Vishnu reincarnates himself as a human, Rama, who happens to have blue skin, just like Vishnu. Lord Vishnu points out that there's a loophole in Ravana's special powers, which is that he can be defeated by humans or animals.

Ravana, a demon with ten heads, is taking over the universe and the gods are powerless to stop this cosmic bully. The presentation is fun and easily digestible, yet the story's majestic sweep and concepts of idealism are retained. Instead of a thousand pages, Patel uses only about 150. In the introduction, he calls it 'epic mythology without all the paper cuts.' Each two-page spread of eye-popping artwork is accompanied by a paragraph of text. I have been so pleased with this book that I look forward to future projects of Sanjay Patel with great anticipation.Animator and storyboard artist Sanjay Patel has condensed the sacred Sanskrit tale of Ramayana into a gorgeous illustrated version. He concludes the book with several pages of his sketches, and a description of how he put the story together (my favorite of the 'extras'). He also has included a narrative map which points out the various story locations. But Patel includes a glossary/cast of characters including the famous gods, warriors and demons. I find that guests are often entranced by the vibrant colors, complex geometrical shapes, and fierce beauty of the work.

His use of shapes creates a kind of dynamism, that combined with the compelling story-telling, generates the best kind of storybook.īesides being the perfect story to read to kids of a certain age, The Ramayana has become a favorite of my coffee table books. Reminiscent of one of my son's favorite cartoons-Samurai Jack-Patel's artwork continually draws me back to the book. As the subject matter involves some rather scary demons, it might not be right for the youngest kids however. It is complete enough to cover all the main events, yet not so detailed that a young reader would get bogged down in the minutiae. Admittedly, Patel has produced an abridged version (3,000 pages down to 120 ), that is the perfect size to read to one's children-as I have done. I think it's fair to say that Sanjay Patel's rendition of the Ramayana is my absolute favorite. It has, for a long time, been one of my favorite adventure stories.

And then, through visits with its various characters at several museums with Asian collections. I have had several encounters with the Ramayana over the years, first in a Hindu mythology course in college, later through its Thai incarnation-The Ramakhien.

Ramayana divine loophole online book