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Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India [Paperback]

Jonah Blank
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 2000
The three-thousand-year-old epic Ramayana chronicles Lord Rama's physical voyage from one end of the Indian subcontinent to the other and his spiritual voyage from Man to God. In Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God, anthropologist and journalist Jonah Blank gives a new perspective to this Hindu classic -- retelling the ancient tale while following the course of Rama's journey through present-day India and Sri Lanka. Ultimately, Blank's journey -- like that of Lord Rama -- evolves into a quest: to understand the chimerical essence of India itself, in all its overwhelming beauty and paradox. "Quite possibly the most perceptive book that I have come across on India since the British Raj ended." -- Pranay Gupte, The Washington Post; "What Hollywood attempted on the big screen with casts of thousands in Gandhi and A Passage to India, Jonah Blank has achieved in 350 stylistically rich pages." -- Los Angeles Times; "This informative and entertaining book is something to be thankful for." -- The New York Times Book Review

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Blank, who has reported on Asia for the Dallas Morning News, traveled the length and breadth of India, retracing the footsteps of the god Rama, hero of the ancient Sanskrit epic (portions of which introduce each chapter). Coupling journalistic detachment with piercing lyricism, he samples the subcontinent in all its horrific, multitudinous, overwhelming diversity, from Bombay's Hollywood-style dream factories to Calcutta's leper-filled streets. He ponders the nation's lingering caste divisions, with their "BMW Brahmins" and destitute untouchables. He meets Sikh separatists in the Punjab and, in Sri Lanka, tracks down Tamil Tiger guerrillas, young boys carrying AK-47s. He converses with holy men in ashrams and probes the erotic intensity of the Krishna cult. He scuffles with Indian's venal, infuriating bureaucracy. Blank writes beautifully and taps into India's elusive, indestructible soul with a clarity few writers attain, as he ponders the paradoxes of a country where deep-rooted fatalism clashes with Westernization and a new social mobility.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Part travel-journal, part retelling of an Indian epic, part cultural and political analysis, this first book by a former editor of Tokyo's Asahi Evening News is both eclectic and ambitious. For the most part, Blank keeps his wide-ranging and amusing narrative neatly focused and his huge cast of characters relevant and sharply delineated. Blank's attention swings back and forth between India's mythological past and its only slightly less extraordinary present, alternately recounting episodes in the life of Rama--blue-skinned god of the title and hero of the 3,000-year-old epic known as the Ramayana--and his own adventures as he tracks the wanderings of Rama across the subcontinent. Along the route, Blank encounters gurus and guerrillas, mendicants and maharajahs, Indian idols in shadowy shrines and klieg-lighted TV studios. Rama's struggles with demons and demigods are paralleled by the author's imbroglios with the wildly bureaucratic Indian Postal Service as he attempts to send a package home. Though he reveals little personal information about himself, Blank probes beneath the exotic surface of Indian life to examine such matters as Hindus' emphasis on duty, the growing number of couples marrying for love, and Hindu fatalism compared with Calvinistic predestination. On a more intimate level, he speaks with Mother Teresa, and with Arun Govil, who portrayed Rama on a popular TV series. More personal information about Blank would have been welcome; even so, a delightfully offbeat travelogue. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (November 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0802137334
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802137333
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 4.6 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #702,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
(18)
4.9 out of 5 stars
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Overall, I highly recommend this book - I could not put it down. Sonali Shetty  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Superb combination travel book & mythic retelling. steve estvanik  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
The substance is informative and interesting without falling into the trap of being academic or verbose. Gaurav Choudhury  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book. September 16, 1999
Format:Paperback
Jonah Blank's book deserves to be in print. I can't find it anywhere. I read it years ago and it spurred a great love for the Ramayana, and for India, but then I gave away my copy little suspecting it would be lost forever. Arrow of the Blue-skinned God is a classic. It is a book I will always remember, and hopefully someday I'll get to read it again.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Just beautiful June 5, 2005
Format:Hardcover
I love India and have been there many times but this book taught me a lot I don't know. The book has an original format which was risky but works. You really get both caught up in the story and then feel like you've visiting the countries he's talking about.

As travel writing, it doesn't get better than this. So refreshing to not be talked down to and he avoids the horrible snobbishness often encountered in the gendre.

I just wanted to savor each page. It's not a book you flip through. I was sorry when I finished it. I just wish I could give it six stars.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars the mystery of the blue celestial January 20, 2000
Format:Hardcover
im have lived in india for years have family and friends there ,have been back over more than three decades and have read much about this most beloved country but "the arrow of the blue skinned god" has become one of my all time favorites.....i only wish Blank had been more willing to share his own personal insights.dispassionate perspectives are less useful than they used to be and india is certainly not a place that ever engendered neutral responses. thank god for that.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book
It has a lot of elements- travel writing,history, interviews with a wide cross-section of the contemporary Indian society and using the Ramayana as a guide a lot on Indian... Read more
Published on February 13, 2011 by GT Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting reading
A book that is a way into some facets and issues of indian society, a travel through the spirit of Ramayana as told by a journalist through the words and experiences of leades,... Read more
Published on February 13, 2009 by R. Sotgiu
5.0 out of 5 stars remarkably nuanced reflection on a cross-cultural exchange
I was first tuned into Jonah Blank through the Travelers' Tales of India anthology. Reading his hilarious account of discovering that a poorly functioning Delhi airport clock was... Read more
Published on March 22, 2008 by Robert Reid
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best book on India
This book is a riveting read.

It touches upon a myriad of social, economic, political, emotional and ultimately human themes from the Ramayan epic and juxtapositions... Read more
Published on August 22, 2005 by Gaurav Choudhury
4.0 out of 5 stars A view of India through the eyes of a young fresh face
I guess this book has been out for some time, but I had not known about it until I stumbled upon it at the bookstore and I am very glad I did. Read more
Published on September 16, 2004 by Elizabeth Schneider
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on India - past and present
This is a wonderful book about the travel experiences of a young Harvard scholar in South Asia and how they evoked or resonated with certain episodes of the Ramayana. Read more
Published on June 16, 2004 by David Fowler
5.0 out of 5 stars refound treasure
A unique travel book that traces the steps of the man-god Rama across India, and gives us a vivid portrait of India today. Read more
Published on December 2, 2003 by steve estvanik
5.0 out of 5 stars vicarious mysticism
In Budapest, I met a man who wanted to walk to India as a trial-by-fire to the Eastern mystics who preach detachment from worldly comforts as a way to purify the spirit. Read more
Published on August 30, 2002 by carlos reyes
5.0 out of 5 stars India Below the Surface
This is a guide book for someone who may never visit India. It is a journey through India's culture, history, myths, religion, art, sociology and psychology all in one neat, well... Read more
Published on May 2, 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars his uncle's colleague
This book came serendipitously into my hands through Jonah Blank's uncle in San Diego. I read it a few years ago and have been looking for it so that I could give it to a friend. Read more
Published on February 4, 2000 by Marie H. Shieh
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