Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished, The Story Of Ravana And His People Quotes
"I am not afraid of death. I have been thinking of it for some time now."
"A lonely star is simmering in the depths of the universe. Like the eye of God."
"Nothing matters now. I will pass out soon. The pain is excruciating."
"His fatal arrow struck my lower abdomen."
"It’s not easy to laugh when one’s guts lie spread around like a wreath."
"I can feel the hot breath of death on my face."
"I had been born to fulfil someone else’s destiny."
"The only thing we had in abundance was poverty. And hunger. Also shame."
"Why were only a few able to control the power and wealth while the rest obliged them?"
"A man should be true to his word; he should speak from his heart and shouldn’t do anything he considered wrong."
"I think the Vedas were a load of humbug."
"The moment I started asking why, I was branded a hothead."
"I strongly believe in God and am always willing to pray for my material and spiritual progress."
"The Asuras were a casteless society and had a highly democratic set up."
"I will never try to be a God. I will live exactly as my emotions tell me to."
"I kept running for the sake of my dear, useless, meaningless, hollow, shallow life."
"The world lay with wide open arms, inviting me to join in this exhilarating journey of life."
"I saw with mixed emotions of pride, jealousy and anger."
"A civilization draws its pride from the cities it has built, the books it has produced, the artists and artisans it has bred, the temples it has built and so on."
"It took seven months for the great empire to crumble, an empire which had taken a thousand years to reach maturity."
"When an empire crumbles and many small states spring up, we know the time has come to build a new empire."
"The first duty of a conqueror is to aim the mightiest blow possible on these edifices of civilized existence."
"Wars are inevitable, so is cruelty. Most animals are successful killing machines."
"The circle of killing went on. Could man stop it?"
"Violence was the very foundation of nature. Every moment something became prey to something else."
"The drama of survival took place all around my camp, with life hunting or being hunted in turn."
"If more people fell at my feet like this, I might not only start enjoying it but even start demanding it."
"The advantage is that decisions are fast and implementations swift. The disadvantage is that with a bad ruler, bad decisions are also implemented quickly and the country could suffer."
"I whispered death into her ears and she understood."
"Come out, you coward," she taunted and then burst out laughing.
"I felt so many things as I stood there with my sword hanging limply in my right hand."
"She was a dance girl. She did not know her name."
"He froze. I put on my best smile and walked deliberately towards him, measuring each step."
"I was not happy or satisfied, it was not enough, but I had learnt the hard way that life does not satisfy you completely."
"Her lovely mouth was inviting enough for me to narrate my life story."
"She gave me love and I gave her hatred instead."
"I could see the lit palace in the distance. I was still a wanted man and it was dangerous to move about, but I did not have a choice."
"I saw the pirate-king’s ship against the dark horizon. The sea became rough."
"I felt ashamed of my nudity, my impotence, and ran out of the room covering my groin."
"You surprise me, Your Majesty. You visit your guest’s chamber in your loin cloth?"
"It was a clear winter morning when I was surprised from my sleep by a hullabaloo in the street."
"The more I thought, the more reckless and foolish it appeared to me."
"I could assemble only a few hundred soldiers. Half of them were dead drunk."
"Let the people of my kingdom see the man who was responsible for their miseries."
"I did not dare to. She would be there, waiting for me."
"The smell of country liquor hit me like a blast."
"I will not accept any form of exploitation."
"Our bodies for the earth, our lives for the Asura race."
"The streets were filthy and urchins ran around naked."
"I don't want to kill an old man who cannot fight. Surrender and I shall spare your life."
"Then fight us, you old rascal," Ravana bellowed.
"I will not demean myself by fighting a Shudhra."
"Then die at the hands of a Shudhra." Ravana roared.
"You Shudhra, I curse you in the name of Vishnu."
"Scourge Vishnu, drink the blood of your devotee."
"Do you require a girl’s biography, before you rape her?"
"Once you have finished with me, please leave me alive for a few minutes. I want to see your king, Ravana, the great Asura,"
"But.. I am Ravana." my voice trailed off.
"You are drunk with power, intoxicated with ambition."
"You tyrant. . .you dog. . .You’ve made my child weep like this and you’ll pay for it…you’ll pay for it dearly."
"Kill me! Kill me also, and use my old body as a stepping stone to your political success,"
"I value your wise counsel, my Prime Minister, and I respect your wisdom. I shall be guided by you."
"It might be disgusting but you have to do it."
"I hope what we are doing is the right thing. . . I feel sorry for the girl. . . and of course, for the Brahmin lady."
"This was a lucky baby and I hoped she would carry that luck through her entire life. She was my master’s daughter, a princess of Lanka, an Asura princess, but born with a curse, a death warrant for her blasted race."
"I prayed to Shiva to keep her happy. I prayed she would grow into a lovely princess and marry some good Deva prince who would keep her happy forever."
"Perhaps that would be her revenge – the revenge of an Asura princess on a proud and heartless race that wanted her dead even before she had a chance to know life."
"Merchants who did not accept the Deva ways were slowly excluded from the palace."
"People spoke longingly of the rule of Mahabali, when everyone was treated as equal."
"This was my country, my race, my King, and how dare they come and spoil our culture?"
"Mercy was a word the Deva raids had taught us to discard."
"Ultimately, the victories do not matter, nor pride or glory, only survival matters – one’s life and successors, the clan, race and language."
"Life was too short for fighting wars and too sweet to throw away on silly things like ambition."
"Only the mightiest, the bravest, and the most skilled among you, will win the hand of my beautiful daughter today."
"We were the invisible people and did not count."
"Life was rushing past all of us. One day he would be gone and I would be alone."
"You could kill Rama and his brother and bring Sita back after telling her the truth about her birth."
"In the deepest corner of my mind, I knew we were the lesser children of the Gods, and even a compassionate and all-powerful God like Shiva, would look at the colour of our skin and flinch."
"I promised you a world where all men and women would be treated as equals. I promised to give you back the golden age of Mahabali."
"The only meaning of life was that it did not have any meaning."
"The world was indifferent to the trivial pursuits of men. It was indifferent to whether Rama or Ravana won."
"Violence alone ruled the world. Everything else was a brief interlude, a pause before violence struck with more viciousness."
"I saw the grotesque face that was hungrily being devoured by the flames that woke me, my heart thudding in my chest. It was the face of the Asura Emperor."
"Rama, was it worth it? The blood you have shed will haunt you and this country for years, long after all of us have gone."
"I was an Asura and an Emperor. Such acts were not part of my character and went against my sense of fair play and justice."
"I was a fool and should have taken the opportunity while it presented itself. So I lie here now, betrayed and cheated, bleeding and being eaten by rodents, slain by lesser men who used dubious means to kill and win."
"The journey back was hell. A big bird, a huge vulture, became entangled in the huge fans that propelled Pushpaka."
"I could see the wide-eyed surprise in Sita’s face when the first sight of Lanka caught her attention. For a moment she forgot her grief."
"I do not want to die. I want to live forever."
"The sky was dark with black fumes. The smell of burning flesh made me retch."
"I desperately grasped for the meaning of this maddening phenomenon called life."
"Once I forsook you, but never again. You will understand what sort of a husband you have, only when the protection of your old father ends."
"I prayed it to be over. One way or the another."
"The sun baked my back. With my knotty fingers over my eyes, to shield them from the blazing sun, I scanned the palace balconies."
"Yet, his face remained noble and impassive, his posture erect and proud."
"But who could find fault with the youth? I had behaved worse with my father."
"But sons are sons, whether they were born in a palace or a hut."
"It was a beautiful night, except for the recently widowed women and orphaned children."
"I was both thrilled by and afraid of what the Asura Emperor was doing."
"I wanted to get drunk and forget everything."