Vol. 9, Issue 6, Part A (2023)

Abstract
Asura Tale of Vanquished is a brave attempt and worthy of attention, written from the perspective of Ravana, by Anand Neelkantan. Majorly the fiction follows the version of Sanghadasa’s Jain Ramayana and Adbhut Ramayana. The story of Ramayana has been told innumerable times from the perspective of Rama but the author came up with his unique style of narration. In Asian countries, Ramayana has thousands of versions of its own kind and unique style to tell. In a brave attempt, the author portrayed the character of Ravana in a unique and glorified manner breaking the stereotypical images of the character. The novel provides a vanquished voice of a tragic hero who speaks for his family and people. The character of Ravana is progressive throughout the novel he is introduced as a brave, courageous, a man full of ambition and a tragic hero who ultimately leads to downfall because of his misfortune. Aristotle developed the concept of 'Tragic Hero'. According to him, a character should have the qualities of noble and heroic traits but a fatal flaw that leads him to ultimate downfall. He established the concept of catharsis and anagnorisis too for the formation of 'Perfect Tragic Hero'. The purpose of the paper is to study the character of Ravana in the light features of a tragic hero given by Aristotle.