantan's Asura: Tale of the Vanquished

Abstract

A divine benedictory presence has been envisaged as the originator andcontroller of the cosmos by many theological philosophies around theworld. The existence and recurrence of evil in the pristine cosmic designhas been explained variously by theologians. Narratives promoting thesephilosophies in circulation in most cultures, mythological narratives beingprominent amongst them. These narratives pivot on the binary formationsof good and evil, employing the plot of perennial opposition between theforces to expand on the contradictory nature of earthly existence. There aretheological schools of thought which interpret or decode these narratives.This paper intends to view the significance of evil in accordance with onesuch branch of theological philosophy, which is known as the Samkhyaschool of Indian thought. In order to provide the context for therepresentation of evil in Indian narratives, the fictional work Asura: Tale ofthe Vanquished has been explored. Authored by Anand Neelakantan, thisre-working of the Ram-Ravana narrative, brings out various aspects of thephenomenon of evil which are demonstrably crucial to the intended study.